Poems about animals - Poetry for children

elephant poems for children

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elephant poems for kids

Eletelephony
By Elizabeth Howe Richard

Once there was an elephant,
Who tried to use the telephant--
No! no! I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone--
(Dear me! I am not certain quite
That even now I've got it right.)

Howe'er it was, he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk;
The more he tried to get it free,
The louder buzzed the telephee--
I fear I'd better drop the song
Of elephop and telephong!)

bat poems for children

The Bat

by Theodore Roethke

By day the bat is cousin to the mouse.
He likes the attic of an aging house.

His fingers make a hat about his head.
His pulse beat is so slow we think him dead.

He loops in crazy figures half the night
Among the trees that face the corner light.

But when he brushes up against a screen,
We are afraid of what our eyes have seen:

For something is amiss or out of place
When mice with wings can wear a human face.

The Bat

by Douglas Florian
Beast Feast : Poems
The bat is batty as can be.
It sleeps all day in cave or tree,
And when the sun sets in the sky,
It rises from its rest to fly.
All night this mobile mammal mugs
A myriad of flying bugs.
And after its night out on the town,
The batty bat sleeps upside down.

funny bird poems

Woodpecker
by Meish Goldish on Wikipedia
buy 101 Science Poems for children (Grade1-3)
Meish Goldish

Woodpecker, woodpecker,
Peck! Peck! Peck!
Drill with your bill
And bob your neck!

Peck out a hole
In the trunk of a tree.
Peck out a nest
For all to see.

Cling to the wood
With your sharp clawed feet.
Peck through the bark
And find bugs to eat!

Woodpecker, woodpecker,
Peck! Peck! Peck!
Drill with your bill
And bob your neck!

Ostrich

by Meish Goldish on Wikipedia

Do you know the world's largest bird?
Aw - it's the ostrich!
What bird is eight feet tall? My word!
Aw - it's the ostrich!
Who moves fifteen feet in a single step?
Who runs forty miles an hour with pep?
Who roars like a lion, hisses like a snake,
And weichs 300 pounds, for heaven's sake?
Aw - it's the ostrich!

Birds
by Meish Goldish

Look at the bird
Up in the treetop,
Building its nest
With no time to stop.

Hatching its eggs
So smooth and so round,
Then feeding its babies
Worms from the ground.

Look at the bird
With beak for a mouth.
When it gets cold,
The birds will fly south.

When it gets warm,
The bird will return.
Let's watch how the birds live,
And see what we learn!

To Be a Bird

by Aileen Fisher on Wikipedia

I wish I could fly
through the sky with ease
and try all the seats
in the boughs of trees,

And look from a perch
on the highest steeple
at streets full of
upside-down cars and people.

bugs poems for kids

The Bug
by Marjorie Barrows

And when the rain had gone away
And it was shining everywhere,
I ran out on the walk to play
And found a little bug was there.

And he was running just as fast
As any little bug could run,
Until he stopped for breath at last,
All black and shiny in the sun.

And then he chirped a song to me
And gave his wings a little tug,
And that's the way he showed that he
Was very glad to be a bug!

Beetle

by Sylvia Gerdtz

A little beetle passed me by,
He didn't make much fuss,
He ran around my garden
Like a tiny yellow bus.

The Ants
by Douglas Florian
Douglas Florian books
Ants are scantily
Half an inch long,
But for their size
They're very strong.
Ants tote leaves
Five times their weight
Back to their nest
At a speedy rate.
They walk on tree limbs
Upside down
A hundred feet
Above the ground,
While down below
Beneath a mound
They're building tunnels
Underground.
And so it's been
And it will be
Since greatest
Ant antiquity.

Ladybug
by Joan Walsh Anglund

A small speckled visitor
Wearing a crimson cape,
Brighter than a cherry,
Smaller than a grape.

A polka-dotted someone
Walking on my wall,
A black-hooded lady
In a scarlet shawl.

cat poems for children

Cats
Eleanor Farjeon on Wikipedia

Cats sleep
Anywhere,
Any table,
Any chair,
Top of piano,
Window-ledge,
In the middle,
On the edge,
Open drawer,
Empty shoe,
Anybody's
Lap will do,
Fitted in a
Cardboard box,
In the cupboard
With your frocks -
Anywhere!
They don't care!
Cats sleep
Anywhere.

