Sometimes writing feels like homework for kids, but it doesn’t have too. One of my grand-daughters and I make up silly rhyming songs about things that are “stinky”. Her rhymes include made up words. I don’t tell her they are meaningless. It stifles her creativity. Feeling safe to express herself without being corrected is important to her development.
Try writing limericks with your kids. It’s fun!
A limerick’s a fun thing to pen.
You’ll enjoy them again and again.
It ’s just a short rhyme
You can make in no time
Now share what you wrote with a friend.
Here’s a sheet of limerick starters for you. Take the idea and run with it.
For younger children, stress the fact that limericks can be non-sensical. The sillier the better. Children are learning to feel rhythms and master language. This makes them excited about reading books.
A limerick is five lines of poetry with a strong beat. The rhyming pattern is AABBA. Lines 1, 2 and 5 rhyme and are usually 7-10 syllables. Lines 3 and 4 rhyme and are 5-7 syllables.