I have been teaching children how to write three word poems for a long time. The poems are super short and such fun to write. They have only three sentences. Each of the three sentences contains a theme word supplied by a teacher, adult or another child. Let me walk you through how children create the poems.  I also want to share with your some wonderful printables!  I have made Creative Writing Prompts- Fall Poem Printables that your children use to compose their three word poems on.

The first step for  parent or teacher is to select a bunch of words. (I try to select six to eight words.) The words are related to a theme. Most of the words are nouns. I try to throw in some adjectives and verbs too.

Children select three of the words to create a poem around.  Then they will write a sentence for each of the words.  Depending on the children you may want to encourage them to write sentences of a certain length. You may also want to have them include a word that describe the noun or the verb in their sentence.You may choose to give a lot of guidelines or none at all that is really up to you.

Tips for Using the Creative Writing Prompts Printables

• I have only placed three lines to write sentences on on the printables. If your children write short or medium size sentences, they will be all you need. If your children write long sentences, you may have to add another line. JDaniel wrote one really long sentence! He really needed an extra line.
• You may want to have your children share each sentence with your orally before they write it down. Sometimes children catch grammar errors when they say them. When it is time to write them, they will probably revise them to have them make sense.
• Sharing a three word poem that you have written can help get kids creative juices flowing. You may want your poem to be based on similar theme. I have found that when it is on the same theme children poems are similar to mine.
• Younger children can dictate their poem to you.  After you have written it down, you can have them read it with you. Don’t let the fact they can’t write well keep them from creating poetry.If you like this writing idea, I think you will love the writing prompts from 3 Dinosaurs and ABC Creative Learning.Free Apple Writing Prompts from 3 DinosaursFall Creative Writing Prompts from P is for Preschooler