The Importance of Children's Poetry

Children find poetry quite interesting. In fact, it promotes their curiosity and imagination. In this article, we'll tell you how poetry fosters the different developmental aspects in children.

Written and verified by the psychologist Elena Sanz Martín.

Last update: 27 December, 2022

Reading and reciting may seem like boring activities, which are exclusively for adults. However, this is very far from reality. In fact, children’s poetry can be quite beneficial for them in many aspects.

Besides, since there are many poetry books for children, it won’t be so hard to find reading material for them. On the contrary, it’ll be fun, appealing and interesting. Furthermore, it can become the best hobby to share as a family.

Usually, whenever we want our children to read, we share stories with kids. Even though those are amazing resources, children’s poetry is also quite beneficial for them. Actually, poetry is already present in many lullabies we sing to our babies, even before they’re born. Therefore, they won’t find children’s poetry so external to them.

Benefits of children’s poetry

Poetry can contribute to children’s integral development. Besides, it can foster important characteristics in them. The following are some of the most important benefits from reading or reciting poetry to children:

• It improves their vocabulary. Poetry usually includes more complex words and linguistic constructions than stories for kids. Therefore, children’s poetry improves vocabulary in amazing ways. In addition, it gives them new tools to communicate and express themselves better. And, it helps them improve their understanding skills, by enriching their vocabulary. Particularly in younger children.
• It promotes creativity and aesthetic values. By reading verses from any poetry book, children can set their imaginations free and release their most artistic thoughts. Besides, children learn to appreciate the musicality in each verse and the beauty of the words.
• Children’s poetry fosters attention and memory skills. Children usually find the rhythm, beat, and repetition that’s included in children’s poetry, quite interesting. When reading verses, they become curious and attentive. Besides, the texts tend to be easy to memorize and repeat, which children love.
• It encourages children to cultivate a reading habit. Poetry is a great resource to introduce the reading habit in our children. In addition, it helps children work on their diction, intonation, pauses and every other element involved in the act of reading. Unlike stories for kids, poetry requires certain beat and accuracy, which motivates children to improve their reading skills.

How can you introduce poetry to your children?

Some children enjoy reading more than others. Notwithstanding, you should try to dedicate some time to read with them everyday. In fact, you can do it before bed time, because poetry is quite relaxing, so they’ll probably fall sleep faster.

Another important point to take into account is that you should choose books according to your children’s age. This is because, they shouldn’t find them boring or difficult to understand. For example, De la cuna a la luna (From the Cradle to the Moon) is a fantastic choice for children from birth to three years old.

In this case, each book contains a poem, and its illustrations help children sing or recite its verses in a simple and fun way.

Fortunately, nowadays, we can find many children’s poetry books. Some of them are even written by famous writers, such as Gloria Fuentes or Federico Garcia Lorca.

So, choose a topic you like and have fun reciting verses with your kids. There are numerous children’s poetry books that will be of great interest for your children.

Children’s poetry is diverse

Finally, try not to be always the designated reader. They should participate actively, as well. In order to do this, you can ask them to read out loud or you can recite verses together.

You can also memorize your favorite poem and act it as if you were on a play, dressing up and using props. This way, poetry will not only be a fun activity, it will be playful, educational and beneficial for you to spend time together.