Snip, snap crocodile Tr-z -Z
Poems + action and other rhymes for children
The
robin
The
rose is red
The
snake
The
swallow
The
swing
The
tadpole
The wind came out to play one day
The
winds they did blow / The squirrel
The
woodpecker
The
world is full of colour
There
are big waves
There
was a little robin
Time
to rise
Thistledown
Three
jolly gentlemen
This is
the boat, the golden boat
Tippety, tippety tin
To let
The
night will never stay by Eleanor Farjeon
Have fun with this
collection; it’s a great way to:
• increase verbal
skills, expand vocabulary and horizons
• interact with a
partner or larger groups and understand turn taking
• learn to follow
or synchronize actions with each other
• learn to start
and stop and discover the value of rules
• use children’s
natural response to rhythm and rhyme
• sharpen
listening skills
• improve memory
• continue the
tradition of children’s verse from this and other countries
• be creative,
there are many opportunities change words or actions, add verses, use different
voices or change
roles
• above all to
have lots of tremendous fun – even the most timid child will follow the rhyme
and with the group
soon begin to join in.
The rhymes and
poems below are part of ‘Away we go!’
compiled and illustrated by Dany Rosevear
Last updated: 8/3/2020
3:05 PM
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To watch and listen
to the rhyme click on the title at:
©
Dany Rosevear 2012 All rights
reserved
You are free to
copy, distribute, display and perform these works under the following
conditions:
·
you must
give the original author credit
·
you
may not use this work for commercial purposes
·
for
any re-use or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of
this work
·
any of
these can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder
Your fair use and
other rights are no way affected by the above.
The robin 🔊 A poem by Lawrence Alma-Tadema - 1864-1940 from
‘Songs of Womanhood’ published 1903. It was set to music by Herbert Wiseman
for ‘A third 60 songs for little children’ OUP
1960. |
When father takes his spade to dig, Then Robin comes along; He sits upon a little twig, And sings a little song. Or, if the trees are rather far, He does not stay alone, But comes up close to where we are, And bobs upon a stone. |
The rose is red 🔊 A song for St. Valentine’s day adapted from the
traditional rhyme by Dany Rosevear who also added the tune. |
The rose is red, The violet blue, The pink it is sweet, And so are you! The rose is red, red, The violet blue, blue, The pink it is sweet, so
sweet, And so are you! |
The snake 🔊 A poem by Karla Kuskin from ‘Dogs &
Dragons/Trees & Dreams’ published by Harper & Row, 1980. Lovely and
simple with lots of alliteration. Set to music by Dany Rosevear. It can also be used as a hand play with hand pointed
and arm moving like the snake, don’t forget to stop and smile. |
A snake slipped through the thin green grass, A silver snake, I watched it pass; It moved like a ribbon, Silent as snow I think it smiled As it passed my toe. |
The swallow 🔊 A seasonal poem by Christina Rossetti. It can be
used as a hand play. Set to music by Dany Rosevear. 1. Cross hands at the wrist and flap, hand makes
wave motion. 2. Shape sun, hands to cheek. 3. Beckon wth hand. 4. Throw hands
out, wiggle fingers upwards. |
Fly away, fly away, over the sea, Sun-loving swallow, for summer is done; Come again, come again, come back to me, Bringing the summer and bringing the sun. |
The swing O Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
many delightful poems for children. Find out more about this Scottish poet
at: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/robert-louis-stevenson The tune is written by
Dany Rosevear. |
How do you like to go
up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the
pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over
the wall, Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle
and all Over the countryside. Till I look down on the
garden green, Down on the roof so
brown- Up in the air I go
flying again, Up in the air and down! |
The tadpole 🔊 The wonder of changing life. A poem by Elizabeth E. Gould. Melody by Dany Rosevear. |
Underneath the water-weeds Small and black, I wriggle, And life is most surprising! Wiggle! waggle! wiggle! There's every now and then a most Exciting change in me, I wonder, wiggle! waggle! What I shall
turn out to be! |
The wind came out to play one day 🔊 This traditional rhyme has been adapted and set to
‘a familiar tune’ by George Linley from ‘50 Nursery songs and rhymes’
published 1864. Music by Dany Rosevear. I have a feeling I sang it
to a different tune in my early days of teaching but cannot recall it. 1. Make sweeping movements with arms. 2. Flutter
fingers. 3. Lift arms then lower them. 4. Sweep arms again. |
The wind came out to play
one day. He swept the clouds out of
his way. He blew the leaves and
away they flew. The trees bent low and
their branches did too! The wind blew the great
big ships at sea. The wind blew my kite away
from me. |
The Moon’s the North
Wind’s cookie 🔊 A lovely song to sing as a lullaby
as it conjures up a delightful picture in the mind. A poem by Vachel Nicholas Lindsay
(1879-1931) Music from Burl Ives CD ‘Folk Lullabies’. |
The Moon's the North Wind's cookie. He bites it, day by day, Until there's but a rim of scraps That crumble all away. The South Wind is a baker. He kneads clouds in his den, And bakes a crisp new moon that…greedy North...Wind...eats...again! |
The winds they did blow / The squirrel 🔊 This traditional rhyme has been adapted and set to
‘a familiar tune’ by George Linley from ‘50 Nursery songs and rhymes’
published 1864. Music arranged by Dany Rosevear. I have a feeling I
sang it to a different tune in my early days of teaching but cannot recall
it. |
The leaves they did wag, Along came a beggar boy, And put me in his bag. He took me up to London town, A lady did me buy, She put me in a silver cage, And hung me up on high; With apples by the blazing fire, And nuts for to crack, Besides a little feather bed, To rest my little back. |
The woodpecker 🔊 Listen out for the innimitable woodpecker and watch
for the holes it makes in trees. A poem by Elizabeth Madox Roberts. Tune by Dany
Rosevear. 1.
