April is Poetry Month, and while poetry is made of words, numbers rule their rhyming. Think about Dr. Seuss books, where two lines in a row rhyme: “Knox in box / Fox in socks.” Since the first 2 lines rhyme, then the 3rd and 4th rhyme, we call that an a-a-b-b pattern. But sometimes not all the lines rhyme, and the patterns can get more complicated. Check out some of those patterns in the questions below!
Wee Ones: If you say “big wig pig,” how many rhyming words do you have?
Little Kids: Try to think of 4 words that rhyme with your first name. Then say the whole set 5 times fast! Bonus: If you want to write a poem with 10 lines, and you’ve written 2 lines, how many more lines do you need to write?
Big Kids: If you think up 7 3-letter rhyming words, how many letters do those words have in total? Bonus: Poems called “sonnets” have 14 lines, while “haikus” have just 3. On which day do you write more lines, a 10-sonnet day or a 20-haiku day?
Answers:
Wee Ones: 3 rhyming words.
Little Kids: Different for everyone…see if you can rhyme with your name! Bonus: 8 more lines.
Big Kids: 21 letters. Bonus: The sonnet day has more lines: 140 lines v. 60 lines.
