So now I have ds tied to the rack, which poems shall I force him to learn?

[joanofarchitrave]

We're having a go at Sea Fever - going quite well with frequent diet coke bribes.

Any others that your children have learned?

The other favourite was Sergeant Brown's Parrot.

Sounds like "this is the night mail crossing the border"!

On the Ning Nang Nong...Spike Milligan.
I remember that one well, and taught it to my kids!

DS is learning Blake's The Tyger for school at the moment - the rhythm and the rhyming couplets have made it quite a straightforward task.

Buy /borrow The Rattle Bag - full of amazing poems with various things about them that should appeal to children. I think it was edited by Ted Hughes and Seamus Heaney. Plenty of inspiration there.

Just came on to recommend 'On the ning nang nong' but see it's already been mentioned!

Spike Milligan's "Silly Verses for Kids" or similar

Gargling with Jelly by Brian Patten was a poetry book I loved as a child of that age!

Might be worth taking a look on here - www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do

I love ketchup
I love it just to bits
But my mummy says it's only good on dippy things like chips

So when she isn't looking
I grab it and I squeeeeeeeze
And -oops - it's on my broccoli
My sweetcorn and my peas!

Michael Rosen and Roger McGough did a good book of poetry together - got some great poems for kids in

I love this book of poetry and read it over and over as a child.