Poems for Kids — Written by a Kid
These whimsical poems are inspired by Shel Silverstein's poetry style. I grew up reading Where the Sidewalk Ends and A Light in the Attic. I wrote most of these poems in elementary school, with the majority from when I was 9 years old. A few were written in subsequent years. These poems are intended to be read to or by children, but can be enjoyed by people of all ages!
The Arm
I almost pulled my arm off
But it came off by itself
And now my severed arm
Is sitting on my shelf
And just the other day
My leg was bouncing up and down
And next thing I knew
It was laying on the ground
So I think that I started
To twiddle my thumb
Now my hand has four fingers
And it’s feeling pretty numb
My head is still on me
But I’m real scared to blink
‘Cause I might lose my eyes
Or my brain, I do think
And if only I hadn’t
Tried to pull off my arm
Then I’d be in one piece
And there wouldn’t be harm
Dragon
With his claws and his scales
And his fiery breath
A whack with his tail
And there goes your death
Grills you ‘till you’re sizzling
‘Till you’re crispy and hot
Think of escaping
And he lets you rot
His lair is all spooky
And completely made of rock
When you see his size
It’ll give you a shock
The Seasons
I looked upon the hills of white
Let’s play in sparkling snow!
Put on your mittens, your coat, and your hats,
Get snowballs- aim and throw!
Feel breezes warm around you.
See flowers gently sway.
And the birds- happily singing,
That makes me feel so gay!
Now the summer’s moist and hot.
It feels good to get wet,
‘Cause the more and more you stay so hot,
The more that you will sweat!
In autumn leaves turn red and yellow.
The leaves turn brown, then fall.
You rake up the leaves then jump in the piles-
Now trees look extra tall!
The seasons are so colorful;
They’re hot and moist or cold.
The sun, the rain, the wind, the clouds,
Black, white, and green, and gold.
Cretter
In the bright and jolly mailbox
Lives the creepy crawly Cretter
And as you drop in all your mail
It eats up your whole letter
It dines on punctuation
And gobbles up your stamp
It eats ‘til it’s so full
That it has a stomach cramp
It slobbers on your postcard
For it’s a mighty beast
And packages—devoured
As the Cretter makes a feast
So if there is a next time
Where you deliver post
Make sure there is no Cretter
Waiting to roast
The Story of Sally Lou
In the small farming town of Caleeloo
Lived a plain little girl named Sally Lou
But one day she didn’t come home and it was half past two
So the townsfolk searched for her but nobody knew
They asked farmer Dan and he said, “Who?”
They asked his cow and it said, “Moooo”
They asked Ms. Jane’s ghost and she said, “Boo!”
And they still couldn’t find poor Sally Lou
They went to the stables so that they could say
“Have you seen her?” — but the horses said “neigh”
And when night began taking over from day
By chance and by luck they passed Ol’ Man Ray
Who upon seeing them simply said, “Hey.”
That’s it! That’s it! They knew right away
Where they could find their ‘lil stowaway
And they found her in the most peculiar way
For she was stuck between big bales of hay
They got her out and they all cheered “Hooray!”
But now this is why the villagers say:
“If you’re ever out playing like Miss Sally Lou
Make sure you know what you should do
If you ever go out to explore someplace new
Or what happened to her might happen to you!”
Winter’s Arrival
Autumn here and winter coming
Life persisting chugging chugging
Whoosh click snap the leaf does tumble
Hits and crinkles crumple crumple
Scattered fragments in the wind
The air is crisp the air is thin
Tree branches are swooshing swooshing
Last leaf falls and hits the ground
For a while there’s no sound
Dark clouds in the sky ahead
First there’s silence hush hush hush
Then a sudden chilly rush
First flake falls in blinding light
Each flake makes a whisper whisper
Different from its crystal sister
Shiver shiver cold as night
And now is born the winter plight
Cold brings scarves and fuzzy sweaters
Hands are thawing face feels better
Warmth and jolliness are spreading
Smiles laughter soon set in
There’s sure to be a giggle giggle
People of all types will mingle
Outside it’s still white and plain
Only memories of fall remain
Me and my Crazy Wife
Me and my crazy wife
Sat down to play The Game of Life
And guess what she did? She took out a knife!
