Introduces limericks to a young, elementary audience and offers practice with limericks using fill-in-the-blanks.

1. Limericks
Short, silly
rhyming
poems
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-rN3DGMCsE

2. About Limericks
• Limericks probably refer to the County of
Limerick in Ireland.
• They have five lines.
• The first two lines rhyme. The next two lines
rhyme. The last line rhymes with the first two
lines. This pattern is called AABBA.

3. Edward Lear
Edward Lear
published Book
of Nonsense in
1845!
*He wrote 212
limericks!

4. There was an old man with a beard, (A)
Who said, It is just as I feared!— (A)
Two owls and a hen, (B)
Four larks and a wren, (B)
Have all built their nests in my beard! (A)

6. There was a young pig by a cradle (A)
Who was feeding her babe with a ladle. (A)
The broth reached his chin (B)
When she spooned too much in, (B)
So she taught him to swim in that cradle. (A)

7. Limerick Mad Libs
Based on the rhyming pattern and the
illustration, can you guess what the blank
rhyme should be?

8. There was an old pig from New York
Who dined without knife, spoon, or ______
Each time he ate peas,
They rolled down to his _______
That pea-splattered pig from New York.
FORK
KNEES

9. There was a young pig who, in bed,
Nightly slumbered with eggs on his _____.
When the sun at its rise
Made him open his _______,
He enjoyed a quick breakfast in bed.
HEAD
EYES

10. There was a smart pig who was able
To make use of his three-legged ______.
He accomplished this trick
Standing stiff as a ______,
To be leg number four of that table.
TABLE
STICK

11. Now you try!
• Grab a blank Limerick Mad Lib sheet and ask
other students to fill in the blanks.
• Take turns with others completing your
rhymes.