Poor Little Toddlekins Lyrics
A sympathetic grown-up pities a baby who is covered in 'sketer-bites', mosquito bites in baby talk. The bites bother the little one terribly, and the buzzing, tickling and nipping keep the baby awake all night.
Poor Little Toddlekins
Poor little Toddlekins,
All full o' sketer-bites -
Bodder him awful,
Baby can't sleep o' nights.
Buzzing all over him,
Singing and tickling,
In and out, round about,
Nipping and prickling.
Poor little Toddlekins,
All full o' sketer-bites -
Bodder him awful,
Can't even sleep o' nights!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/poor-little-toddlekins/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Rhymes for Babies
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- A soft, sing-song lullaby voice, with a droop on 'can't sleep o' nights'
- Best for ages
- 0 to 4 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Buzzing all over him, | Wiggle your fingers in the air like a buzzing insect, then land them gently on a knee. |
| Nipping and prickling. | Make a tiny pinch with finger and thumb on your own arm, very lightly. |
What Does Poor Little Toddlekins Mean?
The poem is spoken in baby talk to a little one who is having a bad night. Toddlekins is a pet name for a toddler. Sketer-bites is how a small child might say mosquito bites, and bodder him awful means bother him awfully. The verb lines (buzzing, singing, tickling, in and out, round about, nipping and prickling) copy what the insects do, so the poem sounds a little like a buzz around the ear.
It is one short stanza and it circles back on itself: the first four lines come again at the end, with the last line changed from Baby can't sleep o' nights to Can't even sleep o' nights! That return is why it works as a soft, rocking comfort rhyme. The speaker never scolds. All the poem does is feel sorry for the baby, and that is exactly what a worn-out child wants to hear.
History and Origin
Mary Mapes Dodge printed this baby-talk poem in Rhymes and Jingles (1874). Its spellings, such as sketer, bodder and o', show how a baby or a little child might say the words.
Learning Activities
- Buzz and land: make a buzzing sound and fly a finger around the child before landing it softly on a knee or a hand.
- Baby talk, grown-up talk: say sketer-bites, then say mosquito bites, and talk about how small children say big words.
- Sleepy repeat: say the poem three times, each time a little softer, until the last time is a whisper.
- Net and screen: talk about the ways a family keeps insects away at night, such as a screen on the window.