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    Home » Blog » Motherhood

    Poems to Read to Kids That Young Children Will Love

    Published: Nov 11, 2021 · Modified: Jan 28, 2025 by Christy Faber · Leave a Comment

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    "Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful."

    Rita Dove

    Most parents have heard that reading poetry to young children is important but many parents struggle with incorporating poetry into daily life. Choosing which poems to read is another challenge.

    To make your life a bit easier, I have curated a few of our favourite poems that I read regularly to my young children. My personal favourite from this list is “Animal Crackers”.  Please share in the comments what your favourite poem is to read with your children or which poem from the list is your favourite. Follow me on Instagram @lifearoundthetable.ca where I share poems for children on my stories.

    What Is Black?

    Black is the night
    When there isn’t a star
    And you can’t tell by looking
    Where you are. Black is a pail of paving tar. 
    Black is jet
    And things you’d like to forget. 
    Black is a smokestack 
    Black is a cat, 
    A leopard, a raven, 
    A high silk hat. 
    The sound of black is
    “Boom! Boom! Boom!” 
    Echoing in an empty room. 

    Black is kind--
    It covers up
    The run-down street,
    The broken cup.
    Black is charcoal
    And patio grill, 
    The soot spots on
    The window sill. 
    Black is a feeling 
    Hard to explain
    Like suffering but 
    Without the pain. 
    Black is licorice 
    And patent leather shoes 
    Black is the print 
    In the news. 
    Black is beauty 
    In its deepest form, 
    The darkest cloud 
    In a thunderstorm. 
    Think of what starlight 
    And lamplight would lack 
    Diamonds and fireflies 
    If they couldn’t lean against 
    Black….

    -Mary O'Neill - 

    The Noise of Nothing

    The noise of nothing 
    is less than a pin 
    petering down
    a deep apple bin,
     
    less than a bubble, 
    blown round and ripe, 
    sliding up 
    off the brim of a pipe, 

    less than the ring 
    of a rain-drop gone 
    from the pool it tingled 
    and circled on, 

    less than a penny 
    put down in plush, 
    less than a web 
    where moth-wings hush, 

    less than a dew 
    the size of a drop, 
    Drying by noon 
    On a petal’s lip, 

    Less than the hiss 
    If starlight fell 
    Down the abyss 
    Of a bottomless well,
     
    Less than something, 
    Least of the small: 
    The noise of nothing’s 
    No sound at all. 

    Has anyone heard it
    Breathe or blow? 
    Ripple or stir? 
    No one I know.

    -Norma Farber-

    Animal Crackers

    Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
    That is the finest of suppers I think;
    When I'm grown up and can have what I please
    I think I shall always insist upon these.
    What do YOU choose when you're offered a treat?
    When Mother says, "What would you like best to eat?"
    Is it waffles and syrup, or cinnamon toast?
    It's cocoa and animals that I love most!
    The kitchen's the cosiest place that I know;
    The kettle is singing, the stove is aglow,
    And there in the twilight, how jolly to see
    The cocoa and animals waiting for me.

    -Christopher Morley-

    You Never Hear the Garden Grow

    Row on row,
    you never hear the garden
    grow.

    Seeds split.
    Roots shove and reach.
    Earth heaves.

    Leaves unfurl.
    Stems pierce the
    ground.

    Pea pods fatten.
    Vines
    stretch and curl.

    Such growing
    going on
    without a sound!

    -Lillian Moore-

    The Black Pebble

    There went three children down to the shore
    Down to the shore and back;
    There was skipping Susan and bright-eyed Sam
    And little scowling Jack.

    Susan found a white cockle-shell,
    The prettiest ever seen,
    And Sam picked up a piece of glass
    Rounded and smooth and green.

    But Jack found only a plain black pebble
    That lay by the rolling sea,
    And that was all that ever he found;
    So back they went all three.

    The cockle-shell they put on the table,
    The green glass on the shelf,
    But the little black pebble that Jack had found
    He kept it for himself.

    -James Reeves-

    A Good Play

    We built a ship upon the stairs
    All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
    And filled it full of sofa pillows
    To go a-sailing on the billows.

    We took a saw and and several nails,
    And water in the nursery pails;
    And Tom said, ‘Let us also take
    An apple and a slice of cake’;
    Which was enough for Tom and me
    To go a-sailing on, till tea.

    We sailed along for days and days,
    And had the very best of plays;
    But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
    So there was no one left but me.

    -Robert Louis Stevenson-

    Block City

    What are you able to build with your blocks?
    Castles and palaces, temples and docks.
    Rain may keep raining, and others go roam,
    But I can be happy and building at home.
    Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea,
    There I'll establish a city for me:
    A kirk and a mill and a palace beside,
    And a harbor as well where my vessels may ride.
    Great is the palace with pillar and wall,
    A sort of a tower on top of it all,
    And steps coming down in an orderly way
    To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay.
    This one is sailing and that one is moored:
    Hark to the song of the sailors on board!
    And see on the steps of my palace, the kings
    Coming and going with presents and things!

    -Robert Louis Stevenson-

    Rain Sizes

    Rain comes in various sizes.
    Some rain is as small as a mist.
    It tickles your face with surprises,
    And tingles as if you'd been kissed.

    Some rain is the size of a sprinkle
    And doesn't put out all the sun.
    You can see the drops sparkle and twinkle,
    And a rainbow comes out when it's done.

    Some rain is as big as a nickel
    And comes with a crush and a hiss.
    It come down too heavy to tickle.
    It's more like a splash than a kiss.

    When it rains that right size and you're wrapped in
    Your rainclothes, it's fun out of doors.
    But run home before you get trapped in
    The big rain that rattles and roars.

    -John Ciardi-

    My oldest son loves this poem so much he giggles the whole time! It's definitely one of the funniest poems we've added to our collection.

    My Tooth Ith Loothe

    My tooth ith loothe! My tooth ith loothe!
    I can't go to thcool, that'th my excuthe.
    I wath fine tatht night when I went to bed, |
    But today it'th hanging by a thread!

    My tooth ith looth! My tooth ith loothe!
    I'm telling you the honetht truth.
    It maketh me want to jump and thout!
    My tooth ith loothe.....Oopth! Now it'th out!

    -George Ulrich-

    Please share in the comments what your favourite poem is to read with your children or which poem from the list is your favourite.

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