5 Steps for an Exciting Poetry Party

Have you heard of families doing these really pretty poetry and tea time activities? They have lovely little biscuits, quaint treats, and hot tea in delicate little cups. They sip their tea, nibble on the biscuits and treats and read poems. Well, I have my own version of poetry time and if you keep reading I will tell you my 5 steps for an exciting poetry party.

I think the typical poetry and tea time is wonderful and I am happy for families that pull this off and enjoy it. But this kind of poetry time is not a reality for my very active boys and toddler.

However, I still wanted to expose them to poetry. I just needed a more fun and interactive way to do it. So I started our Poetry Parties. I will lay out the 5 easy steps I use for an exciting poetry party.

Step 1: Pick a Theme

The first thing you need to do is pick a theme for your poetry party. All the other details will revolve around this theme. When I first started doing the poetry parties I used holidays or seasons as my themes each time. We did Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Spring, Winter, etc. But pick a theme that is something your kid is interested in like sports, trains, art, etc. There are endless options on what you can pick as your theme.

Step 2: Gather Poetry Books

Maybe you have a bunch of poetry books already at your house that you can use. Great! But if you are like me…you don’t! You can always search Amazon, Thrift Books or any other place you like to buy books from. Or, and this is what I highly recommend, search your local library! Type in your theme and the word “poems” in the search bar of your libraries website and see what pulls up. If there isn’t much that is pulling up expand your search to include other libraries. If you find books at a different library they will send it to your library for you to check out. You might be surprised just how many poetry books there are about all different themes once you do a search.

Step 3: Pick a Snack

Snacks and the poetry books are the two must haves for a poetry party. The other things are just extras that make it a little more fun. I like coming up with food ideas that start with the letter “P” because it just rolls off the tongue so nicely. Poetry and Pumpkins, Poetry and Popsicles. You get the idea. You absolutely do not have to do this though. Maybe think of a food or snack that goes along with your theme. If you did a winter poetry theme you could have all foods that are white. You could do Superbowl party foods at a sports themed poetry party. You can be as creative or as simple as you want it to be.

Step 4: Come Up with Decoration Ideas

Decorations are not a necessity. You can absolutely do a poetry party without any. And you don’t have to have elaborate decorations or spend a ton of money. Most of my decorations are items I already have or I grab a few things at the Dollar Store.

I start off picking a color theme so I know what color of tablecloth, plates and napkins I want to use. I try to just do one big decoration item for the middle of the table that goes along with the theme. For the Shel Silverstein poetry party, I made a giving tree for the center of our table. When we did a sports poetry party I put small balls of different sports into a tall vase that I had. American flags went in this same tall vase when we do our 4th of July poetry parties. If you are drawing a blank on decoration ideas a quick Pinterest search will most likely get those creative juices flowing!

Step 5: Find 1-3 Hands on Activities

This is another part of our poetry parties that is not a necessity but just adds another level of fun. My boys are not really ones to just sit quietly and still while someone reads out loud. I have found that if they have things to do with their hands they will sit longer and listen to more poems.

Obviously, the food and looking for poems to read are activities. But I try to have 1-3 other small things for them to do while someone else is reading a poem. I would recommend they be simple activities that don’t require them to talk to each other and are quiet. Some examples of what I have had out on the table in the past are: playdoh, coloring pages, worksheets of mazes, window clings, stamps, etc.

If you want to include a couple of these kinds of activities but are at a loss as to what to do a walk through the dollar store, the dollar bins at Target or the kids craft section at Hobby Lobby or JoAnn will probably give you all the inspiration you will need.

Wrap Up of 5 Steps for an Exciting Poetry Party

Even the most reluctant poetry fans will have fun with a poetry party like this! Keep in mind, these parties can be elaborate or they can be very simple. You can go all out buying fun decorations and activities and food or you can use what you have and buy just a few things at the Dollar Store. However you pull an exciting poetry party together you will be glad that you did it. You will be exposing your kids to poetry and having fun and making memories at the same time!