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Limericks can be very funny, and children will enjoy reading them and creating their own in the classroom. In the UK, they are featured in the National Literacy Strategy (Year 3, Term 3, and again in Year 6, Term 2).
Here are some examples of limericks which were kindly contributed by members of uk.education.staffroom.
| I
went to the staffroom one day For a nice cup of tea during play But a troll had got in And was making a din Even though he had nothing to say. |
There
was a young man from Dealing Who caught the bus for Ealing. It said on the door Don't spit on the floor So he jumped up and spat on the ceiling |
An
artistic male cat called Greebo, |
There
was a young lady from Ickenham Who went on a bus-trip to Twickenham. She drank too much beer, Which made her feel queer, So she took off her boots and was sick-in-'em. |
| There
was an old person of Fratton Who would go to church with his hat on. 'If I wake up,' he said, 'With a hat on my head, I will know that it hasn't been sat on.' |
There
once was an old man from Esser, Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser. It at last grew so small, He knew nothing at all, And now he's a college professor. |
| There
was a young lady from Hyde, Who ate a green apple and died. While her lover lamented, The apple fermented, And made cyder inside her inside. |
A
mosquito was heard to complain, 'A chemist has poisoned my brain!' The cause of his sorrow was paradichloro- triphenyldichloroethane. |
| There
once was a lass in the staffroom... who found a long and thin broom she waved it about with a scream and a shout and cleaned up the whole of her classroom.. |
I
once had a blind date with Cilla. |
There
was an old man from Milan, |
There
was a young man from Dundee, Got stung on the leg with a wasp When asked if it hurt He said no not a bit It can do it again if it likes! |
Activities
1) Ask the children to investigate the structure of a limerick. How many lines does a limerick have? How many syllables are there in each line? What is the rhythm of the limerick like? What is the pattern of rhyming in the limerick?
2) When the children are familiar with the structure of limericks, they could create some of their own. Depending on their age and ability, you might want to provide some starters for them, for example...
There once was a young man called Pete...
There once was a girl from Peru...
You could also provide sets of rhyming words for the children to use in their poems, for example...
Mark, dark, park, spark, lark, bark....
Wales, tales, sales, scales, nails, gales, males, quails, rails...
3) When the children have created their limericks, they could jumble up the lines, and ask their friends to rearrange the limerick back to the correct order (developing their sequencing skills).
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