Inside: 27 bubbly ocean poems for kids to get ready for your beach vacation!
Poetry for kids is such a cute and fun way to get them engaged in writing concepts and other learning concepts, as well as to have fun ways to incorporate creativity in their world.
Ocean poetry for kids can be a super exciting way for them to get to know the world around them and have fun reading all about it. There are different ways to make them applicable to their lives, and if you have the ideas, I have the poems! We make a great team.
Whether you’re teaching kids in a classroom about the wonders of the ocean or if you’re having fun with your own kids and introducing them to the idea of the ocean before a beach trip or visit to the aquarium, there are all kinds of poems to fit what you’re looking to accomplish with these poems today.
I hope you and your kids enjoy these poems about the ocean as much as I do, I just think they’re so cute and so fun, and sure to engage and entertain your kiddos.
What Is The Ocean Poem?
Though not specifically written for children, one of the most famous poems written about the ocean in general, and would be a beautiful one to share with the kids regardless of who it was written for.
“The Ocean” by Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a lovely image of the sounds and sights of the ocean, and it really is one of the most famous poems to do so, so it would feel like a crime to leave it off of this list!
Nathaniel Hawthorne mainly wrote long form stories as well as short form stories and poetry. So all in all, he wrote a little bit of everything as well as a lot of long form stories. But he really has a way with description words that still translate today as beautiful and soft prose, in the way a lot of poetry from his time doesn’t.
It feels elegant and easy to read while feeling all of the whimsical ways that the ocean is perceived. He’s ultimately a romance writer, so this makes perfect sense for his genre and the way that he tells a story and describes an instance with ease and beauty.
Nathaniel Hawthorne poetry is a great poet to introduce to your kids in their transitional years from strictly kids poetry to higher comprehension poetry.
Where To Find Children’s Poetry
Finding quality children’s poetry can be a challenge. The internet is a great tool, but it has also become so over-saturated with content that isn’t always up to the quality you desire and are looking for– especially when it comes to educational purposes.
So where do you find the best children’s poetry around?
The Children’s Poetry Archive is some of the best poetry that I have found for children around. It features new and relatively undiscovered poets as well as famous and renowned writers. They may not all be known for poetry for kids necessarily and specifically, but they do filter it to poems that are appropriate content wise as well as reading level wise for the children that will be reading it.
My other favorite place to find it is on the Poetry Foundation website. This is all around my favorite poetry site, but it has a tag to filter to just children’s poetry that is appropriate and relevant to the audience. They also have several fun learning activities for kiddos to stretch their mind with reading prompts and exploration-encouraging types of ideas and concepts.
Check them out if you haven’t already, I know that you’ll like what you find!
Ocean Poems For Kids
1. Pirate Pete
Pirate Pete
had a ship on the sea
had a fish for his tea
had a peg for a knee
and a tiny little parrot called…Polly
Pirate Pete
had a book with a map
had a skull on his cap
had a cat on his lap
and another little parrot called…Dolly
Pirate Pete
had a trunk full of treasure
had a belt made of leather
had a cap with a feather
and another little parrot called…Jolly
Pirate Pete
had a patch on his eye
had a flag he would fly
had a plank way up high
and another little parrot called…Molly
So, Pirate Pete
and the parrots four
they sailed the world
from shore to shore –
collecting gold
and gifts galore.
And that’s their tale –
there is no more!
2. Seaview Haiku
Bright as butterflies
With folded wings, the windsurfs
Skim across the bay.
3. Five Ocean Friends
5 little ocean friends
swimming near the ocean floor.
The yellow fish swam away, and that left four.
Four little ocean friends,
together in the sea.
The tuna fish splashed away, and that left three.
4. Sea Animals
What do you see in the sea?
Animals moving free!
Snails and blue whales
using their tails.
Seals and gulper eels
searching for their meals.
Catfish, flatfish
chasing fat fish.
Bass and wrasse
swimming in mass.
Hagfish, hogfish
trailing dogfish.
What do you see in the deep blue sea?
Animals moving free!
5. Scary Shark
I’m a scary shark, just look at me.
