Poems for Pre-readers: Candy for the Ear

A child’s toddling steps toward literacy come from listening. The rhythm, rhymes, and silly sounds of language-play are where the magic of literacy begins. Before diving into letters and sight words, make language for literacy a playground for pure, joyful exploration.

We’ve established the importance of building a strong foundation with numbers before we move on to letters. Now let’s apply that principle to literacy by starting with richly patterned poetry before prosaic prose.

What’s the very first “literary event” a baby responds to? It's not a word on a page, but the melody of a lullaby or the playful rhythm of a caregiver's voice. This first poetry we share with pre- and early readers should be candy for the ear that inspires children to fall in love with language as sounds at play shaping playful ideas.

This is all about developing phonemic awareness, a child’s ability to hear and play with sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. No need to see the letters; children just need to listen and let the sounds flow like music into their being.

Poems to Spark the Imagination
This simple poem is not just about a duck; it’s a set of sound patterns and meanings that children’s brains are wired to notice and enjoy.
Duck
Duck, I love how you duck
your head down
and pop your tail up
to turn your pond into a cup

The word "duck" has two meanings, creating a fun, surprising image as does the pond being changed into a cup. The opposites of down and up and the rhyme of up with cup completes the word playful, compelling image.

Here’s another poem perfect to spark a child’s imagination.

The Picket Fence
Pick up a magic stick
and walk along
listen to the music making stick
play the picket fence’s song
clickety, clickety, click, click

The magic stick making the happy repetition of "clicks" builds connections between actions, sounds, and words bringing literacy to life.

Rhyme and Repetition
Poems with rhyme, action, and repetition are fantastic to develop an ear for language.

The Bouncy Ball
My small round ball
bounces off the wall
and rolls down the hall
into mouse's round hole

From the round hole
where my ball rolled in
nice mouse rolls my ball
back again

The poem introduces fun rhyming words and a surprise ending.

The Sleepy Bear
Sleepy bear, with bear messy hair
wakes at dawn
with a bear sleepy yawn
He licks sunny sweet honey
from his paw

Happy and fed,
Sleepy bear goes back to bed

Ask children to find as many rhyme patterns as they can.

By starting with "candy for the ear", you lay the groundwork for more advanced phonics skills. Our next 3 posts will explore how chant poems help teach children to decode while doing easy reading and writing.