Little Songs and Poems

"There was an old woman who lived in a shoe: 
She had so many children she didn't know what to do."

      I always envied that old woman her opportunity. I should have set those children all down on little stools in a neat circle around the shoe, and read to them out of poetry-books. And they would all have been as good as gold too.

      Perhaps you think this is the romantic dream of one who knows not the ways of a child? But it isn't a dream at all; it is a fact founded upon an axiom which I, and many wiser than I, have evolved out of experience, namely: "Most normal children love poetry." Moreover, most normal children, as well as most grown-ups, are good when they have what they like. Consequently, my circle of children around the show would, in all  probability, have been as good as gold.

      To return for a moment to my axiom. If children did not, as a rule, love poetry,--verses, jingles, anything with a rhythm to it, --why should our kindergartens devote so much time to the little songs and poems which the children learn so eagerly? Why should half the children illustrated editions of all kinds of verses, from Mother Goose and Edward Lear to Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin"? Why should it be so rare a thing for any well-brought-up infant to parts to attain his fifth year without the accomplishment of mounting a stool and reciting "the friendly cow all red and white," or some other infants' classic? Why should Sunday schools teach religion in children's hymns and other verses? And why, even, should mothers, until modern times, have rocked their babies rhythmically to sleep to the sound of a measured lullaby? Magee.

Little Songs and Poems: For Reading, Reciting, Remembering and some for Coloring: The following list is in the public domain, folks.

1. Paper Doll Poem  by Pauline King
2. The Princess Goes to Ride by Margaret Beauchamp 
   
3. Goodnight by Crawford Neil
4. The Clothes-Pin Dollies  by Camilla J. Knight 
5. My Doll by Author Unknown 
6. The Doll Bed by Minerva Hunter
   
7. The Sand Man  by Dodge and Stilwell 
8. The Fairy Ching Lu and His Bothersome Queue by Anna M. Scott
   
9. One & One
10. A Fairy Necklace by Enid Blyton
11. My Three Dolls by Isabel Allardyce  
12. Little Miss Limberkin
13. At the Doll's Hospital by Anne P. L. Field
    
14. Wake Up Birdie!
15. A Valentine for Old Dolls by Rachel Field
16. Creation by Edward P. Butler 
17. Christmas Song
    
18. Fellow Travelers by Pauline Frances Camp
19. Mr. Big Toe 
20. Dolly's Wings by Laura Loring
21. I'm Such A Little Tot by J. H. G.
22. A Child's Troubles from St. Nicholas
23. Hang Up The Baby's Stocking
24. Charley Boy by Eliza Lee Follen
25. Grandma Always Does by Unknown Author
26. The Long Ago Doll by Marjorie Barrows
27. A Teeny-Tiny Story
28. Sleepy Dandelions by Harriot Putnam
29. Dolly's Toilet
30. Going To Bed by Unknown Author
31. The Adventures of A Paper Doll by Wallace Irwin
32. Little Whimpy by Mary Mapes Dodge
33. The Little Angel from Melodies of Childhood
34. The Naughty Kitten-Cat by Florence Crocker Comfort
35. A Thanksgiving Dinner
36. December by Arthur Jerome
37. The Coming Storm by William Brightly Rands
38. Stop, Stop, Pretty Water! by Eliza Lee Follen
39. Dolly Asleep by Keeler
40. Two Little Beds by Elizabeth Ellis Scantlebury
41. A Housekeeper's Troubles by Unknown Author 
42. Birdies With Broken Wings 
43. To The Fire-Fly by Thomas Moore
44. The Paris Doll by Caroline Morgan
45. Dolly Takes Tea by Albert Bigelow Paine 
46. A Dolls Wedding by Lucy Larcom
47. Five Kernels of Corn
48. October Thoughts by Unknown Author
49. Merry Autumn Days by Charles Dickens 
50. Dolly's Doctor
51. The Horrid Parade by Ruth A Kenneth
52. The Spinning Wheel at Rest by Edward A. Jenks
53. The Old Home by Arthur Burdick
54. An Old Rat's Tale by Author Unknown 
55. The Night Before Thanksgiving by Eva Lovett Carson 
56. A Thanksgiving Acrostic by Susan M. Best  
57. Dance Of The Months
58. The Silent Pool by Enid Blyton
59. Christmas Morning by Burges Johnson
60. The New Year by Luranah Hammond 
61. Naming The Doll by Caroline Morgan
62. "I had a little doll"
63.  Ode To The New Year by Charlotte C. Davenport 
64. Birthdays by Maud Keary
65. To Father Christmas by Maud Keary 
66. "If I were an artist"...
67. Asleep by Edward A. Jenks 
68. A Jewish Home by Jessie Sampter 
69. The Good Night by John Martin
70. "Company Manners"
71. The Lost Doll by Charles Kingsley  
72. The Moon at Tea-Time by Enid Blyton
73. Mama Old Year and Baby New by L. L. Greene Richards
74. Flower Fairies by Philip Bourke Marston
75. Shamrock Song by Katherine Tynan
76. St. Patrick's Day Jig and Sheet Music
    
