31+ Inspiring And Compelling Poems For Young Children

Our picks of inspiring and compelling poems for young children are a brilliant way to begin introducing your little ones to the world of poetry. With a small number of words come a vivid image that captivates young hearts, these poems are like playful whispers that tickle their imaginations. Through the power of language, the verses are carefully written to engage curious minds and create a wonderful world.

Poems for young children are the foundation on which love for words is constructed. Through the repetition of sounds, the playfulness of rhyme, and the vividness of imagery, these verses help kids develop their vocabulary, comprehension, and memory. But beyond that, they’re also tools for building bonds. Whether shared between parents and children, teachers and students, or friends at play, these poems create moments of togetherness and shared joy. They’re the starting point for conversations, giggles, and the foundation of relationships. More than that, these poems for young children encourage little ones to explore their thoughts, emotions, and ideas in a unique and imaginative way. Basically, they become a canvas for self-expression and on which let their creativities take flight.

Overall, these inspiring and compelling poems for young children teach kids that words can be molded into whatever they desire, encouraging them to paint with language and unleash their inner wordsmith which will become a good foundation for their literacy in the future.

1, Help The Children © Mark Koplin

If you could look through my eyes… and see what I’ve seen.
You would see a part of this world… where no child should ever be.
A place full of hate… evil and sin.
Abused little children… tossed aside by their kin.

Mommy and daddy… buying drugs to get high.
A child hungry and beaten… and not knowing why.
So many turn their heads… not wanting to see.
These poor little souls… just wanting to be.

Wanting to be loved… to laugh and to play.
They live all around us… every single day.
Open your eyes… look for clues.
Listen for the yelling… look for the bruise.

We can all do our part… we can help them survive.
Reach out and help these kids… help keep them alive.

2, Children of Ukraine © EDEH Chinedu

Across Eastern Europe 49°N 32°E speed with violence dirge and requiem lost control
Young children of Kiev soaked with tears
And the guardian angel keep watching vaguely and disdained

GUARDIAN ANGEL:what have they done, oh children of Ukraine

Doom awaits Kiev here comes the bird of death from evil forest of Soviet Union
Nemesis have behold the beautiful cities of Ukraine
Taking them back to genesis of their younger days
Through exodus of distress and anguish

GUARDIAN ANGEL: what have they done, oh children of Ukraine

During war life catches anxiously at passed hints of normality
Times When children of Ukraine comes outside to see the beautiful network of stars at night,
Now it a thing of the past, the fear of the evil bird from Soviet technology

GUARDIAN ANGEL: hate cannot win, war can’t bring peace: little ones of Ukraine

A squirt of hate to the creators face
Beauty has lost every piece of it harmony
The air filled with blast fumes of exploded missiles
The guardian angel grief’s for the ruin brought by Soviet Union

GUARDIAN ANGEL: oh Soviet warlord do children of Ukraine deserve these

Here comes the bird of death begotten from evil forest of Soviet technology.
A Trojan wave is too slow, the old man and his friend would have no worries than a friendly Handshake at crescent moon.

GUARDIAN ANGEL: Hope knocks oh children of Ukraine,
It warms the creator heart the pain you go through.

Volodymyr: I just want to put a comment based on what is happening in “borderland” we promise to put things right

Putin: No children of Ukraine should fear of their safety and security.
And no child should be afraid to come outside and play.

3, I Am Worried For Children © Devajit Bhuyan

I am worried for our young children
To play outside they are forbidden
All are now living in virtual eden
Their talents now become hidden
Their horizons some how we must widen;
Children are the hope of our civilization
Their wings should not be clipped in sanitization
Rules of lockdown and social norms need rationalization
Leaders should come forward with new organization
Lockdown is not a permanent rule for standardisation.

