My kids and I have felt in love with the idea of having Poetry Teatime the moment we heard about it for the first time. Since then, we have set a day of the week apart to enjoy reading poetry and great read-aloud books together while enjoying homemade cookies, juice, tea, or hot chocolate.
What is Poetry Teatime & How To Start Poetry Teatime in Your Home?
I couldn’t describe Poetry Teatime as well as the founder of Brave Writer and Poetry Teatime, Julie Bogart! Julie’s approach to teaching writing and love for great literature is changing our homeschool this past year.
So watch this quick video and learn all about the magic behind our favorite time of the week: Poetry Teatime!
The Benefits of Poetry Teatime for Your Children
My kids call poetry: beautiful language! How cute is that? They love the rhymes, the gestures, the cookies, the special moments we spend together reading and laughing while making funny faces and voices as we read aloud to each other. Poetry Teatime is so much fun and so enchanted!
According to scholar-base.com*, reading poetry and rhymes aloud helps children to develop:
- Rhythm
- Phonemic awareness
- Memorization skills
- Self-expression
- Physical awareness
“Students who recite poetry are aware of breath coordination, movements of the mouth and other physical gestures as they align these to the rhythm in the poetry. They also make use of gestures and facial expressions to connect with their audience on an emotional level.”
Sharing the Love for Poetry Teatime With Our Friends
Our love for Poetry Teatime grew too big to keep between us so we invited a few close homeschool friends to join us monthly for a Poetry Teatime and Kids Book Club co-op where we could recite poems, read stories, do activities related to our monthly theme, discuss our readings together and have fun learning!
Sharing the Love for Poetry Teatime with Our Community
After having had a great time with our friends, I approached our local library and asked if they would be interested in hosting a Poetry Teatime for the community on a PD day and the answer was a big YES!
We had so much fun at the library reading beautiful poems and fun Mother Goose rhymes out loud while the kids did the actions. Our librarian provided the parents with a tea/coffee cart, and juice and cookies for the children. It was such a great success we have already booked our next one – a Winter theme Poetry Teatime at the end of November!
60 Poetry Teatime Favorites
- A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
- A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
- A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky
- A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard
- Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee
- American Smooth by Rita Dove
- Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face by Jack Prelutsky
- Child’s Anthology of Poetry by Elizabeth Hauge Sword
- Custard and Company by Ogden Nash
- Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy
- Don’t Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein
- Fairyland in Art and Poetry by Richard Doyle
- Favorite Poems Old and New Selected by Helen Farris
- Flamingos on the Roof by Calef Brown
- Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater
- GUYKU: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka
- If You Were a Chocolate Mustache by J. Patrick Lewis
- It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky
- Lemonade and Other Squeezed Poems from a Single Word by Bob Raczka
- Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer
- More Parts by Tedd Arnold
- Mosquitoes Are Ruining My Summer! And Other Silly Camp Songs by Alan Katz
- My Dog May be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky
- My Hippo Has the Hiccups And Other Poems I Totally Made Up by Kenn Nesbitt
- Noisy Poems for a Busy Day by Robert Heidbreder
- Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
- Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill
- Poems to Perform by Julia Donaldson
- Poems to Read to the Very Young by Josette Frank
- Poetry for Young People by Carl Sandburg
- Poetry for Young People by Emily Dickinson
- Poetry for Young People by Walt Whitman
- Poetry Speaks to Children
- Poetry Teatime Companion by Julie Bogart
- Pumpkin Butterfly by Heidi Mordhorst
- Read-Aloud Poems: 50 of the World’s Best-Loved Poems for Parent and Child to Share by Gloria Hale
- Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan
- Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child’s Book of Poems edited by Mary Michaels White
- Snow Snow by Jane Yolen
- Soup for Breakfast by Calef Brown
- Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose About Chinese Musical Instruments by Emily Jiang
- Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs by Alan Katz
- Tea Party Today: Poems to Sip and Savor by Eileen Spinelli
- Tea Rex by Molly Idle
- Ten-Second Rain Showers: Poems by Young People complied by Sandford Lyne
- The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard
- The Children’s Classic Poetry Collection by Nicola Baxter
- The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist
- The Kids World Almanac Rhyming Dictionary by Peter Israel and Peg Streep
- The Llama Who Had no Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman
- National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
- The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky
- The Poem That Will Not End: Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices by Joan Bransfield Graham
- The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
- The Real Mother Goose illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
- The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
- The Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt
- Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George
- Vile Verses by Roald Dahl
- When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
Download Your Poetry Teatime Favorites Checklist Here:
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