77. Rebecca
78. Your Heart is A Music Box by Frances Sargent Osgood
79. The White Rabbits by Edith Campbell
80. Waking to Life by Hannah Kohaus
81. The Sewing Doll by Amelia De Wolfjers 
82. The Paper House by Harriet McLear 
83. The Rhyme of The House by Grace L. Klock
84. Taking Tea by Author Unknown
85. Free Children's Hymns for The Christian Home
86. Learning Their Letters
87. On Strike by Enid Blyton
88. Sabbath Morning
89. The Noah's Ark by Katherine Pyle 
90. A Ghost! by Elizabeth Betts 
91. The Naughty Doll
92. The Bear Hunt by Margaret Widdemer 
93. The Nicest One
94. Teddy Brown-Bear by Florence M. Pettee
    
95. Dolly's Lesson
96. Mother's Pincushion by Harriet Hunting Pierson
97. Dolly's Pocket
98. The Old Doll by Seegmiller
    
99. Since Will Turned Into a Boy... by F. A. Steele
100. Dolly's Mamma 
101. The Merry-Go-Round by Clinton Scollard
     
102. The Hollyhock Fairy by M. D. Cole
103. Tomorrow's The First of May by Pauline More Wetzel 
104. May Dance by Josephine Van Dolzen Pease
105. The May-Day Piper by Anna Medary 
106. Democracy by Isabel L. Whitney
107. Growing... by Frances Camp Duggar
108. The New Doll by Seegmiller 
109. Lullaby by Margaret Mitchell Wilcox
110. Sunbeams by Edith Lombard Squires
111. Birds In Winter by Mrs. A.A. Whetstone
112. When Mother was a little girl by Anna Medary 
113. The Bird House by Elizabeth Madox Roberts
114. Summering by Blanche Elizabeth Wade 
115. Our Sand Pile by Anna Medary
116. A Lit-tle Moth-er
117. April by Eleanor Hammond
     
118. The Rainbow Land by Bertha Carman Herbst
119. Indian Children by Annette Wynne
120. Caterpillar On The Wall by Marion Ryan
121. Parasol by Helen Wing 
122. Did You Know? by Louise Marshall Haynes
123. April Fool by Anna Medary
124. The Land of Fairy Tales
125. Spring by Betty Alsterlund 
126. Mud Pies author unknown
     
127. Grandma's Specs by Edith White
128. The Howl Wind by Winifred V. Jordan
129.  A Mis-take Poem author unknown 
130. The Fairy School by Marjorie Barrows
     
131. The Popping Corn Poem
132. The Two Dollies by F. K.
133. Waiting

More About Poetry:

• Why Little Children Love Poetry
• One Reason Older Children Dislike Poetry Is Because They Don't Read It Well
• The Schools Can Help Them Love Poetry
• But the Home Can Do Even More in This Direction
• Another Reason for the Dislike of Poetry Is Because It Meets No Felt Want
• How to Cause the Need of Poetry to Be Felt
• The Value, for Children, of Different Classes of Poetry 

      "Rhymers are Readers: The Importance of Nursery Rhymes: They're fun, children love them, and they provide a warm nurturing experience between parent and child. Songs and rhymes for young children have been passed down for generations. This workshop creates an awareness of the enormous educational value of nursery rhymes and informs parents and caregivers how to use them as a teaching tool." video and workshops from KBYUEleven