4, Life Is Like A Fairytale © William Thomas Fearby

My love is like a river
Flowing gently down to the sea
Bringing life to all around
Bringing love to you and me
So still runs the river
Winding over hill and dale
Reaching out far and wide
Just like a fairytale
A story told to young children
Passed down from a forgotten age
About dragons and wizards
And knights on a rampage
All of life’s little mysteries
Written down for the world to see
illustrated by pictures of beauty
Of castles set in beautiful scenery
Life is just a fairytale
Full of twists and turns
Just like the rivers flowing
Through the brambled burns
Love is carried by the wind
To places far and wide
To the vast open plains
To the banks of the river clyde
So varied is this fairytale
Told to the world over and over again
Stories of love and glory
Tinged with sadness of loss and pain

5, The Picnic © Dorothy Aldis

We brought a rug for sitting on,
Our lunch was in a box.
The sand was warm. We didn’t wear
Hats or shoes or socks.

Waves came curling up the beach.
We waded. It was fun.
Our sandwiches were different kinds.
I dropped my jelly one.

6, Mix a Pancake © Christina Rossetti

Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan;
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake-
Catch it if you can.

7, My Garden © George Cooper

When fields are green, and skies are fair,
And summer fragrance fills the air,
I love to watch the budding rose
That in my pleasant garden grows;
But when old Winter, fierce and free,
Has hushed the murmur of the bee,
And all the fields and hills are hid
Beneath his snowy coverlid,
Oh! then my only garden-spot
Is just this little flower-pot.

8, Baby’s Baking © Evaleen Stein

So, so, spade and hoe,
Little pile of sand;
See it turning into dough
In the baby’s hand!

Little pie with crimpy crust,
Set it in the sun;
Sugar it with powdered dust,
And bake it till it’s done.

9, The Child was Inside © John Wright

I used to watch out the window of the school
where I used to work a young teen child riding her bike
She came just about every day after school was out
Most everyday she was the only one around
no other children from the big neighborhood
could be found anywhere around the playground
Unless of course there was some type of team sport
As I watched this young girl ride with the wind
I could tell she was going somewhere from within
Her smiling face and the imagination were in her eyes
as she did fly like a free bird from her creative mind
from the music she was hearing from inside
I hope for heaven’s sake on earth people don’t
come along and stand on her wings and tell her
that the only way to fly is to join a tribe and
end up burying her creativity and imagination
with her flying wings deeper down inside
covering up her peace and love that did abide

10, The Park © James S. Tippett

I’m glad that I
live near a park

For in the winter
After dark

The park lights shine
As bright and still

As dandelions
On a hill.

11, Children’s Poems © Astrid C

There are many lovely poems
And sayings of lively import.
That are carried in the hearts
And minds of many childlike sort.

Some are created from dreams
Of small people, such as a child.
Others from active adventurous tots,
Accustomed to the call of the wild.

Of many various interesting tongues,
From even exotic earthly climes,
Little people create in play fantasies
That ultimately come together in rhyme.

All these little children have one
Wonderful, fanciful thing in common,
They take from hopes and dreams
What their child’s hearts can summon.

12, February Twilight © Sara Teasdale

I stood beside a hill
Smooth with new-laid snow,
A single star looked out
From the cold evening glow.

There was no other creature
That saw what I could see —
I stood and watched the evening star
As long as it watched me.

13, The First Sleigh-Ride © Evaleen Stein

O happy time of fleecy rime
And falling flakes, and O
The glad surprise in baby eyes
That never saw the snow!

Down shining ways the flying sleighs
Go jingling by, and see!
Beside the gate the horses wait
And neigh for you and me!

14, The First Snow © Evaleen Stein

The snow! the snow! Whoop! Hooray! Ho! Ho!
Plunge in the deep drifts and toss it up so!
Rollick and roll in the feathery fleece
Plucked out of the breasts of the marvelous geese
By the little old woman who lives in the sky;
Have ever you seen her? No, neither have I!

15, The spirit of Christmas © Jane Pesticcio

It’s nearly the Christmas of 2021,
So much shopping and preparing to be done.
Children wearing costumes for nativity plays,
Parents having to watch online these days!

Families decorating their Christmas tree,
Little ones dancing around with glee.
Christmas lights looking magical and bright,
To celebrate the birth of Jesus on Christmas night.

There’s no more sitting on Santa’s knee,
Young ones kept at a distance for their safety.
Everythings booked on the Internet,
Better be quick so not to regret.

Shopping made easier by ordering online,
Parcels being delivered all of the time.
A new Christmas is beginning to evolve,
With safety as the key our problems to solve.

