PodSnacks

Transcript

Let's have some fun 

with things that rhyme

welcome Kids 

it's poetry time!

Hip Hip Hurray!

Welcome back to Kids Poetry Club with me, Little Dazzy Donuts. I hope you’re feeling ready for some rhymes and fun because we're going to spend the next 15 minutes listening to three poems on this week's chosen topic - are you going to guess what the topic is? Plus, this week, I have a special guest joining us for the first poem. We'll also have a poem from a Club member – as usual, it’s from a listener just like you, if not actually you! So, while I play our intro music, get wriggling around to find a comfortable spot ... I’m so excited! It's time for this week's Kids Poetry Club!

Music

Before we play "guess the topic of the week", let's start off with club registration. Normally, I would shout out my name to show you how it’s done, but this week I’m going to ask my special guest to help us out. So, let’s meet her – her name is Queenie. Hi Queenie – welcome to Kids Poetry Club.

QUEENIE: Thank you so much for having me here on the show. It’s an honor to be here.

So, Queenie, will you help us with club registration by showing everyone how to shout out their name and get a Club point for being here. On the count of three, Queenie, just shout out your name. Everyone, join me in counting up to three for Queenie. Here goes: One. Two, Three.

QUEENIE: Queenie.

If you remember, last week’s topic was night time and we had poems about something you could do before falling asleep, about the moon playing with the sun, and about the early birds not actually getting the worm. So let’s see if you can guess this week’s topic. Your clue this week is two sounds … but, to make it more challenging, I’m going to play both of those sounds at the same time! Let’s see if you can spot what the two sounds are, and then work out what the theme is. Here goes:

So, did you guess it? Yes, the theme this week is Dogs and Cats!

Now, Queenie– you’re a dog lover, is that right?

QUEENIE: Yes, I am. I like all sorts of dogs. Big dogs. Little dogs. Black Dogs. Brown Dogs. White Dogs. Hot Dogs.

You like hot dogs?

QUEENIE: Oh yes, with mustard and ketchup and fried onions.

Well, those really aren’t the sort of dogs we have poems about. Today’s poems are about dogs with four legs and not hot dogs.

Now, did you know that dogs are really good at sniffing – I know that my dog is – we’ll go on a walk, and she’ll find something to sniff and her powerful nose tells her all sorts of things about what made that smell. That’s how she knows what’s going on in our neighborhood. She can do that because her sense of smell is 400 times more powerful than mine! Mind you, it’s not just her nose that’s more powerful, as we find out in our first poem, which is called “Me and My Dog”.

Queenie – why don’t you look out of the window and see how the poem is arriving. Can you see it yet?

QUEENIE: Not yet. I can hear something coming though. I can’t tell if it’s a plane or a car of a train. Here it comes ….

It came on a bicycle!!!!! Gosh, that’s a new way for our poems to arrive. Okay, here’s the poem called “Me and My Dog” …

Me and my dog go out for a walk,

and it’s plain for all to see,

that it’s really not me who is walking the dog,

it’s the dog who is out walking me.

My dog is quite a bit bigger than me,

and so she can easily drag me round town.

One minute she’s taking me up a long street,

and the next she brings me back down.

She takes me around all her best places,

like the butchers and down to the park.

Sometimes she gets tired, lays down and won’t move,

and we’re stuck there ‘til way after dark.

At the end of the day, she’ll sprint us back home.

My poor feet, they won’t touch the ground.

Despite all of this, I love every walk –

I’m a pet of the world’s greatest hound.

I love that poem. The idea that it’s the dog taking the person for a walk. There’s something funny about picturing a dog running back home so fast that the feet of the poor person holding the leash don’t even touch the ground. This could be a great poem for you if you like drawing – perhaps you could draw what it would be like to be taken for a walk by a dog. Kids’ Poetry Club’s illustrator, Dot Cherch, did just that – and you can see her funny illustrations by checking out the website at kidspoetryclub.com.  Just ask an adult to help you find it on the computer or a phone.

So, Queenie – I know you have to leave, and your ride will be here any moment. So, before you go, why not tell us a little about why you love dogs so much.

QUEENIE: Well, I love that there are so many different types of dogs. In fact, there are 150 different dog breeds. Some are really small, like the chuahuahua, which weighs the same as a bag of sugar! And then others are as large as the Great Dane, which weighs almost the same as you, Little Dazzy Donuts! Also, I like how sometimes it rains dogs and cats. Hang on, here’s my ride. I’m off now … see you soon!!!!! Tatta for Now. Toodle Pip.

Gosh, I’m amazed how she jumps on the back of that motorbike! Hopefully she’ll pay us a visit again in a future podcast.

Now, where were we? Oh, yes … Queenie was saying that it sometimes rains cats and dogs! That’s a curious saying. It means, of course, that it’s raining really heavily. But, what if you didn’t know what it means, and you heard someone say that it’s raining cats and dogs, then what would you picture? That question is answered in our second poem, which is called “Raining”. Fortunately, Queenie’s ride dropped it off when she was picked up on the motorbike, and so let me read the Raining poem to you right now ….

