Over in the Meadow Lyrics

Over in the Meadow is a counting song attributed to Olive A. Wadsworth and dates to around 1870 in the United States, pairing each numeral with a mother animal and her babies in a meadow setting. It works well for toddlers and preschoolers, roughly ages 2 to 5, who are just starting to connect number words with quantity. Early-childhood educators often use songs like this one because pairing a number with a concrete, visual animal group gives young children a memorable anchor for counting before they can count abstractly. The verses build cumulatively from one to ten, so children hear the sequence reinforced again and again rather than presented once and dropped. Its meadow setting also introduces basic wildlife vocabulary, turtles, fish, birds, bees, giving caregivers natural chances to talk about habitats and animal families. Because the melody is gentle and repetitive, it suits circle time, car rides, or quiet counting practice equally well. Parents looking to build on this kind of number-and-song pairing may enjoy exploring how melody supports early math skills more broadly in [Music and Math: How Songs Teach Numbers](/blog/music-and-maths-how-songs-teach-numbers).

Over in the meadow, in the sand, in the sun,
Lived an old mother turtle and her little turtle one.
"Dig!" said the mother. "I dig!" said the one.
So he dug all day in the sand, in the sun.

Over in the meadow, where the stream runs blue,
Lived an old mother fish and her little fishies two.
"Swim!" said the mother. "We swim!" said the two.
So they swam all day where the stream runs blue.

Over in the meadow, in a hole in a tree,
Lived an old mother bluebird and her little birdies three.
"Sing!" said the mother. "We sing!" said the three.
So they sang all day in a hole in the tree.