Poetry in Motion

© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.

Poetry and rhyme have a lot to offer your toddler. Sharing poetry lets her hear sounds, patterns, and richness of language that will help her to say and understand new words.

Read aloud from books of poetry such as Jane Yolen’s Here’s a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry, Iona Opie’s My Very First Mother Goose or Alma Flor Ada’s ¡Pío Peep! Traditional Spanish Nursery Rhymes. Even if your child doesn’t understand what all the words mean, she’ll have fun with the sounds and rhythm of poetry and be excited to hear and learn more.

With your older toddler, start a poem or nursery rhyme that you’ve shared many times and let her finish it. She will enjoy showing you that she knows what comes next. Favorite poems you read together often become easy to remember, and soon you’ll be reciting Robert Louis Stevenson's “The Swing” or acting out “Jack and Jill” at the playground together.