Write a Silly Dinosaur Poem

What You Need:

• Books about dinosaurs, or Internet access
• Paper
• Pencil
• Colored pencils
• Glue

What You Do:

1. First have your child decide which type of dinosaur they want to use as their main character. Look through the dinosaur books or browse the Internet and find the main characteristics of the type of dinosaur they've decided to feature in their poem. Have her give the dinosaur a name.
2. Encourage your child to decide on a humorous situation for their character. Personifying a dinosaur and having it involved in activities that people usually do can be quite funny.
3. Create a list of interesting words to use in the poem and ask your kid to keep track of all the words by printing the list on a piece of paper.
4. Now, brainstorm with your child and try to find a rhyming twin for several of the vocabulary words.
5. Your child can begin by creating 2 sentences that introduce the poem. The last word of the second sentence should rhyme with the last word of the first sentence.
6. Continue the rhyming pattern until they have created five pairs of rhyming sentences that describe their funny dinosaur situation.
7. Print the entire poem neatly on a piece of lined paper.
8. Once their poem is complete, they can give it a title and draw a picture to illustrate it.  
9. Have them use the pencil to draw their illustration on a separate piece of paper. Add color to the drawing with colored pencils. Your child can attach the drawing to the poem with a staple or they can cut out the drawing and glue it to the bottom of the poem page.