Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Potty training scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Dolls potty train in moments, thank goodness. But you can include photos of a variety of small triumphs your doll makes under the management of an excellent doll parent. (teddy bear, bunny slippers, toilet paper, potty training chair)
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Good habits scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: This little girl is reaching for a toothbrush in a cup over her sink. It's important to teach both children and dolls to keep their teeth clean. What are some other good habits you could photograph your dolls representing on the page below? (chair, reach, sink, bathroom, toothbrush, chair)
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

First pets scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Every little child would love to learn how to care for a pet. Your doll can have his or her own stuffed animal as a pet too. Color this baby reaching for her pet toy and also playing with her real dog. Then include a photograph below of your doll's pet friends on this scrapbook page below the illustration. (baby block letters, "First Pets", mother, high chair, bib, dog, stuffed rabbit)
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

First doctor's visit scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Below you can see a picture of baby having his or her temperature taken. Above include a picture you have taken of your baby doll's first doctor's visit as well. (thermometer, lap, knees, medical)
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Eating habits scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Have you been teaching your doll's manners at their dinner table or high chair? Take pictures of their progress, messy or clean, and include them on this scrapbook page for your collection of memories. (eating, baby, bib, glass, milk, plate, fist)
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Bringing baby home scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Did your mother or father give you a special doll to take care of all by yourself? You can celebrate this gift by including a picture of your doll below this scrapbook page depicting a father, nurse and new baby in the hospital.
Click directly on the image to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Hugs and kisses scrapbook page

 Description of scrapbook page: Color this mother and her babies giving hugs for comfort. You can take a picture of yourself comforting, hugging and kissing your baby dolls to paste above this picture. (baby blocks, crying time, comfort time, brothers, mother)

Click directly on the image to download the largest possible size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Bath time scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: It's time to give your baby doll a bath. Color this "Bath Time" scrapbooking page. Take a picture of your clean baby doll and print, cut and paste it below the illustration to include in your baby doll's scrapbook. (Mamma, baby, bath, towel, soap, water)
Click to download the largest available size.

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

The "Baby's Layette" scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Color this baby peeping through the collar of his shirt. Include pictures of your doll's baby clothes above this fun "Baby Layette" scrapbook page.

Click to download the largest available size.
 Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Sick days scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Color in this little girl resting, crafting, and coloring in bed. There will be days when your dolls will need their rest, days when they are sick. Take a picture of your baby doll resting in bed and then print, cut and paste it beneath this child's picture. The baby blocks read "Sick Days" (little girl, ladder back chairs, pillows, doll's house, bed frame)
Click to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Tumbles with teddy scrapbook page

Description of scrapbook page: Take a picture of your doll with his or her teddy and then cut and paste it beneath the illustration shown. You can color in the picture too! (baby block letters and baby in a high chair reaching for a falling teddy, mother worries, stuffed animal, teddy bear)


Click to download the largest available size.
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

An Old Gaelic Lullaby

Above, Mother cradles here baby while she sleeps, window, moon, curtain, cradle

Lullaby

Hush! the waves are rolling in,
White with foam, white with foam;
Father toils amid their din;
But baby sleeps at home.

Hush! the winds roar hoarse and deep;
On they come, on they come!
Brother seeks the wandering sheep;
But baby sleeps at home.

Hush! the rain sweeps o'er the knowes,
where they roam, where they roam;
Sister goes to seek the cows;
But baby sleeps at home.

Stork "Birth Information" page for a doll scrapbook


Description of scrapbook page: in color, stork, baby, rooftops, special delivery, spectacles, beak, old-fashioned, baby blanket, Birthday

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Color "My Doll's Birth Certificate"

 
Description of scrapbook page: comes in black and white for coloring, children, cats, coloring, framed birth certificate for a doll, hearts, shapes, birthdays

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Pink and blue birth certificates for your dolls

Description of scrapbook page: pick pink or blue for your girl or boy doll, baby in a basket, text "Keep me with you, for I bring Goodwishes, love and everything." Birthday
Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Sunday, October 1, 2017

Color these paper dolls of George and Martha Washington

Description of Coloring Page: Revolutionary war, our nation's first President, wigs, Martha Washington too

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Saturday, September 30, 2017

Sing, "Sleep, Baby, Sleep" to your baby doll...

A Lovely lullaby with sheet music.

Sleep, Baby, Sleep
(The original lyrics in German) 
Music by Ethelbert Nevin
Translated by Elizabeth Prentiss

Sleep, baby, sleep,
Thy father's watching the sheep,
Thy mother's shaking the dreamland tree
And down drops a little dream for thee,
Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep,
The large stars are the sheep,
The little stars are the lambs, I guess,
And the bright moon is the shepherdess,
Sleep, baby, sleep!

