Over in the Meadow

Over in the meadow song is a very popular and famous counting rhymes in the English literature world. It was written by Olive A. Wadsworth in 1870. There are many variations on the original wording. In the other versions, many different words are used compared to this. This was also set to music and used in many picture books.

Over in the Meadows

Over in the Meadows Lyrics

Over in the meadow

In the sand in the sun,

lived an old mother turtle

and her baby turtle one.

“Dig!” said the mother,

“I dig!” said the one,

and they dug all day

in the sand in the sun.

Over in the meadow

where the stream runs blue,

lived a mama crocodile

and her crocodiles two.

“Swim!” said the mother,

“We swim!” said the two,

and they swam all day

where the stream runs blue.

Over in the meadow

in a hole in the tree,

lived a mother chameleon

and her chameleons three.

“Wink,” said the mother,

“We wink,” said the three,

and they winked all day

in the hole in the tree.

Over in the meadow

by the big barn door,

lived an old mother snake

and her little snakes four.

“Squeak!” said the mother,

“We squeak!” said the four,

and they squeaked all day

by the big barn door.

Summary

In the Over in the Meadow song, the poet is telling that in an open field, one old mother turtle was living with one baby turtle. The mother turtle said to the baby turtle to dig in the sand. The baby turtle said I dig and then they dug the sand the whole day under the Sun. In the next stanza, again, in an open blue water, an old mother crocodile was living with their two baby crocodiles. The mother crocodile said that they swam to their two baby crocodiles and then they swam and the two baby crocodiles said we swam and swam the whole day in the blue water.
 

In the third stanza, one mother chameleon lives with their three baby chameleons in a hole. The mother chameleon said to their baby wink, they replied we wink and they winked all day in the hole. In the fourth stanza, one mother snake was living with their four little snakes then the mother snake told the four baby snakes that we squeaked and squeaked all day in the big barn door.

Now let’s understand the meaning of a few words that are used in the poem.

1. Turtle

• The turtle lives in the sea.

Turtle

2. Crocodile

• Crocodiles have long tails and big mouths with sharp teeth.

Crocodile

3. Chameleon

• It’s similar to a lizard.

• It can change the colour of the skin.

Chameleon

4. Snakes

• They have long tails and poison in their teeth.

Snake

Tips for Parents

Parents should explain to their children about the meaning of the poem with the counting used in it and meaning of all the words used in this poem to understand them better and build a good vocabulary.

Conclusion 

In this article, we have learnt about counting through the poem. This poem teaches us the numbering and the names of different animals and birds. That we are going counter every day. We have also understood the meaning of different terms used in this poem. We learnt about the animals like turtles, snakes, charmeleon and crocodiles.