Here are two rhyming songs that I’ve recently shared in the classroom. I pair a classic nursery song and book, “Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go,” with a song I wrote, “Animal Rhyming Words.” This video shows how I work with the first song.
I recommend getting John Langstaff’s book,”Oh, A-Hunting We Will Go” as a companion to this song and rhyming activity. It’s published by Aladdin Paperbacks of Simon & Schuster and illustrated by Nancy Winslow Parker.
The lyrics of the Langstaff book are as follows:
A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go … We’ll catch a fox and put him in a box, and then we’ll let him go.
We’ll catch a goat and put him in a boat
We’ll catch a whale and put him in a pail
We’ll catch a snake and put him in a cake
We’ll catch a mouse and put him in a house
We’ll catch a pig and put him in a wig
We’ll catch a skunk and put him in a bunk
We’ll catch an armadillo and put him in a pillow
We’ll catch a fish and put him in a dish
We’ll catch a brontosaurus and put him in a chorus
We’ll just pretend and in the end, we’ll always let them go.
You can follow this activity with my song, “Animal Rhyming Words.” I start by demonstrating rhyme-guessing with a teacher. I say, “Out barking in the fog is a -” and the teacher fills in “dog.” Very quickly some of the kids will pick up on the game and start guessing. Lots of fun!
You can hear a very basic recording here on my Sound Cloud site. Here are the lyrics:
Animal Rhyming Words
© 2014 By Liz Buchanan
(Chorus)
Elephants, horses, fish and birds
Let’s play with animal rhyming words
I’ll say a word that ends the same
And you make a rhyme with an animal name.
Out barking in the fog, is a dog.
With long ears so funny, it’s a bunny
And sneaking through my house is a mouse.
And chasing a rat, there’s a cat.
Now he’s napping on the mat,
And wearing a silly hat!
Chorus
Coiled around my rake is a snake
Acting kinda funky is a monkey
Giving milk now is a cow.
Buzzing near the tree is a bee
Now it’s on my knee.
What a sight to see. Oh me.
Watch it fly free, good-bye bee!
Chorus
Right there in the box is a fox
Looking really perky, there’s a turkey!
Eating a fig? It’s a pig.
And combing his hair, there’s a bear
He’s sitting in a chair!
In his under-wear!
Chorus
Nice ideas, Liz! I love “Oh A-Hunting We Will Go.”
After we have sung the book a few times, I turn it into a simple circle dance: first eight beats, holding hands – circle to the right.
next phrase – 4 beats (we’ll catch a ____ and put him in a ____): take 4 steps in, pause for someone to say the rhyming word, last 4 beats, 4 steps out of circle. Next verse, circle left. Loads of fun.