Cat Bath
by Aileen Fisher

After she eats,
my purry friend
washes herself
from end to end.

Washes her face,
her ears, her paws,
washes the pink
between her claws.

I watch and think
it's better by far
to splash in a tub
with soap in a bar

And washcloth in hand
and towel on the rung
than to have to do all
that work by tongue.

Cat Kisses

by Bobbi Katz
Bobbi Katz Author Pages
Sandpaper kisses
On a cheek or a chin -
That is the way
For a day to begin!

Sandpaper kisses -
A cuddle, a purr.
I have an alarm clock
That's covered with fur.

My Cat
by Stuart Stotts
Complete Selection of Stuart Stotts Books
My cat hunts
out in the front
for birds and bugs
and mice and slugs.
He crouches low
moves very slow
silent and black;
he prepares to attack.
flexes his paws
curls his claws.
he's ready to spring
when his collar bells ring.
The bird flies up
as my cat jumps.
He misses again.
So he comes on in
and begs to be fed
with canned food instead.

children dinosaur poems

Long Gone
by Jack Prelutsky
Jack Prelutsky on Wikipedia
Don't waste your time in looking for
The long-extinct tyrannosaur,
Because this ancient dinosaur
Just can't be found here anymore.

This also goes for stegosaurus,
Allosaurus, brontosaurus
And any other saur or saurus.
They all lived here long before us.

Dreamscape
by Lillian M. Fisher

A giant came into my dream
And thundered to and fro.
As thender-lizareds often do
He traveled high and low.
He shool the hills and mountaintops
And spilled the seven seas.
He drank eleven rivers,
He ate a hundred trees.
But even thunder-giants sleep -
He wandered off to find his bed.
I didn't notice where he went,
I simply, quickly, woke instead!

Video reading Margret Hiller books for kids

Dinoaur

by Margaret Hillert

The dinosaur,
The dinosaur,
Was once
But isn't
Anymore.

If it were,
You must agree,
Then you
And I
Just wouldn't be.

I confess
It's much more pleasant
To know
That he's
The one who isn't.

Lines on a Small Potato

by Margaret Fishback

Reflect upon the dinosaur,
A giant that exists no more.
Though brawny when he was alive,
He didn't manage to survive,
Whereas the unimpressive flea
Continues healthy as can be;
So so not whimper that you're small -
Be happy that you're here at all.

From Company

by Bobbi Katz

I'm fixing a lunch for a dinosaur.
Who knows when one might come by?
I'm pulling up all the weeds I can find.
I'm piling them high as the sky.
I'm fixing a llunch for a dinosaur.
I hope he will stop by soon.
Maybe he'll just walk down my street
And have some lunch at noon.

penguin poems for children

Penguin Poem

by William Jay Smith

Penguin, I think it must be very nice
To stroll about upon the ice,
Night and day, day and night,
Wearing only black and white,
Always in your Sunday best -
Black tailcoat and pearl-white vest.
To stroll about so pleasantly
Beside the cold and silent sea
Would really suit me to a T!
I think it must be very nice
To stroll with penguins on the ice.

Consider the Penguin

by Lucy W. Rhu

He's smart as can be -
Dressed in his dinner clothes
Permanently.
You never can tell
When you see him about,
If he's just coming in
Or just going out!

In Praise of Penguins

by Robin Bernard

These funny birds in fancy clothes
may waddle in the snow,
but when they reach the icy sea
just watch how fast they go!

Their song sounds like a donkey's bray,
they cannot soar or fly,
yet penguins manage very well,
and let me tell you why . . .

Their feathers keep out water,
their blubber keeps out cold,
wheir wings make perfect paddles
because they do not fold!

Their tails are good for steering,
they brake with both their feet -
So tell me know, from all you've heard . . .
Aren't penguins NEAT?

turtle poems

The Turtle
Jack Prelutsky

The turtle's always been inclined
to live within his shell.
But why he cares to be confined,
the turtle does not tell.

The turtle's always satisfied
to slowlycreep and crawl,
and never wanders far outside
his living room or hall.

So if you wish to visit him
in his domestic dome,
just knock politely on his shell,
you'll find the turtle home.


"I am Home," Said the Turtle
by John Ciardi

"I am home," said the turtle, as it pulled in its head
And its feet, and its tail. "I am home, and in bed.

"No matter what inches and inches I roam,
When the long day is done, I am always at home.

