So now I have ds tied to the rack, which poems shall I force him to learn?

[joanofarchitrave]

We're having a go at Sea Fever - going quite well with frequent diet coke bribes.

Any others that your children have learned?

From a Railway Carriage. Great energetic rhythm for children.

Had to google that but at least I have seen it before - great! Thank you!

We've got a good book of poems called 'Read me and Laugh; a funny poem for every day'. DD's learned ones from that for auditions. (There's a great one which is a series of letters from the planning authorities to the Three Pigs.)

There's a sister volume called 'Read Me Out Loud' which I keep meaning to get which I'm sure would also hit the spot.

Otherwise short & silly rules the day here: 'Arry 'ad 'an 'awk, some Spike Milligan, Ogden Nash, Bad child's book of beasts etc. etc.

(Oh, and she can recite various poems in Welsh which they learn at school for the eisteddfod, but that's possibly a rather geographically specific skill!)

How old is he?

Pied Piper of Hamlin?
Extracts from Hiawatha?
The Massacre of Sennacherib?

How old is he? Old enough to see the images in Cargoes? If so, I massively recommend that. He'll never forget those pictures.

If he learns the Massacre of Sennacherib he should learn Very like a Whale to go with it

Although really you should tell us more about him so we can tailor our suggestions a bit more. What does he like? And what sort of length of thing can he manage?

Ducks by Frank W Harvey.

Last verse:
''When God had finished the stars and whirl of coloured suns
He turned His mind from big things to fashion little ones;
Beautiful tiny things (like daisies) He made, and then
He made the comical ones in case the minds of men
Should stiffen and become
Dull, humourless and glum,
And so forgetful of their Maker be
As to take even themselves - quite seriously.
Caterpillars and cats are lively and excellent puns:
All God's jokes are good - even the practical ones!
And as for the duck, 1 think God must have smiled a bit
Seeing those bright eyes blink on the day He fashioned it.
And he's probably laughing still at the sound that came out of its bill!'

he's 8. thanks for all of these :)

Hm. He knows all the Pokemon theme songs by heart. He loves Almost Naked Animals (so do I) and Bear Behaving Badly. He runs everywhere and bursts into tears at the drop of a hat. He's good at maths and wants a sibling. He's nervous of performing, heights, flying and failure.

DD1 is ten and they are just studying The Highwayman in Literacy. Very dramatic, they are enjoying it very much!
I second Cargoes, one of my favourites. And The Donkey, even for an atheist the imagery in it is wonderful. There are tons I love, when I think about it :)

Neither of my dds had to learn a poem although they have studied The Highwayman and another popular one (and one of my favourites) is The Listners by Walter de la Mare. Both of these are usually done in year 5/6 so might not be quite what you're after for a year or two.

Edward Lear limmericks are good fun and quick to learn too.

Yes, this is purely a personal initiative based on the actual physical pleasure of remembering the few sad shreds of poetry I do know, plus observing how good children this age are at remembering things. Also ds has recently refused to carry on learning his musical instrument and I am struggling to deal with that.

Windy Nights-lovely rhythm there. (RLS)
Ducks Ditty (Kenneth Graham?)
Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy evening (Robert Frost)
Albert and the Lion
I learnt "Fish" by Rupert Brooke when I was about that age and didn't understand bits of it, but I loved the feel of the rhythm and pace, and still do. We were meant to choose a poem to a theme every week at junior level. You got extra marks if you learnt it. I can still recite most of them now.

"I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one.
But I can tell you anyhow,
I'd rather see than be one!"

Ah - I see.

With regard to the music, could it be that he's not enjoying the actual music he's playing? DD1 recently gave up piano lessons because she didn't like playing classical music but I've heard her playing pop tunes that she downloads somehow via her Ipod Touch. Maybe if he could play a different genre of music for a bit it might perk his interest up a bit?

Anything by Ogden Nash?

the duck
Behold the duck
It does not cluck
A cluck it lacks
It quacks.
It is specially fond
Of a puddle or pond.
When it dines or sups
It bottoms ups!

Takver: thanks for linking that! I'll inflict it on DSes later.

joanofarchitrave: try The Ning Nang Nong?

Glad you like it, EdithWeston :)

The elephant's a dainty bird
It flits from bough to bough
It perches in a rhubarb tree
And whistles like a cow

Never mind the poems, tell me about the rack!

Now where did you buy it? How much? How long can you leave them tied to it?? Will a 12 going on 15 DS fit on it???
:-)

There's one I remember from school called "The train to Glasgow" - cant wait to teach it to 4mo DD!

www.folkinfo.org/forum/topic.php?topicid=458

And just to lower the tone:

'Arry 'ad an 'awk on an 'atstand
The 'awk made an 'orrible row
'Arry 'it the 'awk with an 'eavy 'ard 'ammer
'Arry ain't got no 'awk now

I remember one called 'the night train??' as you read it the rhythm sounds like a train.

My favourite was always The Owl and the Pussycat.