Rolly Polly & Banana - My Toddler's First Rhymes

Time flies, so they say, and how! My son is now almost eight, and I clearly remember the day he was born, and the day when I left him at his daycare for the first time, and that when he merrily belted out the first rhyme he had learned at the daycare. He went something like this:

Oi poi oi poi
pup pup pup...

Yes, he was still to learn his proper words (all he could properly pronounce was "Bukka" [=book] and of course, Ma!). I was curious and so his daycare teacher sang along:

Rolly polly rolly polly
Up up up
Rolly polly rolly polly
Down down down
Rolly polly rolly polly
In in in

Rolly polly rolly polly
Out out out

As the words rolled, his tiny arms went up and down and in and out! Oh, what a lovely way to teach my baby his ups and downs and ins and outs!

I found another variation of the rhyme where you push, stretch, pull, and clap instead of going up and down etc.

The next "poem" I remember to be his favourite during his daycare days is one that he learned when he was somewhat older. Thanks to this one, he still loves bananas!

Ba ba ba ba banana
Oh, how I love my banana!
My Mamma gave me a rupee
To buy me a toffee,
But I didn't buy any toffee
I bought myself a banana!

There's a Hole in My Bucket - Henry the Lazy and Liza the Smart!

This children's song was taught by Anant's music teacher last week. He loves it and especially to realize how lazy Henry is and how smart Liza is. While Henry has an excuse ready to avoid every chore, Liza has a remedy ready for each of Henry's excuses! It's a fun song, but it also teaches kids a thing or two about mending, sharpening a knife and much more.

So here you go...

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, fix it.

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With straw, dear Henry, dear Henry, with straw.

The straw is too long, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The straw is too long, dear Liza, too long,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then cut it, dear Henry, dear Henry, cut it.

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I cut it, dear Liza, with what?

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With an axe, dear Henry, dear Henry, with an axe.

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The axe is too dull, dear Liza, too dull.

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Then sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, hone it.

On what shall I sharpen it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

On what shall I hone it, dear Liza, on what?

On a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

With a stone, dear Henry, dear Henry, a stone.

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, dear Liza,

The stone is too dry, dear Liza, too dry.

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

Well wet it, dear Henry, dear Henry, wet it.

With what shall I wet it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

With what shall I wet, dear Liza, with what?

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

try water, dear Henry, dear Henry, water.

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

In what shall I fetch it, dear Liza, in what?

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry,

In a bucket, dear Henry, dear Henry, bucket.

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza,

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza, a hole.

Incy Wincy Spider - English Rhyme and Hindi Too!

This one is another favourite of pre-primary children. I guess it's something to do with the creepy-crawlie spider. All disgusting and interesting at the same time! Here it goes:

Incy Wincy Spider
Climbed Up the Water Spout
Down Came the Rain
And Washed the Spider Out
Up Came the Sun and Dried Up All the Rain
And Incy Wincy Spider Climbed the Spout Again!

Wikipedia tells me that there are other version, one goes "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and another goes "Ipsy Dipsy Spider"! And apparently there is a short film too about this enterprising spider.

And I found this lovely rhyme-in-pictures!

My son also learned the Hindi version of the rhyme at his daycare. It goes like this:




इंसी विंसी मकड़ा ऊपर चढ़ गया
बारिश आई तो नीचे बह गया
फिर धूप निकली तो पानी सूख गया
और इंसी विंसी मकड़ा फिर ऊपर चढ़ गया!

I wonder if there are any other language versions of this little kiddy rhyme!

Learning Colours - The Nursery Rhyme Way

This one is a real nursery rhyme! A perfect one to teach colours to your toddlers! Grab a bunch of crayons and you are ready to sing:


Sticks of colors
Orange, red, 
Yellow, green,
And brown like bread.
Blue like water
In the sea.
Purple like bruises
On my knee.
Black like night
When I'm in bed,
Dreaming in yellow,
Orange, and red.


And I must show you the way to the lovely website where I found this poem. Do visit it, there's much more in store.

There Was An Old Woman Who Ate The Fly!

I have been thinking of adding some new, fun poem this nursery rhyme collection here; a rhyme that not many children have learned. And that's just the kind of poem I stumbled upon yesterday. It's a new rhyme for me and for my son too. And what a fun it is to read! We were really amazed at the old woman who could swallow a whole farm! 





Don't believe me? Then read this:


There was an old woman who swallowed a fly,
I don't know why she swallowed a fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a bird,
How absurd! to swallow a bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cat,
Imagine that! to swallow a cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a dog,
What a hog! to swallow a dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a goat,
Just opened her throat! to swallow a goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old woman who swallowed a horse,
She's dead—of course!

Some versions of the rhyme have "lady" instead of "woman"... like this in this YouTube Video created by a teacher for her class. 


My favourite learning website EnchantedLearning has a whole lot of pages related to this rhyme, including print-and-colour pages, word games, puzzles, and craft.


It seems to be a pretty unknown rhyme, at least among Indian. How many of you knew this one? 

Twinkle Twinkle - The complete Nursay Rhyme For Kids

I guess this one is most popular rhyme... at least in India. Every little child, as soon as it starts going to a play school, and often before that, learns "Twinkle Twinkle'. Most of them are taught only the first stanza, though. That's the length of poems preschoolers are most comfortable with:

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder, what you are

Up, above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky.

As write these lines, I can remember innumerable little kids, children of relatives, friends, friends of friends, and everyone in between, singing the rhyme, enjoying the imagery, with their little fingers opening and closing in that 'twinkle twinkle' gesture! This one is a real fun poem for little children.   

But there is a little more to it, which some learn and some don't. And there are some variations to that 'little more' too. Here is the variation that I had learned when I was a kid. It went like this:

Twinkle twinkle little star

How I wonder, what you are

Up, above the world so high

Like a diamond in the sky.

When the burning sun is set

And the grass with dew is wet

Then you show your little light

Twinkle twinkle all the night!

Does your version matches this one? If it doesn't, I'd love to learn that one too!