I can be found swimming in the sea.
I like to eat fish, and some sea otters.
I’m not picky when it comes to my meals.
If I break a tooth, it will grow right back.
So, I don’t worry about, what I have for a snack!
I’m a scary shark, just look at me.
I can be found swimming in the sea.
6. Seashell
Shell at my ear –
come share how I hear
busy old sea in whispers.
Moans rise from ancient depths
in ocean sighs
like crowds of ghost monsters.
Waves lash and fall –
in roars and squalls
with all a mystery ahhh!
7. A Walk By The Sea
I went for a walk
Alone by the sea
But the water kept me company.
I whispered to it
As I walked on its sand
And told it of all the things I planned.
It whispered to me
As I walked on its shore
And told me secrets from long before.
I went for a walk
With my friend the sea
And we kept each other company.
8. I’m a Little Lobster
I’m a little lobster
Hard and red.
I have a tail.
My name is Fred,
When I go out to sea,
I rest my head
On the sand and coral bed.
9. One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught A Fish Alive
One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Then I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
This little finger on the right.
Kids Poetry
10. I Like The Ocean
I like the ocean, I like the sea.
I like the water splashing on me!
11. The Ocean
The Ocean has its silent caves,
Deep, quiet, and alone;
Though there be fury on the waves,
Beneath them there is none.
The awful spirits of the deep
Hold their communion there;
And there are those for whom we weep,
The young, the bright, the fair.
Calmly the wearied seamen rest
Beneath their own blue sea.
The ocean solitudes are blest,
For there is purity.
The earth has guilt, the earth has care,
Unquiet are its graves;
But peaceful sleep is ever there,
Beneath the dark blue waves.
12. How to be an ocean
Begin as the laughter of stars. as ice.
waltz lazy orbits around the rock with no name
and watch, and watch. here; a planet is being born.
a heartbeat starts—hydrogen gasps—you melt.
Becoming water is like the pitch of your voice changing
overnight. an ache when you say your old name out loud.
your songs are different now: muffled from the sea-floor,
and when the moon calls, you learn the steps of the dance.
The moon winks flirtations / and you reflect them back.
the moon whispers in abalone / and you reply in chalky white.
at night she tugs at you, rumpling the tides like sheets
and curling into a blurry crescent until your waves soften.
And one day a voice says wódr or ὕδωρ or aqua or water:
which means being a horizon dreamt in blue, which means
crests of wave reaching for the moon, storm and still and anything
inbetween, because sea-slosh sounds the same to every ear.
A girl stands on the ocean and does not drown. you draw
the shape of her name in coastlines, give her shells and seasalt.
she will ask you how to be an ocean / and as the tide comes in
you will laugh and say my first breath was a flood.
13. A Walk by the Sea
I went for a walk
alone by the sea
but the water kept me company.
I whispered to it
as I walked on its sand
and told it of all the things I planned.
It whispered to me
as I walked on its shore
and told me secrets from long before.
I went for a walk
with my friend the sea
and we kept each other company.
14. The Sea of Sunset
This is the land the sunset washes,
These are the banks of the Yellow Sea;
Where it rose, or whither it rushes,
These are the western mystery!
Night after night her purple traffic
Strews the landing with opal bales;
Merchantmen poise upon horizons,
Dip, and vanish with fairy sails.
15. Sail Away
Early in the day it was whispered that we should sail in a boat,
only thou and I, and never a soul in the world would know of this our
pilgrimage to no country and to no end.
16.Ocean Of Life
Ships that pass in the night, and speak
each other in passing.
Only a signal shown and a distant voice
in the darkness;
So on the ocean of life we pass and speak
one another,
Only a look and a voice, then darkness
again and a silence.
17. The Beach Create
Louder than gulls the little children scream
Whom fathers haul into the jovial foam;
But others fearlessly rush in, breast high,
Laughing the salty water from their mouthes–
Heroes of the nursery.
The horny boatman, who has seen whales
And flying fishes, who has sailed as far
As Demerara and the Ivory Coast,
Will warn them, when they crowd to hear his tales,
That every ocean smells of tar.
