My twins’ Waldorf parent-child class introduced me to “Over In The Meadow,” a traditional counting song with roots going back to the 1800s. When I looked up the lyrics later, I discovered dozens of variations—and realized I had strong preferences about which choices work best.
This is my adapted version, with notes on why I made each change.
Looking for just the lyrics? Printable version →
Verse 1: Turtle
Over in the meadow, in the sand, in the sun,
Lived a loving father turtle and his little turtle one.
“Dig,” said the father; “We dig,” said the one,
So they dug and were happy in the sand, in the sun.
“Loving father” instead of “old mother”: The traditional versions always use “old mother.” Mothers don’t always want to be described as old, and I’m a father. “Loving” shifts the emphasis from age to relationship—what matters is the care, not the demographics.
“We dig” instead of “I dig”: Traditional versions use “I” for the single child. But “we” implies the parent is digging with the child, not just instructing from above. It models collaborative play rather than directive parenting.
Verse 2: Foxes
Over in the meadow, where the tall grasses grew,
Lived a loving father fox and his little foxes two.
“Run,” said the father; “We run,” said the two,
So they ran and were happy where the tall grasses grew.
“Run” is one of the strong verbs in this version—kids know exactly what to do with their bodies.
Verse 3: Robins
Over in the meadow, in a nest in a tree,
Lived a loving father robin and his little birdies three.
“Sing,” said the father; “We sing,” said the three,
So they sang and were happy in their nest in the tree.
“Sing” is participatory, musical, and something children actually do.
Verse 4: Chipmunks
Over in the meadow, in a tall sycamore,
Lived a loving father chipmunk and his little chipmunks four.
“Climb,” said the father; “We climb,” said the four,
So they climbed and were happy in that tall sycamore.
“Climb” instead of “play”: Some versions use “play” here. But “play” is the genus, not a species—the whole song is play. Using “play” as the specific verb fails to differentiate. “Climb” is concrete and embodied; kids can climb on playground equipment, furniture, or each other.
Verse 5: Bees
Over in the meadow, in a new little hive,
Lived a loving father bee and his honeybees five.
“Hum,” said the father; “We hum,” said the five,
So they hummed and were happy in their new little hive.
“Hum” instead of “buzz”: “Buzz” is onomatopoeia—just noise-making. “Hum” is something you do with your voice, sustainably, even musically. Kids can hum along with the melody itself. The best verbs in this song name what the child’s body can do, not what sound to make.
Verse 6: Beavers
Over in the meadow, in a dam built of sticks,
Lived a loving father beaver and his little beavers six.
“Build,” said the father; “We build,” said the six,
So they built and were happy in their dam built of sticks.
“Build” translates directly to block play, sand castles, blanket forts—anything constructive.
Verse 7: Frogs
Over in the meadow, in the green wet bogs,
Lived a loving father froggie and his seven polliwogs.
“Swim,” said the father; “We swim,” said the ‘wogs,
So they swam and were happy in the green wet bogs.
“Green wet bogs” and “polliwogs”: I love that this version doesn’t force a rhyme with “seven.” The Langstaff/Rojankovsky version I encountered uses this construction, and “‘wogs” as an abbreviation is playful. The frog verse is about swimming rather than croaking—action over sound.
Verse 8: Owls
Over in the meadow, as the day grew late,
Lived a loving father owl and his little owls eight.
“Wink,” said the father; “We wink,” said the eight,
So they winked and were happy as the day grew late.
Why keep “wink”? I initially thought “wink” was too passive compared to the full-body verbs elsewhere. But toddlers are at an age where independent eyelid control is a genuine fine-motor milestone. Winking is hard for little kids—they practice it. What reads as passive to adults is actually an engaging motor challenge for the target audience.
The song covers different scales of action: whole-body (run, hop, climb), manipulative (dig, build), vocal (sing, hum), and fine-motor (wink).
Verse 9: Spiders
Over in the meadow, in a web on a pine,
Lived a loving father spider and his little spiders nine.
“Spin,” said the father; “We spin,” said the nine,
So they spun and were happy in their web on the pine.
“Spin” works through polysemy: Spiders spin silk; children spin in circles (or, in Waldorf contexts, spin yarn through finger knitting). The same verb carries both interpretations without forcing one. The child isn’t pretending to be a spider—they’re doing their own version of spinning, and that’s equally legitimate.
Verse 10: Rabbits
Over in the meadow, in a warm little den,
Lived a loving father rabbit and his little bunnies ten.
“Hop,” said the father; “We hop,” said the ten,
So they hopped and were happy in their warm little den.
“Hop” is one of the clearest action verbs—pure embodied joy.
”Were happy”: Honoring the Inner Life
Throughout this version, the refrain is “and were happy” rather than alternatives like “all day” or animal sounds. This choice matters to me because it changes what the song says about children.
The versions that emphasize doing and feeling—“they swam and were happy”—treat the baby animals as beings with their own inner experience and agency. They’re not just performers making the expected noise on cue.
Some versions reduce the children to correct output: make the right sound, and you’ve done the verse. The “were happy” framing says something different: these activities are enjoyable in themselves, and the children’s happiness is worth naming.
This connects to a theme in Alfie Kohn’s Unconditional Parenting: the difference between treating children as beings to be controlled versus beings with their own experience to be honored.
Why “happy” over “glad” or “joyful”?
The Langstaff version I started from uses “glad,” which has a nice folk-song quality. “Glad” also implies more transitivity—you’re glad about something—so there’s a stronger sense that the activity is causing the joy.
But “happy” has better rhythm for singing (two syllables instead of one), and it flows more naturally in phrases like “were happy in the sand.”
I considered “joyful” for the stronger transitivity with the same syllable count, but it’s harder to articulate—specifically the ‘j’ sound, which requires more effort to launch into mid-phrase. For a song sung with toddlers, ease of pronunciation wins.
Sources and Acknowledgments
The version I started from is the John Langstaff / Feodor Rojankovsky illustrated edition (1957), which I encountered through our Waldorf parent-child class. Rojankovsky’s warm, naturalistic illustrations won a Caldecott Honor, and the book includes sheet music at the end.
“Over In The Meadow” is a traditional song with roots in the 1800s, originally written as a poem by Olive A. Wadsworth (pen name of Katherine Floyd Dana). The song is in the public domain, and folk tradition invites adaptation—so I’ve adapted it for my family.