Hello and welcome to Virtual Kids Create! This is a self-paced version of the monthly kids day we host at the Poetry Center and includes age-appropriate language arts workshops for children from infancy to ten-years-old, developed by our incredible facilitators. February's theme is friendship. The activities include read- and sing-a-longs, and exercises for early and middle elementary students. Feel free to use this as a guide to create your own at-home, structured Kids Create, or pick and choose activities you think the kids in your household might enjoy.

Infant to 3-year-old read-a-loud & sing-a-long:

In this video, Kids Create facilitator Kathy Sutton reads two books: The Perfect Gift by Rowan Henry and The Snail & the Whale by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler:

When you're done, enjoy the following sing-a-long with musician and teacher Gabrielle Pietrangelo. It includes a rendition of a beloved Beatles song and the book Little Blue & Little Yellow by Leo Lionni:

4-6-year-old writing workshop: A Friend Is What Brings You Joy: A lesson on odes & friendship

This writing prompt by facilitator Sophie Daws is inspired by a poem Federico García Lorca wrote to artist Salvador Dalí that begins:

Oh Salvador Dalí of the olive voice!

I speak of what you and your paintings tell me.

In it, kiddos and their favorite adults will brainstorm a friend to write to and compose a poem dedicated to them, highlighting what their friend is good at, dreams of, and how they show up as a kind and caring person.

7-10-year-old writing workshop: Friend-Chip Poems

"What does it mean to be a friend? How is that different than being a best friend?" facilitator Chalese Potts asks in this lesson plan. Young writers will craft poems for a friend, drawing on Potts' poem for her best friend, Samantha:

If I had only one thing  I could say

I'd tell her to stand brave in the face of all her fears

I'd stand beside her, silent and unwavering