Did she take it out to laugh?
Or to slice me right in half?
You’ll never ever know unless
You take a random, wild guess
I’ll give you a hint— I can’t finish writing this po
Purple
Purple is the color of her hair.
It is the color of the sky at dawn
And dusk.
Purple surrounds my thoughts
And gives me ideas.
Purple is a calmness
That spreads.
Purple comes after blue
Which comes after green.
Purple is pretty,
But red’s my favorite color!
Today
I peeped out the window, and
All I could see was day’s light.
I felt the breeze from the opened door.
Today’s a good day to fly my kite!
Sdrawkcab
Yadot sdrawkcab saw dlrow eht.
It rained today
Though no rain fell
It thundered right away
I got fined
For eight hundred dollars
Though I didn’t have to pay
The sky was pink
The clouds were blue
The sun was grassy green
The fattest person
On the earth
Today was very lean
Ice cream was sour
Lemons were sweet
And beans tasted of meat
My top on my bottom
My hands on my head
And my fingers on my feet
Kite
To fly a kite
Is very fun
Just let some string
And start to run
It begins going up
Then starts to fly
And it will drift forward
Through the spacious sky
You don’t want to lose it
So hold it tight
Or the winds will carry it
While it’s in flight
My Intergalactic Siblings
My sister is from Jupiter.
My brother lives on Mars.
And other family members
Are living in the stars.
But when they start going,
“Zu ba shee noo ree,”
I pretend they aren’t
Related to me!
Candy Land
In Candy Land it’s different
It rains lemon drops
And instead of flowers growing
You’ll see pink lollipops
The clouds are cotton candy
The trees grow candy too
They come in an assortment
Like colors: pink and blue
Candy canes grow ‘long the road
They’re striped with red or green
Or there’s purple, or red and white
But the flavors sure are keen!
My Secret Life
Because I know the time
My folks call me keen
Unfortunately
I’ll never be a teen
My grandpa lives with me
He’s just down the hall
And at ev’ry hour
He will chime and he’ll call
As each second passes
I’ll tick and I’ll tock
For I am nothing
But a simple black clock
Someone Turned the Sun Off
Someone turned the sun off
I knew it mustn’t be
But someone turned the sun off
And it surely wasn’t me
The sun was up and shining
Stars safely tucked away
It was ten in the morning
And a beautiful day
But all of a sudden
The light flickered off
The sun turned dark and grayish
T’was just a cloud aloft!
Making the World a Better Place
You have to do what you can
You have to have what you own
You have to use what you have
You have to see what was shown
You have stuff all around you
Surrounding yourself
You have thoughts in your mind
And books on your shelf
But not everything comes
From your mind or a store
You have to seize opportunities
And make small things much more
You have to go out there and
Make things happen for you
Make the world a better place
Because of what you do!
There are no restrictions
So use the voice you possess
To change the ordinary
To the best of the best!
My Horrible Family
I hate my mom’s potatoes
They’re hard as a rock
And Dad’s turkey gravy
Tastes like a sock
My brother can’t do laundry
The clothes all turn out pink
And Sister’s snow blowing
Creates a skating rink
My grandpa does chauffeuring
But gets in a car crash
And Grandma paints her room
But all the colors clash
My aunt does her makeup
But always does it wrong
And Uncle’s potted plants
Are watered for too long
My cousin got the mail
And dropped it in the rain
And all of Cousin’s letters
Were ruined with a stain
My family looks clumsy
It sure does seem that way
But there’s a little detail
That I forgot to say
It’s I who cooks and paints and drives
I don’t want to admit it
But all the things they messed up
T’was really I who did it
Sandwich Man
The town knew him as the weatherman
But now he calls himself Sandwich Man.
