A House of Cards Lyrics
A little house of cards is easy to knock down: shake the table and it falls. The second verse builds it again, one court card at a time, and ends by saying that shaking the table is the fun.
A House of Cards
A house of cards
Is neat and small
Shake the table,
It must fall.
Find the Court cards
One by one;
Raise it, roof it, -
Now it's done: -
Shake the table!
That's the fun.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/a-house-of-cards/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Christina Rossetti
- Tune
- Light and careful for the building, with a shake and a laugh at the end
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Shake the table, It must fall | Wobble both hands in the air, then drop them with a flop. |
| Raise it, roof it | Lift your hands up slowly and join them in a point like a roof. |
What Does A House of Cards Mean?
The poem has two moods, careful and cheeky. In the first verse the house of cards is "neat and small", and a single shake of the table brings it down. In the second verse it is built again. Court cards are the picture cards of a pack, the king, queen and jack, so the builder looks for those "one by one" and then "raise[s] it, roof[s] it" until "now it's done".
The ending is honest about what children enjoy: the pleasure is not only in building the house but in shaking the table to see it fall. A card house is a lesson in patience and gentleness, and the shake is the release.
History and Origin
Christina Rossetti, the English poet, published Sing-Song, a book of verses for young children, in 1872, and this is one of them.
Learning Activities
- Build a card house: with an old pack, let the child try to balance two cards against each other and add a roof, with plenty of patience.
- The big shake: when the house falls, say the last line together and clap.
- Count the cards: sort the cards into hearts, spades, diamonds and clubs and count how many each pile has.
- Block house: try the same game with building blocks and compare which falls faster.