Tigers Running Thru the Trees was inspired by the blow drying instructions from my hairdresser – about 20 years ago! The first line of this poem has been running thru and literally over my head for all that time! I’ve tried lots of lines to follow that first line and finally, I think it’s almost there!
Tigers running thru the trees!
Tigers stop to smell the breeze!
Tigers crouching by a stump!
Watch those little tigers JUMP!
Or try this for an alternate last line:
Now, those little tigers jump!
Or maybe this:
Little Tigers, can you JUMP?
Still a work in process, this little action rhyme, along with channeling little ones’ energy, helps them learn control, as they run, stop, crouch and jump!
An added imagination feature can be explored when the tigers tell you what they are smelling on the breeze and what made them jump!
New rhymes shape themselves when we use them! The oral process of polishing songs and rhymes works the same way water polishes the objects you might find on a beach, to make them smooth and slippery, like the easy way the words fall out of our mouths as we play and sing them over and over.
I’m not worried about the final shape my new Tiger poem will take, because it will happen after we’ve played it a few times! And it may stick or it may not! Who can predict a future of these new little ditties? Our new additions to the world of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes can only hope to have the lasting legacy of Jack Be Nimble or Humpty Dumpty!
The Oral Tradition is an ongoing and living tradition and we are it! Keep singing, rhyming and telling stories!