Tag Archives: Over In The meadow

Sing a Song about Different Families

over-in-the-meadow-counting-image

Have you ever heard the song “Over In The Meadow”?

No one knows exactly where the song came from but the best guess is that this imaginative tale of different animal families came from the British Isles and has been teaching English-speaking children to count for at least several hundred years!

It’s a quiet, adorable song that counts from one to ten – originally with mommies and their babies. But while singing it at a local school, I found I needed to adapt it a bit.  One of the children was a friend of my son and was being raised only by her father.  She was saddened when people talked about their mommies and I wanted her to see a dad as a parent reflected in this song.  Similarly, other families had grandparents as caregivers and I added them to the other verses.  Since folksongs are adaptable, I wanted the song to reflect more of the different configurations of families so that no child would feel left out or that their home situation was any less of a family.

Here’s a list of the families in my version of the song, plus the last verse that I’ve added.  You can watch the Youtube video of the entire song below.

1       Froggy Mom and her one little frog

2       Mother Cat at her two little kittens

3       Father Bird and his three little birds

4       Mother Worm and her 4 baby worms

5       Queen Bee and her five little bees

6       Grandfather dog and his 6 grandpuppies

7       Grandmother owl and her 7 owlets

8       Mother duck and her 8 ducklings

9       Father Mouse and his 9 baby mice

10     Mother Spider and her 10 baby spiders

Last verse:

No matter where you go, everyone you see

We all fit together in one big family

Although we may look different, our love is still the key

It’s the way we live together in peace and harmony

A Song For Teaching

As a mom, I loved songs that taught empathy and encouraged my children to understand the value and consciousness in all living creatures. For me, songs like this helped teach that all creatures have a story and that their lives are connected with our own and that they matter!

If you check out this song in my TeachersPayTeachers store you’ll find a wonderful activity list for using the song in homeschool or an early education classroom.

Links and Resources

Song on Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/grandchildrens-delight-best/id292915765

Song on Amazon mp3 Over in the Meadow: 
https://amzn.com/B0024XB2FS

As a song for teaching on TPT: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Over-In-The-Meadow-An-Inclusive-Counting-Song-2823967

Free Lyric Sheet on TPT:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Over-In-The-Meadow-An-Inclusive-Counting-Song-Free-Lyric-Sheet-2824218

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Over In The Meadow – A Great Song For Welcoming Spring and Counting Baby Animals!

nting imageWhat’s more fun than animal babies?

One of my favorite children’s songs – Over In The Meadow – combines cute creatures and learning the skill of counting to ten.   I first heard the song from a friend of mine who was a folksinger in Appalachia, but later found out that this popular rhyme may date back as far as the 1600’s in England.  So it seems that some things are universal.  Parents love to teach their children with music and no one can resist a baby animal!

The songs starts in a pond in the sun with one mother frog and her “little froggy one”.  Then there are kittens, birds, worms, bees, dogs, owls, ducks, mice, and even ten spiders.  And, best of all, each of the animal babies know how to listen to their elders!  Since the song has an easy-to-follow formula, even the youngest kids get the idea of counting up one number each time and can easily follow or sing along.

Although the song was originally written with each animal and their mommy, I’ve added dads, grandmas and grandpas to the verses in my version.  In my travels I had met many kids that did not always have traditional families or a mom at home as a caregiver, so I changed the song a bit to help these children feel that their family was special and important, too.

You can see my version of Over In The Meadow here:

Over In The Meadow – Lyric Page
http://www.dariamusic.com/meadow.php

Over In The Meadow – Printable Lyric Page
http://www.dariamusic.com/docs/songs/Over%20in%20the%20Meadow%20Songbook.pdf

Over In The Meadow On Itunes (Track 13)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-little-light-of-mine/id292915765?i=292915774&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

Over In The Meadow On Amazon Mp3
http://amzn.com/B0024XB2FS