Short Poems for Kids

These Short Poems for Kids are some of the jingles by Winifred Sackville Stoner jnr written by her, as a child, for children and published in her book Facts in Jingles when she was twelve years old

She found that when some kinds of facts were put together in a jingle they could be fixed with less effort and retained more securely than if they were learned in the ordinary way by rote and without any method of organization.





Rhyme and rhythm seem to furnish to the young mind an easy and effective method of relating and expressing facts ordinarily dissociated from anything of interest toa child. As long as such facts are presented to the young in home and school, the jingle will prove of service to teachers and parents, and of interest and value to chil- dren. The jingles selected here should afford amusement because of the humorous interpretation they put on many of the events that are daily experienced by children everywhere.

"Josephine," asked the teacher, "can you tell to me
Any bird that's now extinct, but used on earth to be?"

"Oh, yes, Miss Jane," said Josephine, "our sweet canary, Jim,
Because the naughty pussy cat, she quite extincted him."

Short Poems for Kids

One day I saw a bumble bee bumbling on a rose,
And as I stood admiring him, he stung me on the nose.
My nose in pain it swelled so large it looked like a potato,
So Daddy said, though Mother thought 'twas more like a tomato.
And now, dear children, this advice, I hope you'll take from me,
And when you see a bumble bee, just let that bumble be.

**

ONCE I saw a little bee
Sitting very quietly
On a baby elder tree.

Coming near to the young bee
I reproached him scornfully,
Saying, "You're not busy, bee."

Instantly the wicked bee
Made himself to busy be
By most cruelly stinging me.

Since that time I never see
Any busy buzzing bee
But I wish he'd lazy be.

Short Poems for Kids

"Don't bother your father with questions, Ervane,
He's tired of hearing you ask to explain
Why fishes can't walk or ride on the land?
How lizards and fleas can live in the sand?
What causes the sun to set in the west
And always to sleep in one golden nest?
When will the time come for children to fly
And play in the clouds with the birds in the sky?
Such foolish, vain questions, they trouble your dad
And sometimes I fear they make him quite sad."

"No, Mother," replied the inquisitive lad,
"It's the answers, not questions, that trouble poor Dad.'

Short Poems for Kids

"Quack-quack-quack-quack !" cries Auntie Duck,
While Mother Hen goes "Cluck-cluck-cluck!"
And Papa Dog cries, "Bow-wow-wow,"
And Sister Cat, "Me-ow, me-ow!"

"Eek-eek-eek-eek 1" squeals Grandma Pig,
"I'm growing, oh, so far and big;"
While "Cackle-cackle" all the day,
The little goslings like to say.

Proud Grandpa Turkey struts along
With his eternal gobble-song;
Sir Horse he whinnies, "Hee-hee-hee !"
And "Buzzey-buzzey" goes Miss Bee.

Sis Maud, the Mule, cries, "Hee-hee-haw "
And Missy Crow goes "Caw-caw-caw !"
Good Madam Cow cries, "Moo-moo-moo!"
And gentle Doves they "Coo-coo-coo !"
The Baby Lambs cry, "Baa-baa-baa!"
And little Kids squeal, "Ma-ma-ma!"

Short Poems for Kids

WHEN Mrs. Hall, who had spent the day
With Mrs. Green, was going away,
Wee curly headed, naughty Joe
Begged so hard that she wouldn't go.

Now all the day this roguish lad
Had disobeyed and been quite bad,
So Mrs. Hall, in great surprise,
Paused and looked in his brown eyes,
While saying, "I'm so glad to know
You love me truly, dearest Joe."

"Oh, 'tisn't that," said honest Joe,
"I wouldn't mind for you to go
Except my mother said to-day,
She'd whip me when you went away."

**

OH, the kiddie-de-kees in the Wiggs' house,
They're thick as bees, but ne'er like a mouse,
For they've never been known to keep the least quiet,
And wherever they go there's always a riot.

One day, Mrs. Wiggs and her husband Pat
Made a trip to the city to rent a flat
And left their six kiddies at home to play
On the graveyard green across the way.

The two elder Wiggs they found a man,
With flats he would rent on most any plan,
But concerning one thing he said he must know
If kiddies they owned the rent man's foe.

"Yes, six little ones," said Pa Wiggs the wary,
"But they are all in the cemetery."
Said the landlord, "Better there than here,"
And he drew up a lease without any fear.

And that's how the Wiggs got their lease
In a so-called kidless flat of PEACE.

Short Poems for Kids

"JOAN OF ARC, and who was she?"
Asked the teacher of little Leigh.
"Wife of Noah, of course," said she,
"Who sailed the ark upon the sea."

**

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Short Poems for Kids by W S Stoner

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