Sleep, baby, sleep,
The Savior loves His sheep,
He is the Lamb of God on high
Who for our sakes came down to die,
Sleep, baby, sleep!

The Clothes-Pin Dollies by Camilla J. Knight

Print this sweet little clothes-pin doll poem for your scrapbook!

The Clothes-Pin Dollies
by Camilla J. Knight

Two stately little ladies these, as ever you have 
known,
With petticoats so very stiff that they can stand
alone.
Each has a smiling, rosy face upon her wooden
head,
A dainty cap adorning each, with frills, and 
ribbon red.
Their gowns, all made of scarlet silk, are beau-
tiful to see;
Aunt Lou dressed them for Marjorie when she
was only three.
At night, the ladies are undressed, and each is
then arrayed
In night-gown white, with cap and cape, and
on the pillow laid.
When Marjorie jumps into bed, she takes them 
in her arms,
And hugs them tight to keep them safe from
all the dark's alarms.
 On birthdays, and at Christmas time, all kinds of
dolls she gets;
But these, her little clothes-pin dolls, are still
her dearest pets.

Paper Doll Poem by Pauline King


Dear little Paper Dolls, that grow
All in a beautiful, even row!
Their toes turn out in a way that's grand,
And they look so friendly, hand in hand.
I 've boughten dolls put away on the shelf -
For I love these best that I make myself. 


Then there come nice little paper boys
Who play with the girls, and break their toys.
They all have trousers down to their knees,
And they may shout just as loud as they please.
They never are bothered with dresses and curls,
And never are taken for little girls. 


Of course there are cats in Paper Land,
Or who would catch the rats?
They talk the language children talk,
And not the talk of cats.
They say, instead of "purr," and "mew," 
"Good afternoon," and "How do you do?"


The Paper folks don't always walk,
But ride out every day;
Their horses go just like the wind,
And do not care for hay -
They gallop in a long straight line,
And really do look very fine.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Two ways to assemble a mini-book...

       There are so many ways to assemble a mini-book. Below I have shown two methods I prefer. For these two methods you will need supplies like: white school glue, scissors, a printer, a stapler, cardboard, wrapping paper or scrapbook papers, tape and white printing paper.
 
Left, I printed and folded mini-book pages. Right, I folded my pages with the pictures inside and the
blank pages facing outside. I did this so that I could eventually wrap the completed book with a
 extra white cover. Paste between your blank pages. and trim the stack as needed.

       Above is the first method and it is a bit difficult for a child to assemble. Print out the pages as I have done above. I enlarged these images to fit a standard sized copy paper, 8 1/2 x 11 inches, by inserting them into a Word Document.  Adjust the margins so that the image has plenty of space. Now take the bottom right hand corner, click, hold down your cursor and drag that lower right corner down. Fill the entire page with the png. Do this for every page and print.
       Next, fold the pages in half and paste the blank sides to each other in order. Cut, trim and glue the cover page at the front of the mini-book. Now wrap the entire book with an additional white cover, glue the pages inside this white cover down the spine of your book. Line up the spine inside the folded center section of the final white cover. Set this aside to dry over night with several heavy books on top of your mini-book. This extra weight will ensure that the pages adhere together in the right places and will help smooth out wrinkles in the paper made from the glue.
       The following day cut two covers a front and back for your mini-book, from cardboard. Wrap these in a printed scrapbook paper or wrapping paper whichever you have in supply. Finally glue the white blank pages (white cover pages) to both the wrapped cardboard cover and back. Now stack several heavy books on top of the mini-book to ensure the pressure needed in gluing together all of the parts of your mini-book: cover, inside pages and back cover.

Left, here you can see that the blank sides of corresponding pages butt up next to each other.
 Glue between these pages. Not only will this make your pages stronger but it will also
show the entire illustrated picture with the lines of rhyme together in one spread as you turn the
 pages of the book. Right, a trimmed and pasted the cover page to the outside portion of the front
cover. Then I wrapped all of the pages together with a final, larger sheet of white paper.
Down the spine, I added a small line of glue adhering the pages at the spine to the final
white cover.


After letting my book dry under the pressure of a stack of books over night, I added the wrapped
cardboard covers and backs.

