Hello, poetry friends! It’s time once again for our weekly Children’s Poetry Blog Post Roundup. We’ve gathered the latest happenings and wonderful new ideas from the world of children’s poetry over the past week, and we’re excited to share them with you.
Children’s Poetry Summit
The Announcement concerning our 4th June Blog shared that this week’s main post was published a little later than usual to ensure the prize results could be announced publicly first. That post, Robert Schechter: The Caterpillar Prize Judging, features this year’s Caterpillar Prize judge, Robert Schechter. He shared insights into his judging process, explaining he sought poems with enduring appeal among the thousand anonymous submissions he read. He noted the wide variety of styles and celebrated the passionate community of children’s poets, while also thanking sponsor Rebecca O’Connor.
Danna Smith Book Blog
Danna Smith presented a fun way to make reading even more exciting with her post, Turn Storytime into an Interactive Adventure with Book Bingo! She created a printable bingo card that encourages kids to interact with stories, from exploring books like The Hawk of the Castle to chanting along with Wake Up, Freight Train! This clever game gets young readers moving and thinking creatively.
David L. Harrison
This past week, David L. Harrison shared several interesting updates. In MOPATA speaker, he announced his upcoming presentation, “Fun Steps to Happy Reading,” at the Missouri Parents As Teachers Association’s 10th Annual Retreat, where attendees will receive copies of his book, A Tree is a Community. He also shared a new poetic creation in Well I said I might write a poem, a tribute poem titled “The Wall,” inspired by an oakleaf hydrangea and crafted with a nod to Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice.” Readers can also find the First review of Pumpkin on a Vine, an early reader illustrated by Alice Feagan, available for preorder. In Dr. Sam explains the South Africa project, David provided an update on the Phonics to Meaning (P2M) project led by Sam Bommarito, which includes speakers Tim Rasinski and Mary Jo Fresch, with Minda Marshall as host. Finally, he announced June’s Word of the Month for his poetry challenge as NEW in his post Word of the Month Poetry Challenge for June is…, encouraging poets and students to contribute to Young W.O.M.Poets.
Joshua Seigal
Joshua Seigal shared a new poem this week called “The Form,” which tells the humorous story of a speaker trying to sign a form but finding their own name surprisingly difficult to write correctly.
Kate Williams
Kate Williams had several updates this week! She announced her move to a new platform in Now on Substack, inviting readers to explore her articles loosely connected to her poetry, including her first post, That Novel Inside. She also shared the poem Vision on the Moor, from her animal collection Squeak! Squawk! Roar!, inviting families and schools to enjoy the imagery of red deer on Exmoor, with a link to a YouTube listening experience. Welcoming the summer, Kate celebrated her popular video Summer Grass and also shared her latest YouTube poem, “Summer poem,” originally published in Poems about Seasons (Wayland, 2012), which wonderfully describes the joys of the season.
Linda Kulp Trout
In her post STEAM POWERED POETRY VIDEO, Linda Kulp Trout highlighted the fantastic STEAM Powered Poetry site by Heidi Bee Roemer. This resource offers a wealth of poetry videos, crafts, and activities designed to weave poetry into STEAM learning for PK–8 students, mentioning an annual poetry video contest where the poem “The International Space Station” placed second, and thanking Monica Voelkel.
Live Your Poem
On Poetry Friday, Irene Latham shared her Girl Finds Power / Learning from Elders poem + Revision Notes. She honored influential women in her life and shared the ArtSpeak “WOMEN” poem, along with valuable revision notes from Inked Voices on her poem “Riding with Aunt Jana,” showing how careful adjustments can empower a poem.
My Juicy Little Universe
In her post do read the comments***, Heidi Mordhorst announced a big change this week, shifting her blog from Blogger to Substack. She invited readers to subscribe to her new platform, ensuring her long-standing blog will be preserved. She also introduced June’s Inkling poetry challenge, which invites poets to turn a recent comment into a poem, and shared her own “Advice from the Comments” piece in the Faultline form, thanking a roundup host.
Poetrepository
Mary Lee Hahn shared a lovely, brief post this week titled Summer Is, featuring a small gallery of sunny, summer-themed images to brighten your day.
Poetry Box
Paula Joy Green issued an exciting invitation this week with her Poetry Box June Poem Challenge: Favourite Places, asking poets to write about a beloved spot, near or far. She also shared some wonderful results from the previous month in Poetry Box May challenge: some favourite bird poems, showcasing a lively collection of bird poems from New Zealand students, inspired by Giselle Clarkson’s Omnibird, praising their vivid and musical work.
Salt City Verse
For Poetry Friday, Janice Scully shared The Chit Chat Cafe, a post that blended nostalgic memories of a café in Pacifica with a recent encounter with a fawn in Syracuse, along with a haiku and a painted tribute. She also mentioned an interview with editor Claire Taylor about her writing process after her “ESOPHAGUS” poem was published. This post was hosted by Mona Voelkel.
Shaun Jex
Shaun Jex offered an insightful look into various poetic forms in Dance of the Fireflies: A Look at Haibun. He revisited haiku, senryū, and haiga, and then introduced haibun, a fascinating prose-haiku fusion created by Basho, providing examples and encouraging readers to try their hand at this unique form.
The Poem Farm
And finally, on Poetry Friday, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater invited readers to explore Garden Magic…and a Poetry Peek, encouraging them to blend reality with a touch of magic in nature-inspired poetry. The post featured lovely foxglove imagery and a poem by Liav, created with his grandfather Gerard Sarnat. Mona Voelkel hosted the Poetry Friday roundup, sharing her own poem Sandcastle and inviting contributions.
That’s it for this week. Please check back next week for more poetry goodness!
- Weekly Children’s Poetry Roundup – Saturday, June 6, 2026 - June 6, 2026
- Building Hope, One Flower at a Time - June 4, 2026
- Happy Birthday, U.S.A. - June 1, 2026