"I may go whole feet . . . even yards . . . in a day,
But I never get lost, for I'm never away

"From my snug little house and my snug little bed.
Try being a turtle! - That's using your head!

"You can go on forever, no matter how far,
And whatever you need is wherever you are!"

("Is there one thing I miss when I'm snuggled in tight?
Yes: there's no room for someone to kiss me good night.")


The Congo and Other Poems
by Vachel Lindsay (on Kindle for free)

The Little Turtle
by Vachel Lindsay

There lived a little turtle,
He lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle.
He climbed on the rocks.

He snapped at a mosquito.
He snapped at a flea.
He snapped a minnow.
And he snapped at me.

He caught the mosquito.
He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow.
But he didn't catch me.

whale poems for children

Whale Sailing
Helen H. Moore

Would you go for a sail
On the back of a whale?
Would you sail through the ocean, so blue?

There's a lot you could see
(If the whale would agree)
It's more fun than a trip to the zoo!

So please take the chance,
if the chance you should get,
You'll get mighty wet,
But it's worth it, you bet,
Just be sure to rub on suntan lotion!

An Invitation

by Maria Fleming

Let's take a trip, just you and me,
Through the blue and sparkling sea.
I'll give you a ride upon my tail.
You'll see what it's like to be a whale.
We'll leap and dive and chase the fish,
Then swim and splash as long as we wish.
And when we're done and playing in the icy deep,
We'll let the waves rock us to sleep.

I'm a humpback whale,
I'm very strong
I leap about and sing this song.
I like to eat my fill in the Northern Sea.
But in the winter it's South I flee.

I am a beluga,
I'm all white.
From head to tail I'm quite a sight.
You can hear me singing way up north,
Playing and swimming back and forth.

I'm a mighty orca
Black and white.
In the sea I'm a beautiful sight.
I'm not very big, but I am sleek
I hunt for my food cause I have teeth.

Famous poems for children - famous poetry for kids

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Poetry4kids -

Jabberwocky

By Lewis Carroll

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!"
He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogroves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.



Jonathan Bing

By Betrice Curtis Brown

Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went out in his carriage to visit the King,
But everyone pointed and said, "Look at that!
Jonathan Bing has forgotten his hat!"
(He'd forgotten his hat!)

Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and put on a new hat for the King,
But by the palace the soldier said, "Hi!
You can't see the King; you've forgotten your tie!"
(He'd forgotten his tie!)

Poor old Jonathan Bing,
He put on a beautiful tie for the King,
But when he arrived, and Archbishop said, "Ho!
You can't come to court in pajamas, you know!"

Poor old Jonathan Bing
Went home and addressed a short note to the King:
"If you please will excuse me, I won't come to tea;
For home's the best place for all people like me!"



The Story of Fidgety Philip

By Heinrich Hoffman

"Let me see if Philip can
Be a little gentleman;
Let me see if he is able
To sit still for once at table":
Thus Papa bade Phil behave;
And Mama looked very grave.

But fidgety Phil,
He won't sit still;
He wriggles,
And giggles,
And then, I declare,
Swings backwards and forwards,
And tilts up his chair
Just like any rocking-horse-
"Philip! I am getting cross!"

See the naughty, restless child
Growing still more rude and wild,
Till his chair falls over quite.
Philip screams with all his might,
Catches at the cloth, but then
That makes matters worse again.
Down upon the ground they fll,
Glasses, plates, knives, forks and all.

How Mama did fret and frown,
When she saw them tumbling down!
And Papa made such a face!
Philip is in sad disgrace.

Where is Philip, where is he?
Fairly covered up you see!
Cloth and all are lying on him;
He has pulled down all upon him.
What a terrible to-do!
dishes, glasses, snapped in two!
Here a knife, and there a fork!

Philip, this is cruel work.
Table all so bare, and ah!
Poor Papa, and poor Mama
Look quite cross, and wonder how
They shall have their dinner now.


Granpa Dropped His Glasses

By Leroy F. Jackson

Granpa dropped his glasses once
In a pot of dye,
And when he put them on again
He saw a purple sky.
Purple fires were rising up
From a purple hill,
Men were grinding purple cider
at a purple mill.
Purple Adeline was playing
With a purple doll;
Little purple dragon flies
Were crawling up the wall.
And at the supper-table
He got crazy as a loon
From eating purple apple dumplings
With a purple spoon.


Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee

By Mildred Plew Meigs

Ho, for the Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee!
He was as wicked as wicked could be,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see!
The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

His conscience, of course, was as black as a bat,
But he had a floppety plume on his hat
And when he went walking it jiggled - like that!
The plume of the Pirate Dowdee.

His coat it was handsome and cut with a slash,
And often as ever he twirled his mustache
Deep down in the ocean the mermaids went splash,
Because of Don Durk of Dowdee.

Moreover, Dowdee had a purple tattoo,
And struck in his belt where he buckled it through
Were a dagger, a dirk, and a squizzamaroo,
For fierce was the Pirate Dowdee.

So feaful he was he would shoot at a puff,
And always at sea when the weather grew rough
He drank from a bottle and wrote on his cuff,
Did Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

Oh, he had a cutlass that swung at his thigh
And he had a parrot called Pepperkin Pye,
And a zigzaggy scar at the end of his eye
Had Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

He kept in a cavern, this buccaneer bold,
A curious chest that was covered with mould,
And all of his pockets were jingly with gold!
Oh jing! went the gold of Dowdee.

His consience, of course it was crook'd like a squash,
But both of his boots made a slickery slosh,
And he went throught the world with a wonderful swash,
Did Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.

It's ture he was wicked as wicked could be,
His sins they outnumbered a hundred and three,
But oh, he was perfectly gorgeous to see,
The Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee.


The Highwayman

By Alfred Noyes


The wind was a torrent of darkness
among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon
tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight
over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding,
up to the old inn door.

He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead,
a bunch of lace at his chin;
A coat of the claret velvet,
and breeches of brown doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle:
his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle,
his rapier hilt a-twinkle,
His pistol butts a-twinkle,
under the jeweled sky.

Over the cobbles he clattered
and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters,
but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window,
and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot
into her long black hair.

And dark in the dark old inn-yard
a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened;
his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollows of madness,
his hair like moldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter--
the landlord's red-lipped daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened,
and he heard the robber say--

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart;
I'm after a prize to-night,
but I shall be back with the yellow gold
before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply,
and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight,
though hell should bar the way."

He stood upright in the stirrups;
he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair i' the casement!
His face burnt like a brand
As the black cascade of perfume
came tumbling ov'er his breast,
And he kissed its waves in the moonlight,
(Oh sweet black waves in the moonlight!),
Then he tugged at his reins in the moonlight,
and galloped away to the West.

He did not come in the dawning;
he did not come at noon.
And out o' the tawny sunset,
before the rise o' the moon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon
looping the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching--
Marching--marching--
King George's men came marching,
up to the old inn-door.

They said no word to the landlord;
they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her
to the foot of her narrow bed;.
Two of them knelt at her casement,
with muskets by their side!;
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Bess could see, through her casement,
the road that he would ride.

They had bound her up at attention,
with many a sniggering jest!
hey had tied a rifle beside her,
with the barrel beneath her breast!
Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say --
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight,
though hell should bar the way."

She twisted her hands behind her,
but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers
were wet with sweat or blood!
they stretched and strained in the darkness,
and the hours crawled by like years,
ill, now, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold, on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it!
The trigger at least was hers!

The tip of one finger touched it;
she strove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention,
with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing,
she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight
throbbed to her love's refrain.

Tlot tlot; tlot tlot! Had they heard it?
The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tlot tlot, tlot tlot, in the distance!
Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight,
over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding
Riding, riding!
The redcoats looked to their priming!
She stood up straight and still.

Tlot tlot, in the frosty silence!
Tlot tlot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer!
Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment,
she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight--
Her musket shattered the moonlight--
Shattered her breast in the moonlight
and warned him--with her death.

He turned, he spurred to the West;
he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the musket,
drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it,
and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight,
and died in the darkness there.

Back, he spurred like a madman,
shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him
and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon,;
wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway,
with the bunch of lace at his throat.

And still on a winter's night, they say,
when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon
tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road a ribbon of moonlight
over the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman comes riding,
up to the old inn-door.

Over the cobbles he clatters
and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters,
but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window,
and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Bess, the landlord's daughter,
Plaiting a dark red love-knot
into her long black hair.

Poems about Stars - poetry planets universe moon sun

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Poetry4kids - poems about stars

The Star

By Jane Taylor

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveller in the dark -
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.