God sent his son to show us the way,
His light shines upon us with grace to this day.
So let the true spirit of Christmas enter your heart,
With kindness and love right from the start.

16, The Frosted Pane © Evaleen Stein

When I wakened, very early,
All my window-pane was pearly
With a sparkling little picture traced in lines of shining white;
Some magician with a gleaming
Frosty brush, while I was dreaming,
Must have come and by the starlight worked through all the quiet night.

He had painted frosty people,
And a frosty church and steeple,
And a frosty bridge and river tumbling over frosty rocks;
Frosty mountain peaks that glimmered,
And fine frosty ferns that shimmered,
And a frosty little pasture full of frosty little flocks.

It was all touched in so lightly
And it glittered, oh, so whitely,
That I gazed and gazed in wonder at the lovely painted pane;
Then the sun rose high and higher
With his wand of golden fire
Till, alas, my picture vanished and I looked for it in vain!

17, A Baby-Sermon © George MacDonald

The lightening and thunder
They go and they come;
But the stars and the stillness
Are always at home.

18, Baby Doll © Mother Goose

Hush, baby, my dolly, I pray you don’t cry,
And I’ll give you some bread, and some milk by-and-by;
Or perhaps you like custard, or, maybe, a tart,
Then to either you’re welcome, with all my heart.

19, The Little Plant © Kate L. Brown

In the heart of a seed,
Buried deep, so deep,
A dear little plant
Lay fast asleep!

“Wake!” said the sunshine,
“And creep to the light!”
“Wake!” said the voice
Of the raindrop bright.

The little plant heard
And it rose to see
What the wonderful
Outside world might be.

20, Snowflakes © Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Out of the bosom of the Air.
Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,
Over the woodlands brown and bare,
Over the harvest-fields forsaken,
Silent and soft and slow
Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take
Suddenly shape in some divine expression,
Even as the troubled heart doth make
In the white countenance confession,
The troubled sky reveals
The grief it feels

This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.

21, “Hurt No Living Thing” © Christina Rossetti

Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.

22, Happiness © A. A. Milne

John had
Great Big
Waterproof
Boots on;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Hat;
John had a
Great Big
Waterproof
Mackintosh —
And that
(Said John)
Is
That.

23, Taking Turns © Norma Farber

When sun goes home
behind the trees,
and locks her shutters tight-

Then stars come out
with silver keys
to open up the night.

24, Little Things © Julia A. Carney

Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

So our little errors
Lead the Soul away,
From the paths of virtue
Into sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.

25, To a Bee © Maude Keary

Busy Bee, busy Bee, where are you going?
Down where the bluebells are budding and blowing,
There I shall find something hidden and sweet
That all little children are willing to eat!
Busy Bee, busy Bee, what will you do?
Put it into my pocket, and save it for you!

26, Trees © Sara Coleridge

The Oak is called the King of trees,
The Aspen quivers in the breeze,
The Poplar grows up straight and tall,
The Peach tree spreads along the wall,
The Sycamore gives pleasant shade,
The Willow droops in watery Glade,
The Fir tree useful timber gives,
The Beech amid the forest lives.

27, Day’s End © Henry Newbolt

Night is come,
Owls are out;
Beetles hum
Round about.

Children snore
Safe in bed;
Nothing more
Need be said.

28, Rain © Robert Louis Stevenson

The rain is raining all around,
It falls on field and tree;
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.

29, Woodpecker in Disguise © Grace Taber Hallock

Woodpecker taps at the apple tree.
“Little bug, open your door,” says he.
Little bug says, “who is it, sir?”
Woodpecker says, “The carpenter.”

30, Singing © Robert Louis Stevenson

Of speckled eggs the birdie sings
And nests among the trees;
The sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.

The children sing in far Japan,
The children sing in Spain;
The organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.

31, I Have to Have It © Dorothy Aldis

I need a little stick when I
Go walking up the street.
To poke in cracks as I go by
Or point at birds up in the sky
Or whack at trees we meet.

I need a stick to zim along
The fences that we pass;
I need a stick for dragging through
the gravel or the grass.

My father says there cannot be
A single doubt about it:
I have to have a stick with me.
I cannot walk without it.