Kindergarten poems work because they are short, they rhyme, and they beg to be read aloud more than once. Below are public domain poems plus simple activities for teaching them.
Why use poems to teach kindergarten reading?
Poems build phonemic awareness because rhyme and rhythm make sound patterns easy to hear and repeat. A poem is short enough for a five-year-old to memorize after a few readings, and that early success builds confidence before longer books arrive. Poetry also works alongside phonics practice, since rhyming words share letter patterns kids can spot on the page. These poems also fit well into a preschool or kindergarten homeschool day.
This page does not cover longer story poems or poems written for older grades. For those, see the site’s main poetry section.
What poems are safe to print and read aloud in full?
Only poems old enough to be in the public domain in the United States can be reprinted in full here. All eight poems below were first published before 1930, which the U.S. Copyright Office confirms puts them outside copyright protection. Newer nursery rhymes and song lyrics are not included, even well-loved ones, because reprinting them without permission is not allowed.
Rain
By Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)
The rain is falling all around,
It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
Bed in Summer
By Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people’s feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
The Swing
By Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
River and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside —
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown —
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
Time to Rise
By Robert Louis Stevenson, from A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885)
A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon my window sill,
Cocked his shining eye and said:
“Ain’t you ‘shamed, you sleepy-head!”
Boats Sail on the Rivers
By Christina Rossetti, from Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (first published 1872)
Boats sail on the rivers,
And ships sail on the seas;
But clouds that sail across the sky
Are prettier far than these.
There are bridges on the rivers,
As pretty as you please;
But the bow that bridges heaven,
And overtops the trees,
And builds a road from earth to sky,
Is prettier far than these.
Hurt No Living Thing
By Christina Rossetti, from Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (first published 1872)
Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
If a Pig Wore a Wig
By Christina Rossetti, from Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (first published 1872)
If a pig wore a wig,
What could we say?
Treat him as a gentleman,
And say “Good day.”
If his tail chanced to fail,
What could we do? —
Send him to the tailoress
To get one new.
How do you read a poem aloud with a kindergartner?
Read it once yourself, then read it again and pause before rhyming words so the child can fill them in. Point to each word as you read so kids start to connect the sound to the printed shape. This works best one-on-one or in small groups. It does not replace a full phonics lesson, and it will not teach letter sounds on its own.
- Read the poem straight through at a normal pace.
- Read it again, stopping just before the last word of a line so the child guesses the rhyme.
- Ask the child to clap on every rhyming word.
- Ask what the poem is about in their own words.
What rhyme activities go with these poems?
These games take five to ten minutes and use no materials beyond the poem itself. They work for one child or a small class, but they are too simple for older elementary rhyme work, which needs harder word families.
- Rhyme matching. After reading “Rain,” ask the child to name another word that rhymes with “tree” or “sea.”
- Missing word. Read a line from “Time to Rise” and leave off the last word for the child to supply.
- Act it out. For “The Swing,” have the child pump their arms or sway to the rhythm while you read.
- Draw the poem. After “Boats Sail on the Rivers,” have the child draw a boat, a ship, and a cloud, and talk about which one the poem says is prettiest.
- Write your own. Once a child knows “If a Pig Wore a Wig” by heart, ask them to suggest a silly new animal and a matching rhyme, even a single line.
Sources
- U.S. Copyright Office. How Long Does Copyright Protection Last?
- Project Gutenberg. A Child’s Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Project Gutenberg. Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book, by Christina Rossetti