Poems and Rhymes to read together at home
Try to learn some by heart!
EYFS
The Pancake
Mix a pancake,
Stir a pancake,
Pop it in the pan.
Fry the pancake,
Toss the pancake,
Catch it if you can.
Christina Rossetti
If you should meet a crocodile
If you should meet a crocodile Don’t take a stick and poke him; Ignore the welcome in his smile, Be careful not to stroke him. For as he sleeps upon the Nile, He thinner gets and thinner; And whene’er you meet a crocodile He’s ready for his dinner.
Christine Fletcher
The Tadpole
Underneath the water-weeds,
Small and black, I wriggle,
And life is most surprising!
Wiggle! waggle! wiggle!
There’s every now and then a most
Exciting change in me,
I wonder, wiggle! waggle!
What I shall turn out to be.
by Elizabeth Gould
Traditional Rhymes
Hickory Dickory Dock Rhyme
Hickory dickory dock The mouse ran up the clock The clock struck one The mouse ran down Hickory dickory dock
The Grand old Duke of York
The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. When they were up, they were up And when they were down, they were down And when they were only halfway up They were neither up nor down.
Jack and Jill poem and story
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water Jack fell down and broke his crown And Jill came tumbling after. Up got Jack, and home did trot As fast as he could caper He went to bed and bound his head With vinegar and brown paper.
Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey, Along came a spider, Who sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away.
Sing a Song of Sixpence
Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye, Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. When the pie was opened the birds began to sing, Oh wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king? The king was in his counting house counting out his money, The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes, When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose!
Humpty Dumpty
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King’s horses, And all the King’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again!
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Twinkle twinkle little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Ring a Ring O’ Roses Ring-a-ring o’ roses, A pocket full of posies. A tishoo! A tishoo! We all fall down.
One, two, buckle my shoe
One, two, buckle my shoe Three, four, open the door Five, six, pick up sticks Seven, eight, lay them straight Nine, ten, a good, fat hen
Pat-a-Cake
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can, Pat it and prick it and mark it with B, And bake it in the oven for baby and me.
Year 1
Grandpa
Grandpa’s hands are as rough as garden sacks
And as warm as pockets.
His skin is crushed paper round his eyes
Wrapping up their secrets.
by Berlie Boherty
I Heard a Bird Sing
I heard a bird sing In the dark of December. A magical thing And sweet to remember.
“We are nearer to Spring Than we were in September,” I heard a bird sing In the dark of December.
by Oliver Herford
Silverly
Silverly,
Silverly,
Over the Trees
The moon drifts
By on a
Runaway Breeze.
Dozily,
Dozilyl
Deep in her
Bed,
A little girl
Dreams with the
Moon in her
Head.
by Dennis Lee
Mud
I like mud.
I like it on my clothes.
I like it on my fingers.
I like it in my toes.
Dirt’s pretty ordinary
And dust’s a dud.
For a really good mess-up
I like mud.
John Smith
Ask Mummy Ask Daddy
When I ask Daddy
Daddy says ask Mummy.
When I ask Mummy
Mummy says ask Daddy.
I don’t know where to go.
Better ask my teddy
He never says no.
John Aghard
Peas
I eat my peas with honey,
I’ve done it all my life,
They do taste kind of funny,
But it keeps them on the knife.
Anon
Star Light, Star Bright
Star light, star bright,
First star I see tonight,
I wish I may,
I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish tonight.
Traditional Rhymes
Good Night, Good Night
The dark is dreaming.
Day is done.
Good night, good night
To everyone.
Good night to the birds,
And the fish in the sea,
Good night to the bears
And good night to me.
Dennis Lee
A Dragonfly
When the heat of the summer
Made drowsy the land,
A dragonfly came
And sat on my hand.
With its blue jointed body
And wings like spun glass,
It lit on my fingers
As though they were grass.
Eleanor Farjeon
The Owl and the Pussy Cat
The Owl and the Pussy Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”
Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.
“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.
by Edward Lear
Now We Are Six
When I was one I had just begun
When I was two I was nearly new
When I was three I was hardly me
When I was four I was not much more
When I was five I was just alive
But now I am six, I’m as clever as clever;
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
A A Milne
On The Ning Nang Nong
On the Ning Nang Nong
Where the Cows go Bong!
and the monkeys all say BOO!
There’s a Nong Nang Ning
Where the trees go Ping!
And the tea pots jibber jabber joo.