We run up to him to see what he’s got
He says “all sandwiches! served cold or hot
I’ve got roast beef and ham and eggs and tomatoes
There are pickles, bacon, sauce, and potatoes
Plus lettuce, mayo, and plenty of cheese”
Our mouths are watering so we say yes please
With a friendly smile he says we need not pay
So we all got free sandwiches that day!
The Great Pacific Hair Patch
Sometimes I wonder where all hair goes
I see them move when the wind blows
So I know they’ll be carried to some place new
And I think I’ve an idea of where they go to
Not to be all that specific
But surely somewhere in the Pacific
Is and island made up of only hair
And all hairs from the world end up there
I’m talking curly hairs, kinky hairs, and straight ones, too
That are black, brown, gray, blonde, red, or pink or blue
And fallen out lashes and hairs from legs and arms
They blow across our bridges and our roads and parks and farms
Plus there’s lots of dog and cat fur
And from all other mammals, I’m sure
They all travel to the same place
I’m guessing it can be seen from space
It’s one giant, knotty, tangled mess
The air and water currents compress
It so dense you could walk, I suspect,
On this floating island where all hair collects.
Dirty Derrick
There once was a boy named Derrick.
He looked and smelled like a flower.
But then one day he made up his mind
And did not want to shower.
His parents said to bathe himself
But he refused to comply.
They demanded that he get in the shower
But all he did was say “Why?”
The first day went okay
And he still smelled perfectly fine
His parents told him again and again
But he would complain and whine
Then day two came and went
And he was covered in dirt
But he still refused to take a bath
(Well at least he changed his shirt!)
None of his friends even noticed
And they couldn’t detect his smell
So Derrick thought his shower strike
Was going perfectly well
But by day 3 he had a scent
And now people were able to tell
He wasn’t a flower anymore
He actually started to smell
A week went by and he still didn’t want
To take a shower or bath
And Derrick quickly learned
What would be the aftermath
His odor repelled people
‘Cause he smelled so bad
And the fact that no one would be with him
Made him very sad
He reeked so bad that none of his friends
Wanted to sit near him
That was the last straw, so just like that
He changed his mind on a whim.
That night he finally got in the bath
And stayed there for an hour
When he get out, he returned
To smelling like a flower.
Not only did did he smell better,
But he felt better too
Instead of feeling crummy,
He felt as good as new
The next day his friends were
With him again in school
And now instead of being disgusting
He was super cool
Angler Fish
From the depths of the ocean
He plays hide and seek.
He is hungry-
Hasn’t eaten in a week.
Bam! — He goes—
He swallows it whole,
And finally
He just might be full!
Retreat! Retreat!
Go back in your den!
It might eat you.
It will ‘cause it can.
Good night! Sleep tight!
Your day is all done.
That’s what it’s like
To have some real fun!
Clumsy King Limerick
There once was a rich, clumsy king
He dropped his most valuable ring
The queen saw it drop
So she got her mop
And swept up that wonderful thing
Hot Cocoa Limerick
My uncle was sipping hot cocoa
But that made him a bit loco
He said, "Eat me, I'm cake"
Then bit my pet snake
Now mom won't let me have cocoa
Snowman Limerick
There once was a snowman named Ned
He came in and jumped in my bed
He just wanted a cuddle
But turned into a puddle
And now Mr. Ned is dead
Spring Acrostic
Soft breezes fill the air.
Papa Bear stirs in his lair.
Roses are almost in full bloom.
Ice melts away and so does the gloom.
Nuthatches and finches happily sing.
Goodbye Winter—Hello Spring!
Fall Acrostic
Favorite time of year
Apple picking and lots of cheer
Lots of spices fill the air
Leaves are falling everywhere!