Emotional Intelligence Poetry for Children : Help Kids Express their Feelings

Improve Emotional Intelligence with these EQ Poetry Ideas

Two-voice poems are a wonderful way for children to learn about empathy.

1.Share the following poem with your child

2. Discuss how people can see the same event from completely different points of view.

3. Ask children to work in pairs each taking one point of view of a situation.

4. Together the children can write a two voice poem.

5. Ask each pair to read the poem aloud in two voices.

6. Discuss the different points of view the poems offer.
Shape Poems

1. Ask children to choose a shape such as a teardrop, heart or lightening bolt that represents an emotion to them

2. Children write a poem inside or around the edges of the shape that reflect their feelings

Acrostic Poems
1. Brainstorm different emotions with your students

2. Ask children to write words or phrases that exemplify that emotion beginning with each of the letters of the emotion

3. Children write and illustrate their poems
Children can sometimes express themselves more thoughtfully when writing poetry. Using emotional intelligence poetry as a tool to develop and express emotional intelligence is still quite a new phenomenon in the expressive arts. Eli Greifer, a poet and lawyer initiated a "poemtherapy" class at a hospital in New York City using poems to help those with mental challenges in the 1950's.

Dr. Leedy wrote the first authoritative book on poetrytherapy titled simply
Poetry Therapy. In the early 1980's a gathering of those working in the area was held to devise training and recognition for those working with poetry therapy. They created the National Association for Poetry Therapy in 1997. Poetry therapy can be adapted and some of the benefits can be transferred to the classroom

Check out these great emotional intelligence poetry books for kids!
My Word Wizard Love Poems
A resource for poetry, with areas such as Personification Poems, Love Poems, Educational Poems, Urban Poetry and much more.

Check out Rockin Teen Parties for their Emotional Poems. Teens can also add their own poems to the site.

Some more great pages you might like!

• Stress Strategies

• Self Motivation

• Activities for EQ

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