The Squirrel's Arithmetic Lyrics
A bright-eyed squirrel sits very still on a walnut-tree branch, working a problem over and over: how many nuts he can hide in the hollow tree for winter, and how many his babies could eat. Then he frisks down the tree and decides to gather all he can.
The Squirrel's Arithmetic
High on the branch of a walnut-tree
A bright-eyed squirrel sat;
What was he thinking so earnestly?
And what was he looking at?
He was doing a problem o'er and o'er;
Busily thinking was he
How many nuts for his Winter's store
Could he hide in the hollow tree?
He sat so still on the swaying bough
You might have thought him asleep;
Oh, no; he was trying to reckon now
The nuts the babies could eat.
Then suddenly he frisked about,
And down the tree he ran;
"The best way to do, without a doubt,
Is to gather all I can."
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/the-squirrels-arithmetic/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Tune
- Thoughtful and slow for the sums, then a quick skip for the last verse
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Busily thinking was he | Tap a finger to your forehead and look up, thinking hard. |
| And down the tree he ran; | Run two fingers quickly down your other arm. |
What Does The Squirrel's Arithmetic Mean?
The poem treats a squirrel's nut-storing as a sum. He sits so still on the swaying bough, a branch, that you might think he was asleep, but he is reckoning, which means counting up and working out. The problem is how many nuts he can hide in the hollow tree for his winter store, and he does not forget the babies: he is counting the nuts the babies could eat.
There is no long answer. Having thought it over and over, o'er and o'er in the poem's short form, the squirrel frisks about and goes down the tree with a plan: gather all he can. That is a very squirrel-like sum, since the more nuts the better. Questions open the poem and a decision closes it, which gives it a neat shape for reading aloud: the first verse asks what he is thinking about, and by the last verse we know.
History and Origin
The verse is in Mary O. Ward's songbook for the very young, first made in 1884 and revised in 1911. The book ends it with the credit Modern Instructor.
Learning Activities
- Nut store: count dry beans or buttons into a cup, the squirrel's store, and ask how many it holds.
- Hide and find: hide ten pretend nuts around the room and have the child gather them all, as the squirrel plans to.
- Share the sum: split a handful of beans fairly between two toys and talk about what is fair.
- Watch a squirrel: if there are squirrels nearby, watch what one does with a nut.