       For some of you, the second version I use for binding a mini-book will seem far less tedious; I am certain. In this bound version, all you will need to do is trim pages and assemble them in order before stapling them together at the far left edge. This simple way of crafting a mini-book is easy enough for a child to do.
Left, are my printed and cropped pages in order according to the posting of "O'Kissme San," a Doll From
 Japan
. Right, you can see where I have stapled the edges together. I added an additional step to ensure
that little hand would be protected from sharp staples. I cut a narrow strip of white typing paper
 and used a bit of glue to wrap it around the edge of the pages where the staples are.

       Now add a set of wrapped cardboard covers for the front and backside of the mini-book by following the same process described above: cut two covers a front and back for your mini-book, from cardboard. Wrap these in a printed scrapbook paper or wrapping paper whichever you have in supply. Finally glue the white blank pages (white cover pages) to both the wrapped cardboard cover and back. Now stack several heavy books on top of the mini-book to ensure the pressure needed in gluing together all of the parts of your mini-book: cover, inside pages and back cover.

Left are two finished versions of the same book; the larger a more advanced process than
the smaller version next to it. Right, the cardboard covers have been added
and now the mini-books are completed.

 More Printable Mini Book Pages:

Color this lovable, huggable teddy bear...

Description of Coloring Page: simple, smiling teddy bear, stitched, furry, lovable

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Color a rubber clown toy


Description of Coloring Page: polka-dots, clown costume, ruffles, man doll dressed for carnival, pom-poms, hat, antique rubber doll, Circus toy theme

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

A fishing paper doll with moving parts


Description of Coloring Page: text in French, fisherman, fishing, fish, plaid trousers, fishing pole, moving parts, This is a mechanical paper doll and requires tiny brass fasteners, brads or paper fasteners for it's assembly. print on heavy card stock

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

A Victorian baby doll wrapped in bunting

Description of Coloring Page: ribbons and bunting, lace and linen, old-fashioned bonnet, antique silver rattle, baby china doll, porcelain or china dolls

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

This doll is singing for her supper!

Description of Coloring Page: striped socks, tiny leather shoes, ruffles, wig, china head, composition limbs, open mouth

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Cut and assemble a Jumping-Jack Jester


Description of Coloring Page: stripes, diamond shapes, pom poms, face paint, jester costume, movable arms and legs, primary colors plus green, paper toy, This is a mechanical paper doll and requires tiny brass fasteners, mechanical paper doll, paper doll in color

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

O'Kissme San; a doll from Japan mini-book

Cover for "O'Kissme San A Doll From Japan"

       Here is a little doll book craft about a Japanese doll's adventures. Young visitors here may ask their teacher, guardian, or parent to print it out, fold the pages in half, glue together the blank pages and staple or tie miniature book together. Enjoy! Read the Terms of Use.


page 1.

page 2 .

page 3.

page 4.
page 5.
page 6.

page 7.


page 8.
page 9.
page 10.

page 11.
page 12.


page 13.


This is just one way to assemble mini-books. 
I will share more solutions in a future post.

Saturday, September 2, 2017

The baby's toys coloring page




Description of Coloring Page: toys, infant rattles, pacifiers, bottle, clown, rubber duck, layette, circus,

Don't forget to drag the png. or jpg into a Word Document and enlarge the image as much as possible before printing it folks. If you have a question about this coloring page, just type into the comment box located directly below this post and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Value, for Children, of Different Classes of Poetry

       In children's reading ballads and other narrative poems will supply stories, and will appeal to the emotional side of a child's nature. Poems of nature will satisfy the girl or boy who loves outdoor beauty, but who, perhaps, has never cared for poetry. I have seldom known a listener, however youthful, who did not thrill in response to Lanier's "Hymns of the Marshes," especially if they were read so as to bring out the exquisite melody which the musician-poet put into them. The large group of miscellaneous lyrics will appeal to the boy's or girl's curiosity about the human heart, whose stirrings he or she is beginning dimly to feel. The love-lyrics, as well as the love parts in the other types of poetry, will do something toward satisfying the girl's desire to know more about the great passion of love which vaguely enfolds her future. There should not be separate reading courses for boys and girls, for they should not be encouraged to develop entirely apart from each other. While it is true, as I have said, that girls like to read about love and boys about battles, it is also true that each should cultivate the tastes of the other. Boys and girls are alike human beings; life will bring love to men as well as to women, and battles to be fought by women as well as by men. It is well that they should both gain high ideals of both the loving and the striving of the life upon which they are entering, side by side.
       The children who are thus trained and encouraged into a habit of reading poetry, and who thus become accustomed to appreciating the true meanings and finer values of life, will meet the world with an armor which is unassailable. However many of the external things of life are denied them, or taken from them; whatever disappointments and sorrows come, these one-time children will have that within their heads and hearts which can console them for material losses, and sustain them in sorrows. For, in the long run, it is what we have inside our heads and hearts that matters, -- both to ourselves and to the world as we touch it. If we learn, all our lives, from the great interpreters of life, the poets, the seers, we too shall see and understand.

