Do you or your kids have any favourite children’s rhymes? One of Oliver’s favourite rhyming books at the moment is  The Giant of Jum by Elli Woodward. A very entertaining book about a giant who looks for a boy called Jack -to eat him! On the way he meets lots of children who he unwittingly helps and then befriends. Not to give too much away but of course it has a happy ending. It’s perfect for ages 2-6 and another one that we’ve had to read over and over.

If your kids are into silly poetry (and these are for slightly older maybe 6+) I can recommend my personal favourite Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl -not for the faint hearted but imaginative, gruesome  based on classic fairy tales. The other one I loved as a child would say age suitably from about 4+ is An Imaginary Menagerie by Roger Mcgough. Oh my goodness this is a book i would read over and over again as a child. A-Z poetry about an Allivator, a Catopillow, Badgers and Goodgers, Anaconda in a Honda….this book is the stuff that (very weird!) dreams are made of.

And on that note here’s a little (not so weird) poem. My fiercest critic has just made me read it 5 times to him! All names have been changed to protect the not so innocent 😂

The Tale of the Naughty Monkey 

Kirsten Allen 12.07.17

Naughty monkey, naughty monkey!
Where on earth can monkey be?
Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Is climbing up the coconut tree!

Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Picks a coconut without a sound.
Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Throws the coconut on the ground!

Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Has a thought and picks another.
Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Then throws it at his little brother!

Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Made his little brother cry.
Naughty monkey, naughty monkey
Said it fell out of the sky!

Mummy Monkey crossly said
It wasn’t nice to hurt his brother’s head!
Little brother was very sad
And naughty monkey felt quite bad.

Sorry monkey, sorry monkey
Said he was as sorry as could possibly be.
So his brother then forgave him
And together they played in the banana tree!

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