Over in the Meadow Lyrics
A counting story from one to twelve: in each verse an animal mother says one word, such as 'Wink' or 'Swim', and her little ones do exactly that. This is the twelve-verse form printed in 1906.
Over in the Meadow
Over in the meadow,
In the sand, in the sun,
Lived an old mother-toad
And her little toadie one.
"Wink!" said the mother;
"I wink," said the one:
So she winked and she blinked
In the sand, in the sun.
Over in the meadow,
Where the stream runs blue,
Lived an old mother-fish
And her little fishes two.
"Swim!" said the mother;
"We swim," said the two:
So they swam and they leaped
Where the stream runs blue.
Over in the meadow,
In a hole in a tree,
Lived a mother-blue-bird
And her little birdies three.
"Sing!" said the mother;
"We sing," said the three:
So they sang, and were glad,
In the hole in the tree.
Over in the meadow,
In the reeds on the shore,
Lived a mother-muskrat
And her little ratties four.
"Dive!" said the mother;
"We dive," said the four:
So they dived and they burrowed
In the reeds on the shore.
Over in the meadow,
In a snug beehive,
Lived a mother-honeybee
And her little honeys five.
"Buzz!" said the mother;
"We buzz," said the five:
So they buzzed and they hummed
In the snug beehive.
Over in the meadow,
In a nest built of sticks,
Lived a black mother-crow
And her little crows six.
"Caw!" said the mother;
"We caw," said the six:
So they cawed and they called
In their nest built of sticks.
Over in the meadow,
Where the grass is so even,
Lived a gay mother-cricket
And her little crickets seven.
"Chirp!" said the mother;
"We chirp," said the seven:
So they chirped cheery notes
In the grass soft and even.
Over in the meadow,
By the old mossy gate,
Lived a brown mother-lizard
And her little lizards eight.
"Bask!" said the mother;
"We bask," said the eight:
So they basked in the sun
On the old mossy gate.
Over in the meadow,
Near the post-road sign,
Lives a gray mother-owl
And her little owlies nine.
"Hoot!" said the mother;
"We hoot," said the nine:
So they hooted and they tooted
Near the post-road sign.
Over in the meadow,
In a cozy little den,
Lives an old mother-squirrel
And her little squirrels ten.
"Munch!" said the mother;
"We munch," said the ten:
So they munched and they crunched
In the cozy little den.
Over in the meadow,
Where the grass touches heaven,
Lives an old mother-lark
And her little larkies eleven.
"Soar!" said the mother;
"We soar," said the eleven:
So they soared and they soared
Up, up into heaven.
Over in the meadow,
Where the gray rocks shelve,
Lives a mother-dragon-fly
And her little dragons twelve.
"Hum!" said the mother;
"We hum," said the twelve:
So they hummed in the sun
Where the gray rocks shelve.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/over-in-the-meadow/
- Type
- Counting Rhymes, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Olive A. Wadsworth
- Tune
- A bouncing tune of its own in the 1906 book, sung with a new action every verse
- Best for ages
- 2 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Wink! said the mother | Wink one eye. |
| Swim! said the mother | Make swimming strokes with both arms. |
| Sing! said the mother | Open the mouth and sing a high note. |
| Dive! said the mother | Hold the hands together and dive them forward. |
| Buzz! said the mother | Buzz like a bee and flutter the hands like wings. |
| Caw! said the mother | Call like a crow and flap the arms. |
| Chirp! said the mother | Rub the palms together for a cricket's chirp. |
| Bask! said the mother | Lie back and stretch out in the sun. |
| Hoot! said the mother | Cup the hands round the mouth and hoot. |
| Munch! said the mother | Pretend to nibble a nut. |
| Soar! said the mother | Spread the arms and swoop upward. |
| Hum! said the mother | Hum with the lips closed. |
What Does Over in the Meadow Mean?
Every verse has the same shape. The first line names the meadow, the second says where in it the family lives, the third introduces the mother and the fourth her little ones, and the number goes up by one each time. Then she says one word, the little ones answer, and they do it: the toad winks, the fish swim, the blue-birds sing, the muskrats dive, the honey-bees buzz, the crows caw, the crickets chirp, the lizards bask, the owls hoot, the squirrels munch, the larks soar and the dragon-flies hum.
That pattern is what makes it a good counting game. A child who knows the story can guess what comes next, because the number is always the last word of the fourth line: one, two, three, up to twelve. The action words give the child something to do on every verse, so no one has to keep still for twelve verses.
History and Origin
This page uses the 1906 book Over in the Meadow, published by the Morgan Shepard Company of New York, with words by Olive A. Wadsworth and music by Mabel Wood Hill. A note to the children in the book explains who wrote what: Olive A. Wadsworth wrote the original verses, and the last four, about the owls, squirrels, larks and dragon-flies, are new verses by Marguerite Richardson Wood, written because a certain little boy liked to hear about baby owls, squirrels, larks and dragon-flies.
So this edition has twelve verses, more than the ten-verse versions most children know. If you only want to count to ten, you can stop after the squirrels and leave the larks and dragon-flies for another day.
Learning Activities
- Act each verse: choose a different action for each verse and let the child lead, as the mother does.
- Finger counting: hold up the right number of fingers at the end of each verse, from one up to ten, then use both hands and the toes for eleven and twelve.
- Guess the animal: do the action only, say nothing, and ask which animal it belongs to.
- Draw a meadow: draw twelve families, one verse at a time, and count the babies in each.