Why we need poetry?
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 -  you are on page 7

How to Cause the Need of Poetry to Be Felt

       The second, the subjective need of the child, is that one which "The Lady of the Lake" met in the instance I mentioned before, in addition to its meeting his first need for a story. It made him feel how much he liked his camp on the lake, -- which means that it satisfied his youthful egotistic need to find his own feelings, inner experiences, thoughts, actually expressed. The boy likes to hear about prowess in battle, heroism, strength, chivalry, -- all the manly virtues, admirations, ideals, which are beginning to dawn in his boy's consciousness. The girl likes to hear about romance, love, even death. They both, if they are nature lovers, like poetic interpretations of nature. Now poetry -- lyric poetry especially -- is the record and expression of just these things. And the better the expression, the better for the boy or girl. Their own conceptions of the sentiments they feel are vague and rudimentary; the things they read express those sentiments fully, and their vague feelings spring, full-armed, into life. How vitally important is it, then, that what they read shall be the highest, the truest expression of the highest and truest feeling! Isn't it better for a girl to get her ideas of romance and of love from "Evelyn Hope," from "Sonnets from the Portuguese," from Tennyson, Shakespeare, and Keats, than from cheap sentimental novels? I do not believe that the reading of good love-poetry will hurt a girl in the least. She will read something about love, -- why not let her read the best, in both fiction and poetry?

 How many lives can you live?
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - you are on page  6 - 7

Another Reason for the Dislike of Poetry Is Because It Meets No Felt Want

       This brings us to the second answer to our question. The other great reason why boys and girls do not care for poetry is because it does not obviously meet their needs, which are of two kinds: objective and subjective. Their objective need is for stories, -- stories -- stories. Of course they like stories. Why shouldn't they? Stories tell about life, the great adventure which looms, wonderful, mysterious, ahead of them. Boys want stories of action, because for untold generations the man's part in life has been action. Girls want stories of love, of sentiment, because for untold generations the life of the woman has been one of feeling, of emotion. So boys and girls turn eagerly to stories. And the press meets their needs. How willingly it meets their needs, with its flood of cheap adventure, cheap business stories, cheap sentimental tales! Poetry, however, does not meet this desire for stories as well as do novels and tales. You get more story, and you get it quicker, in a novel than in a narrative poem. If, however, a love of the sound and rhythm of poetry has been developed in a child by constant hearing of poetry well read, that child will enjoy "The Lady of the Lake" or any of the great narrative poems when they are read to him or skilfully put in his way. His very love for a story, which on the surface is one reason why he avoids poetry, may be careful tactics on the part of parents and teachers, be made to contribute to his liking for good poetry. It does not obviously meet his need as the novel does; all the more reason for those who are educating him to find ways of helping him to find that which is less obvious. 

 Poetry integrated into life experiences.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - you are on page 5 - 6 - 7

But the Home Can Do Even More in This Direction

       The school, however, is not the only place where children are educated. The home, the father and mother, must bear the greater share in the difficult task. And in this matter, of making girls and boys love poetry by reading it aloud to them, habitually, as a natural part of their everyday lives, the saying of Horace, "If you wish to make me weep, you must first have wept yourself," applies to the parents of the boys and girls. If you wish to make your children read and love poetry, you must first read and love poetry yourself. This is, of course, not true in the cases of children who are born with an unusual love for poetry, which they will satisfy regardless of parental influence; but it is true in the case of the average child. The mother, father, aunt, uncle, or guardian of the child, who reads poetry aloud in the family with affection and understanding, will probably find the child growing up, either a lover of poetry, or, at least, an intelligent critic of it. For whether one care intensely for poetry or not, it is so high and beautiful an interpretation of life that any one who knows nothing of it must always remain uncultivated, only partially educated. In the case of the child who has some natural love for poetry, there will be no difficulty in developing that love, if the proper means be taken. In the case of the child who has not that love, who prefers practical pursuits or outdoor play, the process is both difficult and dangerous. For if too much pressure is brought to bear, the child will feel like a victim, and dislike the sound of a poem all his life.
       A father told me that he had suggested in vain to his twelve-year-old son that he read some poetry. The boy scorned the idea as "silly," and said that "poetry was for girls." So his father let him alone, putting meanwhile into his bookcase Scott's poems, Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verses," "The Vision of Sir Launfal," and other carefully-chosen books of poetry. One day the boy, half idly, while looking for something to read, opened "The Lady of the Lake." His father found him absorbed, lost to the world, and when the poem was finished the boy said, "It's a great story, and besides, it makes me feel how much I like my camp on the lake." 

