The Little Plant Lyrics
A child sows tiny seeds in a raked garden bed, sun and rain help them, and the plant wakes, grows up through the earth and opens into flowers.
The Little Plant
In my little garden bed
Raked so nicely over,
First the tiny seeds I sow,
Then with soft earth cover.
Shining down, the great round sun
Smiles upon it often;
Little raindrops, pattering down,
Help the seeds to soften.
Then the little plant awakes!
Down the roots go creeping.
Up it lifts its little head
Through the brown mould peeping.
High and higher still it grows
Through the summer hours,
Till some happy day the buds
Open into flowers.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-little-plant/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Emilie Poulsson
- Tune
- Finger play, spoken, with hand shapes that grow
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| First the tiny seeds I sow | Curl your fingers with your palm down and drop pretend seeds. |
| Shining down, the great round sun | Raise your arms over your head in a big curve. |
| Little raindrops, pattering down | Drum your fingertips on a table. |
| Up it lifts its little head | Lift your thumb out of your fist, slowly upward. |
| Open into flowers | Turn your palm up and open your curved fingers like petals. |
What Does The Little Plant Mean?
The poem follows a plant from seed to flower. The bed has been raked, and the speaker sows the seeds and covers them with soft earth. The sun smiles on them and the rain helps to soften the seeds. Then the plant awakes, its roots creep down, and its head lifts up through the brown mould, which is crumbly garden soil.
The last verse is the longest wait: the plant grows high and higher through the summer hours until, one happy day, the buds open into flowers. Each step has its own hand shape, so children can grow a flower with their fingers.
History and Origin
Emilie Poulsson wrote the words, and the poem is printed in her book Finger Plays for Nursery and Kindergarten (1889) with music by Cornelia C. Roeske. The book gives a hand shape for each step, such as drumming the fingertips for the raindrops and raising the thumb from the hand for the plant that grows.
It has four verses of four lines, sixteen lines in all.
Learning Activities
- Plant a seed: sow a bean or a flower seed in a pot and check it every day.
- Grow with your hands: make a fist, then grow it into a flower step by step as the verses are read.
- Sun and rain: list what a plant needs to grow and match each need to a verse.
- Flower picture: draw the plant in four stages: seed, sprout, plant and flower.