Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat Lyrics
Four lines in which a bat flies above the world "like a tea-tray in the sky". It is Lewis Carroll's twist on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, sung by the Mad Hatter in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat
Twinkle, twinkle, little bat!
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/twinkle-twinkle-little-bat/
- Type
- Poems for Children
- Written by
- Lewis Carroll
- First published
- 1865
- Tune
- Sung to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
- Best for ages
- 4 to 10 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Twinkle, twinkle, little bat | Open and close both hands like twinkling lights. |
| How I wonder what you're at | Tilt the head and look up with one hand over the eyes. |
| Up above the world you fly | Flap the arms slowly like wings. |
| Like a tea-tray in the sky | Hold both hands out flat, like carrying a tray. |
What Does Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat Mean?
The first two lines are copied from the famous star poem with two small changes. A star becomes a bat, and the question "How I wonder what you are" becomes "what you're at", which is an everyday way to ask what someone is up to. Up above the world flies the bat, and Carroll's last joke is the picture: against the night sky a bat might look like a flat, flying tea-tray, a tray for carrying cups.
The words fit the tune of the star song exactly, so children can sing it straight away and enjoy the wrong word arriving in a familiar spot.
History and Origin
The model for the parody is Jane Taylor's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, first published in 1806. Carroll wrote the bat version into the same book of 1865 that holds the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat.
In the story it comes up at the Mad Tea-Party in chapter 7, when the Hatter tells Alice that he sang it at a concert given by the Queen of Hearts.
Learning Activities
- Sing both: sing the star song and then the bat song, and find the words that changed.
- Your own twinkle: make up a third version, such as twinkle twinkle little bee, and pick a funny comparison for the last line.
- Tea-tray picture: draw a bat holding a tray of cups, or carry a real tray very carefully across the room.
- Night sky watch: look out of the window at dusk for flying animals and talk about what a bat looks like against the sky.