Hold up arm and tap left palm with right forefinger. 2. Hold circled thumb
and forefingers to eyes. Make fist with beak into a head. Point to head and
neck. 3. Wiggle fingers downwards. Make hands ‘streak’. 4. Roll arms. Snuggle
fist to arm ‘pole’. |
The woodpecker pecked out a little round hole, And made him a house in the telephone pole. One day as I watched he poked out his head, He had on a hood and a collar of red. When the streams of rain pour out of the sky, And the flashes of lightening go streaking by And the big, big wheels of thunder roll, He can snuggle back in his telephone pole! |
The world is full of colour 🔊 An Autumn poem by Adeline White. Music by Dany Rosevear. |
The world is full of
colour! 'Tis Autumn once again And leaves of gold and
crimson Are lying in the lane. There are brown and yellow
acorns, Berries and scarlet haws, Amber gorse and heather Purple across the moors! Green apples in the
orchard, Flushed by a glowing sun; Mellow pears and brambles Where coloured pheasants
run! Yellow, blue and orange, Russet, rose and red — A gaily-coloured pageant —
An Autumn flower bed. Beauty of light and
shadow, Glory of wheat and rye, Colour of shining water Under a sunset sky! |
There are big waves 🔊 A poem by the wonderful children’s poet Eleanor
Farjeon. Music by Dany Rosevear. Make
hands move like different kinds of waves and voice respond to the sound of
the different waves. |
There are big waves and little waves, Green waves and blue, Waves you can jump over, Waves you dive through. Waves that rise up Like a great water wall, Waves that swell softly And don't break at all. Waves that can whisper, Waves that can roar, And tiny waves that run at you Running on the shore. |
There was a
little robin 🔊 A poem by Wilhelmina Seegmuller. Music by Dany Rosevear. |
There was a little
robin Sat singing in a tree;
From early morn till
dark he sang— "The world was
made for me." |
Thistledown 🔊 How lovely is this?! A poem by Patience Strong
from the ‘Nursery versery’ collection
published 1948. Music by Dany Rosevear. |
Thistledown, thistledown, Where are you going, Borne on the breath of the sweet summer’s breeze? Floating along with the wind gently blowing, Out of the garden and over the trees. |
Three jolly gentlemen O
A poem by Walter de la Mare presumably about the
hunting fraternity.
Melody by Dany Rosevear.
Three jolly gentlemen in coats of red, Rode their horses up to bed. Three jolly gentlemen snored till morn, While their horses chomped on the golden corn. Three jolly gentlemen at break of day, Came clitter-clatter down the stairs and galloped
away. |
This is the boat, the golden boat
A
traditional rhyme that conjures up brilliant images. Sometimes the little men
are ‘fairy’ or ‘ferry’ men.
The
last four lines are written by Mary
Thienes Schunemann in ‘Sing a song with baby’.
Line 1. Cup hands together and make them sway 2. Move
hands like the waves 3. Interlace fingers with palms up 4. Lower and raise
fingers 5. Show ten fingers 6. Fingers run 7. Interlace fingers with palms up
8. Lower and raise fingers 9. Cup hands together and make them sway 10. Move
hands like the waves 11. Make a circle with thumbs and forefingers 12. Wiggle
fingers 13. Cup hands together and make them move forward 14. Lift hands and
cross them on the heart 15. Move hands like the waves
This is the boat, the
golden boat,
That sails on the silvery
sea.
These are the oars of
ivory white,
That lift and dip, that
lift and dip.
Here are the ten little
sailor men,
Running along, running
along,
To take the oars of ivory
white
That lift and dip, that
lift and dip,
That move the boat, the
golden boat,
Over the silvery sea.
Here is the moon so big
and round,
That shines on the boat
That is homeward bound;
Back to the harbour safe
and sound,
From its sail on the
silvery sea.
Time to rise 🔊
A
poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.
1. With clenched fist open
and close thumb and forefinger. 2. Same hand jumps on outstretched thumb of the
other hand. 3. Drop hand to right. 4. Shake finger.
A birdie with a yellow
bill
Hopped upon my window
sill,
Cocked his shining eye
and said:
"Ain't you 'shamed,
you sleepy-head!"
An old West Somerset rhyme once recited in homes locally after eating
pancakes. A little research suggests this song was known more widely in the
West country including Cornwall and Exmoor in Devon with associated
rituals. |
Tippety, tippety Tippety, tippety tin, Give me a pancake And I will come in. Tippety, tippety Tippety, tippety toe, Give me a pancake And then I will go. |
To let 🔊 A Spring poem about the wonders of new life. Words by D.
Newey-Johnson. Melody by Dany Rosevear. |
Two little beaks went
tap, tap, tap! Two little shells went
crack, crack, crack! Two fluffy chicks
peeped out, and oh, They liked the looks of
the big world so. They left their houses
without a fret, And two little shells
are now to let! |
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