Acrostic Poem

This post on an Acrostic Poem is the first in a series of 21 kids activities you can easily do at home. It is the first post in my 21 Challenge. I am taking The 21 Challenge to raise money to support homeless and at-risk young people in Australia. There are more than 32,000 young people who sleep on our streets every night and I am blogging a kids activity daily to raise funds to go to Open Family Australia who support these youths.

You can/will be able to see all the children’s activities I post as part of the 21 Challenge by clicking on the tag 21 Challenge here.

 

Description:

An acrostic poem is a very simple poem that has a defined structure of using one key word as a base. The key word is written vertically and the each line uses a letter of your key word as the first letter of the line.

It is a great tool for kids who may find the idea of writing from scratch as it gives them a very defined format to use.

Age:

From five upwards. This poem was written by our eight year old daughter.

Materials needed:

Basic version: Paper and pencils

Advanced Version: Paper, pencils, Power Point or similar software on your computer, scissors and a picture frame.

Aim:

The aim for us this time was to make a gift for her Nana’s upcoming party. We have previously undertaken this activity to focus on writing and spelling.

What to do:

Acrostic Poem
We wrote a rough draft first.

Acrostic Poem
We then typed it up on the computer, using Power Point and added some shape to colour in.

Acrostic Poem
We then coloured it in.

Acrostic Poem
We drew a border.

Acrostic Poem
We cut it to fit our frame.

Acrostic Poem
We had our present for her Nana.

Opportunities for learning:

  • Alphabetical order / Dictionary use – my daughter was stuck on how to begin a sentence for a few of the letters. Instead of me just telling her words she could use, we used a junior dictionary for inspiration. This is a practical application of determining alphabetical order and helps extend vocabulary.
  • Measurement – making sure the printed out poem would fit into the frame. Ruling up a border and marking out the space to draw it.
  • Literacy – spelling and creative writing.
  • Fine motor – writing, drawing, cutting, using the keyboard all require fine motor skills.

Additional resources:

There are many resources online for acrostic poems:

  • Acrostic poem maker – a tool that kids can use independently to create an acrostic poem online and print out.
  • Acrostic poem templates – over 50 free templates you can print and use with your child to create acrostic poems. Many which are perfect those just starting to write and they can write just one word.
  • More acrostic poem templates – have some which gives written information about acrostic poems and space for the child to write your their acrostic poem. Good for first timers with acrostic poems.

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Do you remember writing acrostic poems as a child?