Insect-Related SongsThe
Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly From Suzy Gazlay
SingingScience@comcast.net
©2004 Suzy Gazlay
Used by permission
These insect songs are part of a growing collection of science songs on a
variety of topics. They are set to public domain tunes that are probably
familiar to you. If not, let me know and I will see if I can help. If you would
like to know more about the other science songs, please feel free to ask!
Teachers, parents, and kids are welcome to use these songs. It makes me very
glad whenever I know that they are being sung. However, since the songs are
copyrighted to me, I do ask that if you share copies, or if you make slides or
transparencies, please put the copyright information on every page that has a
song. If you wish to include any of the songs in a project or put them on a
website, please ask me first.
Thanks, and happy singing!
Suzy Gazlay
1460 E. Fremont
Fresno, CA 93710
SingingScience@comcast.net
Insects and Spiders
Tune: My Goose--round
Insects have six legs,
Bodies in three parts,
Head and thorax and an abdomen.
Spiders have eight legs,
Bodies in two parts,
Cephalothorax and an abdomen.
Butterfly Cycle
Tune: Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Hatch, hatch little egg,
I'm so very small.
Teeny tiny caterpillar,
You can't see me at all.
Crawl, caterpillar, crawl,
Munching on a leaf.
Crawling, munching, crawling, munching,
Eat and eat and eat.
Form, form chrysalis,
I'm a different shape;
Hanging by a silken thread
Until I can escape.
Rest, rest, chrysalis
While I change inside;
Now at last my time has come
To be a butterfly.
Stretch, stretch, pretty wings,
It's a special day;
Soon they will be strong enough
For me to fly away.
Fly, fly, butterfly,
Fly from flower to tree;
Find a place to lay my eggs
So they can grow like me.
Mealworm Hop
Tune: Bunny Hop
(Tune is © Moonlight Music and is used with permission.)
In this song, have the students line up in threes so their six legs represent the
mealworm's legs. Let them predict how a mealworm moves its legs by acting it out. Then let
them watch a mealworm to find out. Then they can practice a mealworm walk (hop) as they
sing this song.
Mealworms sure walk funny
They're not like us, it's true
Each leg pair moves together
1--3--2!
Their legs don't move in order
But this is what they do:
First, then last, then middle
1--3--2!
Just what are these critters?
Let us give a clue:
They're not worms, they're insects
1--3--2!
Mealworms are the larvae
Of beetles, it is true
They live in grain and flour
1--3--2!
Grain beetles have four stages
As lots of insects do
Egg, larva, pupa, adult
1--3--2!
The eggs are really tiny
And last a week or two
Then hatch out into mealworms
1--3--2!
Mealworms are the larvae
Munching, chomping too
Shedding skins and growing
1--3--2!
The pupae are not active
Resting, changing too
They don't move like mealworms
1--3--2!
Adults are known as "darkling"
They don't fly, it's true
Do they walk like mealworms?
1--3--2!
Snail Song
(not an insect, but I thought you might like it anyway!)
Tune: The Farmer in the Dell
Repeat the third line of the tune so it will all fit.
The snail is so slow
The snail is so slow
It creeps so slowly every day
And eats the plants along the way
The snail is so slow.
You'll see where it's been
You'll see where it's been
For if you look behind its tail
You'll see a shiny, silvery trail
You'll see where it's been.
A snail's shell can grow
A snail's shell can grow
Each day it adds a little more
It even has a special door
A snail's shell can grow.
Snails like cool and damp
Snails like cool and damp
In summer heat they close up tight
In winter they go out of sight
Snails like cool and damp
Ladybird Beetles
Tune: Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Ladybirds have spots or stripes
They're yellow, red or green;
They love to live where there are weeds;
Around the world they're seen.
They're in the beetle family
And that is no surprise,
Though some folks call them "ladybugs"
Or even "ladyflies."
They lay their eggs upon a leaf;
Their larva is quite small
With little legs; the pupa stage
Hangs on a leaf or wall.
Their favorite food is aphid pests--
They eat a lot each day;
And from their legs a fluid comes
That drives their foes away.
Each beetle has six jointed legs
With which it walks or clings;
It also has two separate pairs
Of very special wings;
The first pair is quite hard and tough,
Protecting what's below:
Transparent wings that it can use
To fly where it should go.
About a hundred years ago
An awful insect pest
Was spoiling California's fruit--
The farmers had no rest--
Till someone had a great idea
And from Australia came
A beetle that would save the crop:
The ladybird by name.
A World of Discovery
Tune: Get Along, Little Dogie
I love to look at the wide world around me,
On land and in water and up in the skies.
But there is a tiny world I'm now discov'ring,
A world that I can't see with just my own eyes.
The tiniest plants live in one drop of water;
The smallest of insects once hid from my view;
All sorts of things that I never would notice
Live in a small world that I never knew.
Even the small parts of big things I know well
When seen through a microscope are a surprise:
Colors and patterns and wonderful textures--
Sometimes I just can't believe my own eyes!
My microscope is a window for watching:
The tiniest things I'm now able to see.
Small plants and creatures to watch and to wonder--
A world of discovery waiting for me.
The words of these songs were written by Suzy Gazlay. For more information, write or call
her at:
©2004 Suzy Gazlay
Used by permission
SingingScience@comcast.net
Also see:
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