Prep: 2-5 Minutes / Activity Time: 15-20 Minutes

By the end of the book Giraffes Can’t Dance, everyone realizes that Gerald the Giraffe is an amazing dancer! To celebrate Gerald, help your child write an acrostic poem that describes him. An acrostic poem is a type of poetry where the first letters of each line spell out a word or phrase.

  • paper
  • crayons, pencils and/or markers

Step 1: With your child, choose a word that describes Gerald. Examples may include words like dancer, happy, tall or boy. Write or help your child write this word with the letters going down the side of the page. Make sure there is space to the right of each letter, so that one or more words will fit on each line. For example:

T
A
L
L 

Step 2: For each letter, come up with a word that begins with that letter. Each word can be about Gerald or the words all together can be a phrase that describes Gerald. For example:

Truly
A
Loving
Life of the party

Step 3: Encourage your child to draw a picture that illustrates the poem.

Instead of making an acrostic poem, just identify words that describe Gerald. Help your child write one or more of the words and encourage her to add illustrations.

Use longer words for the acrostic poem, like giraffe.