Poetry for Gifted Children
Parents Should Encourage Reading, Writing, and Performing Poems
Oct 18, 2008
Highly intelligent children enjoy figuring out metaphors and finding hidden symbols in poetry. Gifted children also may be able to memorize poetry – especially rhymed verse – at surprisingly young ages. By presenting children with all forms of poetic language during their formative years, parents help develop skills for a lifetime.
To keep poetry fresh and fun, however, parents should introduce age-appropriate works and alternate between reading, writing, and performing poetry. Young children respond best to short, humorous rhymed verse, while adolescents generally enjoy all forms of poetry, especially works that provide a balanced blend of concrete (grounded in reality) and abstract (figurative speech) thoughts.
Here are additional tips for helping children get the most out of poetry.
Poetry For Children Under Age 10
- Reading: Beginning at birth, parents should read humorous rhyming poetry using lots of animation in their voices. Singsong nursery rhymes, collections of funny poems, books by Shel Silverstein, and anything by Dr. Seuss is a good choice. As soon as children can talk, they can describe what’s happening in pictures and with book-length poetry can predict what will happen next.
- Writing: Young children can write original poetry in easier forms, such as nature haiku (17 syllables total with three lines broken into 5, 7, 5 syllables each), rhymed couplets, and free verse. Drawn pictures or cutout magazine photographs to illustrate their poems make the work seem like play. Compile the best poems into a hand-written book, a booklet printed from the computer, or arranged into a hardcover book purchased blank from a store.
- Performing: Poetry is written as music without instruments, so children should read poems aloud whenever possible. One enjoyable game is to create an indoor scavenger hunt using rhymed verse as clues. Children read the clues out loud and decipher their meaning. With more advanced children, they can write the clues for others.
Poetry For Children Age 10 and Older
- Reading: Parents can revisit the great poets with their children, helping them to appreciate language and meaning. Poets from certain countries (e.g. English poets), time periods (e.g., the Romantic poets), or styles (lyrical vs. narrative poetry) may be the focus of reading sessions. Collections of poetry provide an assortment of styles, subjects, and poets for all ages. The recent book, The Poets’ Corner: The Only and Only Poetry Book for the Whole Family [compiled by John Lithgow, Grand Central Publishing, 2007] is specifically designed for this purpose.
- Writing: Adolescents might be inspired to write poetry about subjects of their own choosing. If they need suggestions, however, parents can recommend writing about their senses, a beloved pet, a favorite sport, or their best friend. Children should write in whatever style they like about whatever subjects they like, but occasionally will benefit from stretching themselves beyond their comfort level. By this stage, some of their poetry may be good enough to submit to publishers or give as gifts to relatives, teachers, and friends.
- Performing: Highly intelligent adolescents enjoy open mic poetry nights at coffeehouses. Parents should visit these events first without their children to ensure that young adults are welcome in the audience and as presenters. Older children may prefer to merely listen to other poets or to perform on stage with their original work. If these kinds of coffeehouse opportunities don’t exist in their area, parents can host their own coffeehouse open mic poetry night at home with family and friends.
The most important part of this process – and what will be remembered and appreciated – is for parents and children to explore poetry together.
For more information about parenting gifted children, read Exploring Origin of High IQ.
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