Mary Had a Little Lamb Nursery Rhyme with Fun Activities
Rhymes are too much fun when are introduced with more animals in them as children love animals. One such rhyme is Mary’s Lamb. This rhyme is thought to be children because it talks about a real story and it was written in the year the 1830s by Sarah Josepha Hale. Sarah Josepha used this story in real life to teach kids about moral lessons, thereafter it is named Mary Had a Little Lamb song. This poem has been popular since then and kids love singing it.
The story behind Mary Had a Little Lamb rhymes
Sarah Josepha Hale was a teacher. who started teaching in a small school little ones that were just near her home. This story of Mary Had a Little Lamb begins when Sarah Josepha was surprised one day when she saw one of her students named Mary, enter the classroom in the morning along with her pet animal. These made students distracted from their studies so Sarah decided to keep a pet animal outside of school. Animal used to wait for nearby school till school closes and ran up when he sees Mary just to protect her and take attention from her. The other students wanted to know why the pet animal loved her so much and their Sarah teacher explained because it was her loved pet. So then after Sarah used this incident to teach students moral lessons across the class.
Why it is important to teach children about Mary Had a Little Lamb rhyme?
Here are a few benefits of teaching this song to young ones:
- It will teach children how to be kind and loving towards animals.
- It will help children to know how animals can protect and love us.
- It will improve your young one’s vocabulary skills.
- It will make them understand the real incident that happened in the rhyme.
- This rhyme will teach children how animals can be good if taken care of them properly.
Mary Had a Little Lamb Lyrics
Sarah Josepha wrote the Mary Had A Little Lamb rhyme when she saw an animal following her student girl named Mary entering the school. The children found it funny seeing a girl with her pet, and the teacher took it as a great lesson to teach young ones moral lessons.
Mary had a little lamb,
Little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
Mary went, Mary went,
Everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day,
School one day, school one day,
It followed her to school one day
Which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
Laugh and play, laugh and play,
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
“Why does the lamb love Mary so?
Mary so, Mary so?
Why does the lamb love Mary so?”
The eager children smile.
“Mary loves the lamb, you know,
Lamb, you know, lamb, you know,
Mary loves the lamb, you know,”
The teacher did reply.
Old Version of Rhyme
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
That was against the rule.
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
And so the Teacher turned him out,
But still, he lingered near.
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear.
‘And then, her pet ran to her, and laid’
His head upon her arm.
As if he said, ‘I’m not afraid,
You’ll keep me from all harm.’
‘What makes the lamb love Mary so?’
The eager children smile.
‘O, Mary loves the lamb, you know,’
The Teacher did reply.
‘And you each gentle animal,
In confidence may bind.
And make them follow at your call,
If you are always kind.’
Collections of Words your child will learn from the poem
This rhyme contains a lot of new words like sight words, action words and so on that you should teach your children.
1. Sight Words
- her
- and
- the
- did
- was
- that
- had
- a
- as
- too
2. Rhyming Words
- snow-go
- rules-school
- day-play
- so-know
- smile-reply
3. Action Words
- go
- play
- love
4. Consonant Blends
- fleece
- snow
- smile
5. Consonant Digraph
- white
6. Vowel Digraphs
- eager
- against
Activities to help a child learn Mary Had A Little Lamb Rhyme
1. Play the rhyme in the Morning or Evening
You can always play this rhyme after they have done with homework just to make their day enjoyable. Play the music loudly and dance and sing this rhyme along with your child.
2. Intro to Story Book
You can show the rhyme book of Mary Had A Little Lamb and ask them what they see in the picture in the book and then ask them what they think the story is talking about and what they think will happen to the girl and animal in the book. You can record the predictions of children.
3. Choosing Names for Lamb
The story talks about a girl name Mary. You then ask your child what can be the animal’s name.
This activity can be performed in a group. The group of kids will vote for their favorite name, and you can make a chart of what name has the most votes.
4. Name recognition
Write a few poem words on a dry-erase board and then tell your child to make the given word into a lamb by drawing an animal shape around the word.
5. Animal Sorting Game
Take around 10-20 farm animals and put them in a container with a lid. Then shake the container and put them out on the floor. Then ask the child to search for an animal lamb and its color of it.
6. Real or Pretend Activity
You should ask your child if the story of the girl is real or fake. In real life does the animal really follow the girl to school?
If so, why do you think /why not?
Suhana holds a master’s degree in computer and from the University of Goa. She has around 3 years of experience in various fields of writing and editing. By profession, she is a freelancer Content Writer. As an associate editor at SudivGuide, Suhana edits and ensures the articles are aligned with the website’s editorial standards.
