Learning Poetry the Disney Way

By Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy

April has been National Poetry Month. Hopefully you've had a chance to read, and maybe even write, some poetry yourself. If you have kids, you may have tried to interest them as well. Very possibly with little success.

Actually, they've probably been walking around reciting poetry at the top of their lungs much of the month - poems that start with lines line "Do you want to build a snowman?" or "Let it go!" - sure they're songs, but they're poems first, with regular rhyme and rhythm patterns, meanings beyond the surface, and clever use of the language. Why not use this as a stepping stone to help your kids learn to love poetry?

That's exactly what Disney did with their UK show called A Poem Is...
Combining the magic of Disney, poetry, video, and Pinterest, we can watch a number of these episodes: A Poem Is... on Pinterest

In case poetry read to a background of famous Disney movie scenes isn't quite enough for your child, here's the 11th Doctor reading a poem on one of the episodes.



Matt Smith Reads on A Poem Is...

Perhaps you won't need a crowbar to get your kids to love poetry - just a sonic screwdriver!

Kenneth A O'Shaughnessy is a freelance writer and poet living in the upstate of South Carolina with his wife and four children. To find his daily poetry entries, log onto: 

http://wordhabitat.blogspot.com/

or find him on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Kenneth-OShaughnessy/