“Dare to love yourself
as if you were a rainbow
with gold at both ends.”

– Aberjhani

Learning how to write a haiku is quite simple. It is a fun way to introduce kids to writing poetry. Most kids love to write a Haiku, because they consist of only 3 lines. 🙂

A Haiku is a form of Japanese Poetry. Typically, haikus are written about nature, but they can be about any topic. To write a haiku, you need to follow a very specific syllable structure:

Line 1: 5 syllables

Line 2: 7 syllables

Line 3: 5 syllables

This is a wonderful way to reinforce learning syllables.

Steps To Write A Haiku

  1. Read haiku.  Read lots of haiku to learn the rhythm and pattern. Check out books from the library with haiku poetry. They usually have beautiful photography to accompany the poems.

    Play this educational game. It teaches vocabulary, syllabication, and rhyming which are skills needed to create a haiku.

  1. Select a topic. I like to select a topic in nature such as flowers, but you can select funny topics too. One way to help children select a topic is to give them a nature picture like from an old calendar.

  1. Use this printable, starter template to brainstorm and plan your Haiku.

  2. Use this printable template to create your Haiku and follow the correct pattern.

  3. Illustrate your haiku and share.

Here are some Haiku poems written by some 8 years old I taught.

Birds

Birds like to eat food

Birds fly. They die. They have a beak.

Birds eating catfish.

Trees

They sway in the breeze

They are green, very pretty

The sun helps them grow

Flowers

Bloom in the summer

Flowers, beautiful petals

Opening green buds

These children wrote these haiku poems in minutes with lots of guessing and checking different words to make the syllables fit the haiku pattern; so, if they can do it, your children can do it too. I’ve had children from 1st grade all the way through high school write a haiku. Writing a haiku is for all ages. 🙂

April is National Poetry Month. It’s a great time to introduce your children to poetry and how to write a haiku. However, I think anytime is a good time to write a haiku. Kids love to write them and illustrate them.

Did your kids enjoy this? I’d love to know. You can even share their haiku with me; I’d love to read it.

Let’s make a positive difference~ one word at a time.

♥Pamela

Please share this article with others that you think would benefit from these tips. Also, please ask any questions that you may have about teaching children reading or writing. Leave your questions in the comments. I’ll answer. :)

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