Through the Year Lyrics
Four short verses walk through the seasons in order. Spring has birds building nests, summer has flowers and hay-making, autumn has golden corn gathered in, and winter has snow, sleigh-bells and merry boys.
Through the Year
With March comes in the pleasant spring,
When little birds begin to sing;
To build their nests, to hatch their brood,
With tender care provide them food.
And summer comes with verdant June;
The flowers then are in full bloom,
All nature smiles, the fields look gay;
The weather's fine to make the hay.
September comes: the golden corn
By many busy hands is shorn;
Autumn's ripe fruits, an ample store,
Are gathered in for rich and poor.
Winter's cold frost and northern blast -
This is the season that comes last:
The snow has come, the sleigh-bells ring,
And merry boys rejoice and sing.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/through-the-year/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Tune
- A steady, even walk with one verse for each season, getting slower at winter
- Best for ages
- 4 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| When little birds begin to sing; | Open and close your hand like a beak. |
| The snow has come, the sleigh-bells ring, | Shake a pretend string of bells above your head. |
What Does Through the Year Mean?
The poem is a tour of one year in four verses, and each verse shows what is happening outdoors in that season. In spring, with March, the little birds begin to sing and to build their nests and hatch their brood (their young), with tender care that gives them food. Summer comes with verdant June, which means fresh green June; the flowers are in full bloom, and it is fine weather for making hay. In autumn, from September, the golden corn is shorn, or cut, by many busy hands, and the ripe fruits are gathered in for everyone.
Winter is the last season, with cold frost and a northern blast, but the verse ends with sleigh-bells and merry boys singing. The poem names only three months, March, June and September, and leaves winter's month unnamed. It is easy to learn because each verse has four lines that rhyme in pairs: spring and sing, brood and food.
History and Origin
This verse of the four seasons is in a songbook for small children that Mary O. Ward compiled in 1884, in the edition updated in 1911.
Learning Activities
- Four seasons walk: stand in four spots in a room, one for each season, and act out what the verse says.
- Season pictures: fold paper into four and draw one scene for each season.
- Month chant: say the twelve months and ask which season each belongs to where you live.
- Nest watch: in spring, look for a bird carrying twigs or grass to build a nest.