 A Camp Poem

1 - 2 - 3 - you are on page  4 - 5 - 6 - 7

The Schools Can Help Them Love Poetry

       So much, then, for the fact that young people, in order to keep alive and develop their natural love of poetry, must have it read to them. The schools do much in this line ; I wish they might do more. If every subject a child studies in school, -- history, literature, geography, almost everything except mathematics, -- were in part interpreted by the poetry belonging to that subject, or illustrating it, poetry would become an ordinary part of the child's experience, and he would be immensely refined and ennobled thereby. Since poetry is "the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge," surely we should not give the child the knowledge, and deny him its finer spirit. Take, for instance, "The Battle of Bannockburn." Suppose that every child, in his study of English history, had that poem well read to him at the appropriate time. Children are hero-worshipers, lovers of bravery. Could any expression of heroic courage be more adequate, more moving, than the wonderful lines beginning:

"Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled --"

and moving on with their inspired and inspiring rhythm to their triumphant close? Just the sound of those lines can't help making a child better, because they call out the best in him to meet their greatness. But they must be read to him, well read, by some one who can read poetry because he or she loves and understands it. Here it all depends upon the teacher. To all her other almost superhuman qualities, we add the requirement that she be a good reader of poetry! You see that, while our theory is simple, its practice involves a number of things, -- some of them as yet impossible. 

"We love you know matter what..." 

1  - 2 - you are on page 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

One Reason Older Children Dislike Poetry Is Because They Don't Read It Well

       So much for the reason why little children like verses. But children do not stay little; they grow up, and the trailing clouds of glory disappear. The fact that most girls and boys of fourteen do not, of their own accord, read poetry, is as axiomatic as that most little children love verses. What has happened? If rhythm is a human law, why should not a big child feel its power as keenly as does a little one?
       There are, it seems to me, two answers to this question. The first is, that the little child has verses read to him, while the big child is expected to read them to himself. The average boy or girl, entirely unaided, cannot read poetry skillfully enough to bring out its beauty of rhythm, let alone its meaning. Its form looks strange and forced to him; to his untrained mind the thought is "twisted all around to fit the foolish rhymes and feet and things." It is small wonder he docs not like poetry. It would be a greater wonder if he did. The love of verses he had when he was five was based on the sound of those verses. His first rhymes and jingles were read, recited, or sung to him; their rhythm was accentuated by the reader or by the music, and his inborn human sense of rhythm was therefore pleased. If a kindergarten taught songs and verses by the method of making the children sit quietly in their little chairs reading verses to themselves, the songs would be the least popular part of the day's program. But when the kindergarten child becomes the boy or girl of fourteen, he or she is expected to read poetry to himself. This he cannot do, because he doesn't know how to read poetry. I know a woman who disliked poetry intensely until last summer, when, for the first time in her life, she heard a large part of "The Oxford Book of English Verse" read aloud by a man who knew how to read aloud.
       "Why," she said to me, "I never dreamed English poetry was so beautiful! I have always hated every bit I tried to read myself." 

reading poetry versus reciting poetry 

 1 - you are on page 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7

Why Little Children Love Poetry

       The answer to all these questions is simple, but like most simple things, it goes deep into the heart of life. We live in a rhythmical world, a rhythmical universe. The stars in their courses, the seasons, the tides and waves of the sea, the beat of the human heart, even the measured pace of a horse's sounding hoofs on the road, or a carpenter's unconscious hammer on the new house across the way, -- all these elements, great and small, are moving in accordance with a great natural law, the law of rhythm, of stress. Now a child is a natural creature; he comes into the world intensely, unconsciously subject to the laws of all being, which are the laws of his being. One of the greatest of these laws is that of rhythm,, So the child, when he meets one of his first human problems, -- the relation of speech, of words, to thought, -- takes rather more naturally to rhythmic expression than to prose.

"Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come
From God, who is our home."

One of these clouds which the child brings with him is his love for rhythmical sound; and this love is satisfied by music or verses. "Poetry," says Wordsworth, "is the breath and finer spirit of all knowledge." Just think a moment how much that means when you put it beside the fact that your little boy or girl loves:

"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe."

It means that he has, working dimly within him, together with all the other great forces of nature's laws, this law of rhythm. If you are to educate him aright, you must remember that his love for a musical child-rhyme goes deep into the great spiritual meanings of his life, and is fraught with great possibilities for his future, and through his future, for the better race of men to come. 

 The rhythm of Seuss.

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