Singing & Reading Along

This last week with the Grandbabes here we had several times of filling space.  You know what I mean.  In the car headed somewhere and time is just hanging all around you.  Getting dinner ready while your large family all seems to be famished right now!  Those times.  Well we often divert attention from the situation by singing a song.  Last visit over the holidays we taught them "Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar?"  And they popped out with that song right off the bat.  It was neat to see that they remembered it.  Well right after that I had a book about the same thing to share with Princess Emma.  It really brought home the song to her and she knew who really stole them.  (Hint, it was Thomas if you did not know.)

Well this time we taught them a new song.  A great favorite of filling time is "The Bear Went Over the Mountain".  You remember it right?

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

(tune:  For He's a Jolly Good Fellow)

The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

The bear went over the mountain,

To see what he could see

To see what he could see,

To see what he could see

The other side of the mountain,

The other side of the mountain,

The other side of the mountain,

Was all that he could see

Was all that he could see,

Was all that he could see,

The other side of the mountain,

Was all that he could see!

Okay there we go.  Now your singing too.  Well those lyrics can get a lil dull.  Thankfully we were able to add to them with help from Iza Trapani.  She retells the song in her illustrated book of  "The Bear Went Over The Mountain"  that is coming out this April.  Her bear goes over the mountain to see what he can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.  A very busy bear!  The kiddos laughed at the bear smelling a skunk!  But they soon was interested in seeing all the new things explored.  And were adding their own ideas in no time.   I loved that at the end the bear wen to his cave for a snuggly sleep.   This would be a great bedtime story or adding in what the kiddos did for their day til bed time.  

Iza has retold the story of The Itsy Bitsy Spider too.  I have to thank her and Sky Pony Press for sharing with us.  It was a perfect book to pull out and share with the grandbabes.