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
