“The Teddy Bears’ Picnic” by Jimmy Kennedy

Just in case I forget the words:

“The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”

If you go down in the woods today,

You’re sure of a big surprise.

If you go down in the woods today,

You’d better go in disguise.

For every bear that ever there was

Will gather there, for certain, because

Today’s the day the teddy bears have

Their picnic.

~Jimmy Kennedy~

“There was a Little Girl” by Longfellow

Another classic:

“There was a Little Girl”

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead;

And when she was good she was very, very good,

But when she was bad she was horrid.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow~

“My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson

One of my personal favorites:

“My Shadow”

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow –

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an Indian-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.

~Robert Louis Stevenson~

The Baby’s Playtime Book

Chorao, Kay.  2006.  The Baby’s Playtime Book Dutton Children’s Books (A Division of Penguin), New York.  ISBN 0-525-47576-1.

The images in this book are so inviting that I really want to go to the Teddy Bears’ picnic!

It includes the words to:

“The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”

“There was a Little Girl”

“My Shadow”

and more.

Alligator Pie

Lee, Dennis, pictures by Frank Newfeld. Alligator Pie special edition, Key Porter Books, Toronto, ISBN-13:  978-1-55263-338-0.

This wonderful book of fun children’s poetry puts Canada on the map with naming familiar places like Casa Loma and Kamloops (where they’ll eat your boots!).

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Frost, Robert, illustrated by Susan Jeffers.  1969.  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening E.P. Dutton, New York.   ISBN 0-525-40115-6.   I had never before realized this poem had been made into a children’s book.  The illustrations are beautiful with images of snowflakes, snow covered woods, and all the animals hiding in them.  I think that rhyming for young children is very important in developing language skills because it highlights how one sound can change meaning (minimal pairs).  Sometimes I think the images can take away from a story, but that is not the case here.  Jeffers’ illustrations that accompany Frost’s Stopping by Woods… develop the child’s imagination by having the woodland animals hidden in the woods.  This gives the book an added dimension that is not apparent in the poem itself.

Children, birth to seven.

The Owl and the Pussycat

Lear, Edward, illustrated by Lorinda Bryan Cauley.  1986. The Owl and the Pussycat ISBN 0-399-21254-X.

This was one of my favorite rhymes when I was a child but I didn’t have such wonderful pastel drawings accompanying my copy.  I like the flying fish – something which many people here in North America do not believe actually exist (but they do!).