Would you like to give your child a priceless gift? You can do it quite inexpensively. All it will cost is your time and maybe a few dollars for a poetry book (though there is plenty of poetry for kids available free of charge on the internet).
Children love the rhythm, repetition and rhyme that we find in poetry. Reading a poem aloud is a great experience and it is even more enjoyable when you have someone to share it with.
You will notice that poetry is incorporated into Early Childhood Music classes at Mitchell Conservatorium, because it is so closely associated with music-making.
Jim Haynes' Big Book of Verse For Aussie Kids is a great collection of old and new poems. There are many old favourites here, but also lots of new, entertaining poems.
My copy does not have an index, but the editor (and author of some of the poems) has provided one on his website.
Here are a couple of my favourites from the book:
A Feather-Brained Fiddler
A feather-brained fiddler named Rouse
Sat alone at the top of his house
When attacked by some crows
He sedately arose
And played some selections from Strauss
Why?
Why does a clock face not have a nose?
Why do foothills not have toes?
Do all-day laundries close at night?
Will the teeth on a garden rake ever bite?
Why can't a needle wink its eye?
why can't the wings of a building fly?
What is the sound of a gum tree's bark?
Can you leave your car in a national park?
What are some of your favourite poems to read to your children? Can you suggest any more sites or books where we can find these poems?