On the Nong Ning Nang
All the mice go Clang
And you just can’t catch ’em when they do!
So its Ning Nang Nong
Cows go Bong!
Nong Nang Ning
Trees go ping
Nong Ning Nang
The mice go Clang
What a noisy place to belong
is the Ning Nang Ning Nang Nong!!
Spike Milligan
Year 2
Cats
Cats sleep Anywhere,
Any table,
Any chair,
Top of piano,
Window-ledge,
In the middle,
On the edge,
Open drawer,
Empty shoe,
Anybody’s
Lap will do,
Fitted in a
Cardboard box,
In the cupboard
With your frocks –
Anywhere!
They don’t care!
Cats sleep
Anywhere.
by Eleanor Farjeon
Breakfast
Good morning little earthworm
said the speckled Thrush
Where would you be going
so early in a rush
I’m off to find some breakfast
he answered with a frown
Well so am I sir said the Thrush
and quickly gulped him down.
P H Kilby
Until I Saw the Sea
Until I saw the sea
I did not know
that wind
could wrinkle water so.
I never knew
that sun
could splinter a whole sea of blue.
Nor
Did I know before,
a sea breathes in and out
upon a shore.
by Lilian Moore
No Harm Done
As I went out
The other day,
My head fell off
And rolled away.
But when I noticed
It was gone,
I picked it up
And put it on.
Anon
Hurt No Living Thing
Hurt no living thing:
Ladybird, nor butterfly,
Nor moth with dusty wing,
Nor cricket chirping cheerily,
Nor grasshopper so light of leap,
Nor dancing gnat, nor beetle fat,
Nor harmless worms that creep.
by Christina Rossetti
Biking
Fingers grip,
toes curl;
head down,
wheels whirl.
Hair streams,
fields race;
ears sting,
winds chase.
Breathe deep,
troubles gone;
just feel
windsong.
by Judith Nicholls
From Night
The sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower,
In heaven’s high bower,
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night.
by William Blake
The Witches Spell
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting
Lizard’s leg and howlet’s wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.
by William Shakespeare
Wings
If I had wings
I would touch the fingertips of clouds
and glide on the wind’s breath.
If I had wings
I would taste a chunk of the sun,
as hot as peppered curry.
If I had wings
I would listen to the clouds of sheep bleat
that graze on the blue.
If I had wings
I would breath deep and sniff
the scent of raindrops.
If I had wings
I would gaze at the people
who cling to the earth.
If I had wings
I would dream of
swimming the deserts
and walking the seas.
by Pie Corbett
The Panther
His vision, from the constantly passing bars,
has grown so weary that it cannot hold
anything else. It seems to him there are
a thousand bars; and behind the bars, no world.
As he paces in cramped circles, over and over,
the movement of his powerful soft strides
is like a ritual dance around a center
in which a mighty will stands paralyzed.
Only at times, the curtain of the pupils
lifts, quietly—. An image enters in,
rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles,
plunges into the heart and is gone.
by Rainer Rilke
The Sound Collector
A stranger called this morning
Dressed all in black and grey
Put every sound into a bag
And carried them away
The whistling of the kettle
The turning of the lock
The purring of the kitten
The ticking of the clock
The popping of the toaster
The crunching of the flakes
When you spread the marmalade
The scraping noise it makes
The hissing of the frying pan
The ticking of the grill
The bubbling of the bathtub
As it starts to fill
The drumming of the raindrops
On the windowpane
When you do the washing-up
The gurgle of the drain
The crying of the baby
The squeaking of the chair
The swishing of the curtain
The creaking of the stair
A stranger called this morning
He didn’t leave his name
Left us only silence
Life will never be the same
by Roger McGough
The Magic Box
I will put in the box the swish of a silk sari on a summer night,
Fire from the nostrils of a Chinese dragon,
The tip of a tongue touching a tooth.
I will put in the box a snowman with a rumbling belly,~
A sip of the bluest water from Lake Lucerne,
A leaping spark from an electric fish.
I will put into the box three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati,
The last joke of an ancient uncle,
and the first smile of a baby.
I will put into the box a fifth season and a black sun,
A cowboy on a broomstick and a witch on a white horse.
My box is fashioned from ice and gold and steel,
With stars on the lid and secrets in the corners.
Its hinges are the toe joints of dinosaurs.
I shall surf in my box on the great high-rolling breakers of the wild Atlantic,
Then wash ashore on a yellow beach the colour of the sun.
by Kit Wright