We've been going through this cd/book called "A Child's Introduction To Poetry". You can purchase it on Amazon.com (maybe even on Amazon.ca).
This is such a fun book. It explains how different types of poems are arranged, the meaning behind some poems, and the meaning of some unfamiliar words used in the poems. Here are a few limericks we liked. ( A limerick is a short, humerous, five-line poem).
"There was a young lady named Hannah,
Who slipped on a peel of banana.
More stars she espied
As she lay on her side
Than are found in the Star Spangled Banner.
A gentleman sprang to assist her;
He picked up her glove and her wrister;
"Did you fall, Ma'am?" he cried;
"Do you think," she replied,
"I sat down for the fun of it, Mister?"
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A flea and a fly in a flue
were stuck so what could they do?
Said the flea, “let us fly."
Said the fly, “let us flee”.
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.
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There once was a man from Nantucket
Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
But his daughter, named Nan, Ran away with a man
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,
The man and the girl with the bucket;
And he said to the man, He was welcome to Nan,
But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.
I'm also found of the nonsense verse poem, "Jabberwocky" taken from Lewis Carroll's book, Through the Looking-Glass.
My Grandma Shirley (who sometimes we would call Grahams) and I made up a tongue-twister one time while staying the night at her house. I remember going to her house making tongue-twisters, playing "where am I hiding", playing cards (and ABSOLUTELY NO NO NO Cheating!) and a host of other things. She didn't have much money but we didn't need to have money to have fun.
Here is the tongue-twister we made:
Which witch wore which watch in which war?
Simple but fun.
I've always enjoyed making silly and YES, rhyming poems.....but as you look more closely at poetry the real poets take it further and add double-meanings and include other references. I'll have to try that someday.
Anyways.......back to school.
