ShelSilverstein.com
By Mieke VanderBorght,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Poetry exploration site is a bit limited but a nice start.
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What’s It About?
SHELSILVERSTEIN.COM offers plenty of information about Shel, fun animations featuring characters from each of his books, and opportunities to buy his books. In the kids' section, kids can play a few limited poetry games based on Shel's poetry (like name that poem or write your own ending to Shel's poem), color in a few characters, print or download Shel's drawings, or send a Shel-themed ecard to a friend. The teachers and parents sections feature valuable printouts for learning about poetry and \"Shelebrating\" poetry month offline.
Is It Any Good?
Though it functions much as an advertisement for his books, ShelSilverstein.com is a nice addition for kids already enamored by Shel's poetry or as an entertaining way to introduce potential admirers to his often-quirky world. Kids who know Shel's poems will likely enjoy the games, but game content doesn't change (the featured poems are always the same), so kids will quickly exhaust the offerings. Only one game allows kids creative license to create their own poems.
However both the site and Shel's poems do have the potential to get kids excited about poetry and reading. And though the printables are also strictly focused on Shel's poetry, they offer great ways to introduce kids to poetry fundamentals like rhyme and rhythm, types of poems, and stimulate poetry discussion and creation. In all, ShelSilverstein.com, with heavy support from its printables, offers a decent launching pad for further poetry exploration.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how the poem type (rhyming or not rhyming, shaped poem, etc.) affects the overall feeling of a poem.
Where might Shel have found inspiration for his poems? Where might you find inspiration for writing poetry?
What other poets or poems do you know? How are their styles the same or different from that of Shel Silverstein?
Website Details
- Subjects: Language & Reading : discussion, reading, storytelling, writing, Arts : rhythm
- Skills: Creativity : brainstorming, imagination, making new creations, producing new content
- Genre: Fan Sites
- Topics: Magic and Fantasy , Adventures
- Pricing structure: Free
- Last updated: August 19, 2021
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