I overheard someone say

it was raining cats and dogs today,

so I grabbed my coat and grabbed my hat

to dash outside to catch a cat.

I pictured them raining in the streets

with dogs then landing up in trees.

But there were no animals to be found

just big deep puddles on the ground.

I imagine that they landed safe,

and ran off quick to get away.

Next time it rains, I hope it brings

a flood of animals and other things.

I'd like a shower of kangaroos,

and a quick downpour of gnus.

I'd want a drizzle of raccoons,

and a thin mist of baboons,

then after about an hour or two,

the street would just be one big zoo!

Just imagine that! Instead of it raining cats and dogs, you instead get a shower of kangaroos … a downpour of gnus …. A drizzle of raccoons … and a thin mist of baboons. The poem’s right – the whole place would be like a zoo. You would walk out of your house, and you could find a baboon just sitting there in your garden, or even a kangaroo on top of your car! What a strange thought.

Perhaps that’s something that you’d like to draw and send into the club. If so, you can ask an adult to email it to drawings@kidspoetryclub.com. I look at every drawing that comes in, and I select a few to put on our website.

Talking of sending things into the club, we've reached the point where we hear from a listener who has sent in a poem to be read out. Today's poem comes in from Daisy, and it fits perfectly into today’s theme. It’s called “I’m a Dog” … here’s Daisy’s poem.

I like to pretend I’m a dog

I lie in a basket on the floor.

And to go outside, I sit and wait

For someone to come open the door.

I try to drink water using my tongue

By lapping it up from a bowl

And sometimes when the moon’s up

You’ll see me watch it and howl.

I’m not doing any of this

Just to try to be funny or cool.

It’s that I think I can then stay home

because you’ll never see a dog go to school.

Thank you Daisy for sending in your poem! What a clever idea – to pretend to be a dog as a way of not having to go to school. Unless of course you end up in dog obedience school where you learn to sit, stay, roll over, and fetch. The thought of you as a dog definitely made for a funny poem.  You'll find it on the website together with all of the other poems chosen this week. Remember, if you want your poem read out, just ask an adult to email it for you to poems@KidsPoetryClub.com - I can't wait to read it.

Well, we have made it to our final poem of the week. So far, we have heard three poems involving dogs, so, to balance things out a little, let’s finish off with a poem that’s just about a cat. Sadly, I’m allergic to cats – which means that cats make me sneeze and also make my eyes water. That happens if I pet a cat … and can even happen if I just go into a house where a cat has been. It means that I can’t have a cat as a pet – unless, of course, I want to spend all day just sneezing! Are you allergic to anything like that?

Even though I can’t have a pet cat, I like to imagine what it would be like to have a cat. They seem so different to dogs – more independent … even enjoying their own company. For example, dogs tend to get taken for walks, but cats take themselves. Some cats just go through a flap in the door, and disappear off into the yard and beyond.

In this final poem, we explore what would happen if a cat went off for a while and came back to the house to find it was different. What would the cat think, and what would it do next. Let’s see what happens in this final poem called “The Cat’s Return”.

But how’s the poem going to get here. So far, we’ve had a bicycle and a motorbike. How do you think the final poem will arrive? On a plane, on a train, in a car …. Here it comes ….

It came on the back of a horse! Who knew that poems could ride horses? Well, now we know.

Okay – let’s hear our final poem of the show, called “The Cat’s Return”.

This house is tidy!

This house is clean!

I find myself wondering,

what does this all mean?

Is somebody visiting,

later today,

that we must impress

in some special way?

Or are they selling the house,

and I just didn’t know?

If so, they better take me

wherever they go!

Or did I enter the wrong house

when I came back alone,

and this perfectly clean place

is not my own home?

Whatever is it,

why this house is clean,

I assume it’s an accident

and not something they mean

to stay perfect forever

in this sparkly state,

so I’ll just do my usual

and mess up this place!

I could just picture that – the cat returning to find everything neat and tidy, and then thinking to itself, why not just mess the place back up again! If you can picture that too, then why not draw it, or you could draw a scene from one of the other poems, like it raining animals, or a dog taking a person for a walk. Once you’ve finished your drawing, just ask an adult to send it in to drawings@KidsPoetryClub.com. I look at every one that comes in, and then will put a selection of them on the website.

Well, sadly, we have reached the end of our club time for this week. It has been so lovely to spend time with you! Thank you for joining me and Queenie - I hope you enjoyed yourself, and hope you will be back for more next time the Club meets. I'd love to see you here again. Until then, stay happy and stay rhyming ... and let's finish with our short goodbye poem.

We've had some fun 

with things that rhymed

goodbye Kids 

until next time!

This is Little Dazzy Donuts saying .... keep rhyming!!!

MUSIC