18. Take Me Out to The ocean
Take me out to the ocean,
Take me out to the sea.
Show me the foamy waves
rolling there
As I breathe in the salty air!
Let me look, look, look at the
Ocean
See the sea and explore
For it’s fun to dive from the top
To the ocean floor!
Ocean Poems
19. The Ocean
Blue and turquoise
Complexion of beauty,
Waves that move so soft and smooth,
In a gust of wind,
Picks you up in inspiration,
Of whom you are as a person.
Deep and mellow is the ocean,
To everything below sea level,
Thoughts of interest,
May provoke this feeling of greatness,
Don’t be afraid,
Of what the ocean may offer.
Hold yourself in the moment of the feeling,
Of how good the touches of the waves feel on your body.
Only imagine what would happen,
If the ocean would take you,
And then only think of what a new and exciting adventure,
You may behold on a journey through an ocean.
20. Sand
Sand at the beach
Sand at the shore,
Sand in the ocean
On the ocean floor
Sand in the desert
Sand on the ground
Sand in a sandstorm
Blowing around!
Sand from rock that has crumbled into grains
Sand in a sand dune
Shaped by wind and rains
Sand on an island
Sand in the sea
Sand in a sandbox
For you and me
21. A Seashore Song
The little waves of water
Ripple over the thirsting sands;
The little shafts of sunlight
Sail off to distant lands.
The little clam and seashells
Are ships to the ocean blue
The seashells are the captains
And the clam shells are the crew
22. Octopus
The arms on the octopus number eight.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
All curled up, then pointing straight,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
In the ocean, octopuses wait,
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
For clams and crabs to put on their plate!
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!
23. In The Sea
If I’d been born a whale
No happier could I be
Swimming, splashing, spy hopping
Roaming the open sea.
If I’d been born a lobster
No happier could I be
Crawling along the ocean floor
Living in the sea.
If I’d been born a seahorse
No happier could I be
Swimming among the rocks and plants
At the bottom of the sea
But I was born a human and
No happier could I be
Because I can swim in the ocean
And see what’s in the sea.
24. Take Me Out To The Ocean
Take me out to the ocean,
take me out to the sea
There goes a dolphin and a starfish
Now, I can’t even count all of these fish!
So, let’s swim, swim, swim.
Underwater.
Try not to wake all the sharks.
For the ocean is
so pretty and cool.
Can we please stay til dark?
25. Five Little Houses
Five little children,
hand in hand
went to dig
in the yellow sand.
Five little castles,
trim and neat,
soon were standing
at their feet.
Five little starfish,
standing near,
said, “five little houses!
Let’s live here!”
26. Sand Castle
At the beach I built a castle.
I made it of wet sand
that I scooped up with my shovel
and patted smooth by hand.
I made a wall around it
and a pretty seashell door,
but I watched my castle tumble
when the ocean rushed ashore!
27. The Stars Above The Sea
Far, far away on mystery greets
Another vast and high,
The infinite of water meets
The infinite of sky.
The stars are singing hymns of calm
Above the sea’s unrest;
Can ever that majestic psalm
Dwell in the ocean’s breast?
What far horizon dim and low
The sweet solution finds,
Where earth’s tumultuous yearnings know
The peace of heavenly minds?
And still the sky’s imperial grace
The tossing ocean mars;
We cannot see the meeting place,
But we can see the stars.
There is so much to be explored about the ocean, I feel like I learned something new too about it just from researching these poems for you. How crazy is that? The world is so big and so vast, to introduce your kids to the concept of a deep and wide ocean through an in depth form like poetry is so precious, and I hope the creative wording and verbiage really made it easy for them to grasp a cool and crazy concept like nature.
As you collect poetry for your kids, I hope you’ve found several that you like here, to utilize however you plan to share with them.
Exposing children to creative writing young is so important. It allows their minds to wander and play with the different creative concepts that they are formed to understand and learn about. This opens a whole new world for them to poetry, and that’s something that should be valued early on.
If you have a sports fan on your hands, and want to share some poems with them that pique their interests, try these 11 football poems for kids. I think they’ll love them!
