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.

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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!

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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!

Poetry Teatime
My youngest reciting Mother Goose rhymes.
Poetry Teatime
Followed by a little piano recital.
Poetry Teatime
After reciting poems, the kids did some Thanksgiving related activities together.

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!

Poetry Teatime
Poetry Teatime

60 Poetry Teatime Favorites

  1. A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
  2. A Child’s Introduction to Poetry by Michael Driscoll
  3. A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky
  4. A Visit to William Blake’s Inn by Nancy Willard
  5. Alligator Pie by Dennis Lee
  6. American Smooth by Rita Dove
  7. Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face by Jack Prelutsky
  8. Child’s Anthology of Poetry by Elizabeth Hauge Sword
  9. Custard and Company by Ogden Nash
  10. Dirt on My Shirt by Jeff Foxworthy
  11. Don’t Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein
  12. Fairyland in Art and Poetry by Richard Doyle
  13. Favorite Poems Old and New Selected by Helen Farris
  14. Flamingos on the Roof by Calef Brown
  15. Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater
  16. GUYKU: A Year of Haiku for Boys by Bob Raczka
  17. If You Were a Chocolate Mustache by J. Patrick Lewis
  18. It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky
  19. Lemonade and Other Squeezed Poems from a Single Word by Bob Raczka
  20. Mirror Mirror by Marilyn Singer
  21. More Parts by Tedd Arnold
  22. Mosquitoes Are Ruining My Summer! And Other Silly Camp Songs by Alan Katz
  23. My Dog May be a Genius by Jack Prelutsky
  24. My Hippo Has the Hiccups And Other Poems I Totally Made Up by Kenn Nesbitt
  25. Noisy Poems for a Busy Day by Robert Heidbreder
  26. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
  27. Over the Hills and Far Away: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes collected by Elizabeth Hammill
  28. Poems to Perform by Julia Donaldson
  29. Poems to Read to the Very Young by Josette Frank
  30. Poetry for Young People by Carl Sandburg
  31. Poetry for Young People by Emily Dickinson
  32. Poetry for Young People by Walt Whitman
  33. Poetry Speaks to Children
  34. Poetry Teatime Companion by Julie Bogart
  35. Pumpkin Butterfly by Heidi Mordhorst
  36. Read-Aloud Poems: 50 of the World’s Best-Loved Poems for Parent and Child to Share by Gloria Hale
  37. Silly Verse for Kids by Spike Milligan
  38. Sing a Song of Popcorn: Every Child’s Book of Poems edited by Mary Michaels White
  39. Snow Snow by Jane Yolen
  40. Soup for Breakfast by Calef Brown
  41. Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose About Chinese Musical Instruments by Emily Jiang
  42. Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs by Alan Katz
  43. Tea Party Today: Poems to Sip and Savor by Eileen Spinelli
  44. Tea Rex by Molly Idle
  45. Ten-Second Rain Showers: Poems by Young People complied by Sandford Lyne
  46. The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems edited by Georgia Heard
  47. The Children’s Classic Poetry Collection by Nicola Baxter
  48. The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura Berquist
  49. The Kids World Almanac Rhyming Dictionary by Peter Israel and Peg Streep
  50. The Llama Who Had no Pajama by Mary Ann Hoberman
  51. National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!
  52. The New Kid on the Block by Jack Prelutsky
  53. The Poem That Will Not End: Fun with Poetic Forms and Voices by Joan Bransfield Graham
  54. The Random House Book of Poetry for Children
  55. The Real Mother Goose illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
  56. The Sneetches and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
  57. The Tighty Whitey Spider by Kenn Nesbitt
  58. Toasting Marshmallows: Camping Poems by Kristine O’Connell George
  59. Vile Verses by Roald Dahl
  60. When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne
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