Monday, December 29, 2008

Animal Alphabet by Diddily Dee Dots

Animal Alphabet

A's For the Antelope always on view
Which Algernon saw,
When he went to the zoo.

B Was the bear that came up at a run
When Benjamin threw him
A very nice bun.

C's For the camel;
""Poor thing, what a lump!""
Was what Caroline said
When she looked at his hump.

D's For the deer with the soft
pretty eyes;
Doris found them so tame
She had quite a surprise.

E Was the elephant ;
sixpence a ride but
Eric soon found that
you can't sit astride!

F Was the fox very crafty and sly,
Watching Frank from his den
with a cunning old eye.

G's The giraffe which made
Geraldine smile;
She was sure with his neck,
She could see quite a mile.

H Was the hippo asleep in his pool,
Harry thought it an excellent
way to keep cool.

I Was the Ibex, a kind of wild goat.
Ida thought his horns nasty,
But liked his fine coat.

J Was the Jaguar like a big cat,
But Jane didn't think
She would like him to pat!

K Was the kangaroo off with a bound;
A fine way , thought Ken,
To get over the ground.

L's For the lions; they made
such a fierce noise
Laura wished she were safety
At home with the boys.

M's For the monkeys,
all patter and chatter,
But Miles couldn't tell
What on earth was the matter.

N's For the Nilgai which jumped
off a rock;
He took such a leap that
Nell had quite a shock.

O's For the ostrich,
A wise-looking bird,
But Olga remembered
the tales she had heard.

P's For the parrot
that had lots to say,
and tried to peck Paul,
As he passed by that way.

Q's For the Quagga
Which Quentin found tame;
He is quite like a Zebra,
with stripes and a mane.

R Is the Rhino,
A fierce-looking beast;
Rosie watched him with awe
In the midst of a feast.

S Is the snake which
Suzanne found asleep;
He was shiny and slimy
and made her flesh creep.

T's For the Tiger
that gave Tim a fright;
He was horribly scared
Lest they got out at night.

For U (That's the Unicorn)
Nobody looks;
As Una can tell you,
He's only in books.

V's For the Vulture,
A big bird of prey,
Veronica saw him
and soon ran away!

W's For the Wolf
Lying flat on the ground,
Though when Walter
came near he was
up with a bound.

X Just looks on
and has nothing to do,
There's no creature
That claims him
Through-out the whole Zoo.

Y Is the Yak;
He's worthy of note;
Yvonne was amazed
at his long shaggy coat.

Z's For the Zebra
That kept Zoe busy,
She counted his stripes
till she felt she was dizzy.
--Diddily Dee Dots (Maybe?)


This poem was either written or appropriated by somebody calling themselves Diddily Dee Dots. It's hard when I find a perfect poem online, and there's no attribution. I'm probably far over the edge of legal copyright use of poetry, but I tell myself it's mostly all right if it's already out there on the internet, and I give a proper attribution. Oh well...

Peter and I were at the mall the other day, and I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a zip up book with a little stuffed animal for each letter of the alphabet. I thought it was a great idea as a quiet activity, but the price was appalling -- $78! I also thought that the animals were kind of boring because they all looked pretty much the same.

I've been thinking about feverishly making one of these for Elizabeth's birthday, and have pretty much convinced myself that she won't care one way or another whether it's done for the actual birthday. I was also thinking that it would get pretty tiresome to make all those animals myself.

So here's my idea -- please tell me if you think it's doable for you in your present circumstances -- if each of Elizabeth's aunts and uncles (and grandparents and cousins and friends if they feel so inclined) makes a little animal out of felt, that would populate most of the book. If you made the animal 2 or 3 inches tall at the largest, it should only cost about 50 cents to a dollar in supplies (felt and embroidery floss are pretty cheap) , and it could be completed in one evening -- maybe as an FHE activity.

I don't want this to be a burden on anyone, so please feel free to decline the invitation. Also, like I said, it doesn't have to be done in time for her birthday -- that's pretty much impossible at this point -- but it would be nice to have it finished within a few months.

If you would like to participate, please coordinate with me about which letter you'll be making an animal for -- it would be sad if I ended up with 15 aardvarks.

The two pictures below are of the original book, and this link and this one are to give you an idea of the sort of felt animal I'm thinking of. Feel free to get as creative as you want, but if you feel intimidated, then simply cutting out two copies of an outline, stitching around the edge, and putting a little stuffing (or scrap felt) inside, is all I'm really asking for.

Thanks for even considering this. It would be so fun to have something for Elizabeth made by all the people who love her!


20 comments:

  1. Cute! I'd like to do some. I'll let you know soon. Do you have any suggestions for the tricky letters, or any animals that you'd particularly like?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike and Miriam say they'd like to do A, M, and W for Aidan Martin and William.

    ReplyDelete
  3. From the book Aardvarks Disembark, I find that there is an animal called a Xerus, which is an African ground squirrel.

    Uakari is a South American Monkey
    Unau is a Brazilian two toed sloth
    Urial is an Asian wild sheep
    Urumutum is a Central and South American fowl

    Quetzal is a bird of tropical Central America
    Quokka is a miniature Wallaby of Australia

    Give me a call if you want more ideas

    ReplyDelete
  4. May I claim L for Lyon? oops, Lion?
    Happy Birthday Elizabeth,
    Happy New Year Karen and Peter!
    Mary Beth

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oooh, I was hoping you would!

    Thank you!

    -Karen

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mike and Miriam and family had so much fun they're claiming S, T, and C as well! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd be happy to do a giraffe, and I could do another one too if you have any requests.

    Barbie

    ReplyDelete
  8. Aready taken are:
    A - Aidan
    C - Miriam
    G - Barbie
    H - Karen
    L - Mary Beth
    M - Martin
    S - Miriam
    T - Mike
    W - William

    ReplyDelete
  9. We had you sent an owl and a hedgehog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Do you have a zebra or fox yet? Or gorilla?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Rabbit, Frog, Dog…..need any of those 3?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Steve called and we decided he and Rachel would do V and Z.

    Here's the full list so far
    A - Aidan
    C - Miriam
    D - Susan Hatch
    F - Susan Hatch
    G - Barbie
    H - Doug
    L - Mary Beth
    M - Martin
    O - Lesli
    R - Susan Hatch
    S - Miriam
    T - Mike
    V - Steve
    W - William
    Z - Rachel

    More than halfway there! Thanks so much everybody!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. I'll take B and P, so that leaves

    E I J K N Q U X Y

    for anyone else

    ReplyDelete
  15. Actually, I'll take J too, so that leaves

    E I K N Q U X Y

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hi there Karen, You have a nice collection of poems, here are some more poems sites that you might like


    http://www.poemsforfree.com
    http://www.blessedwithlove.com
    http://www.latestngreatest.net

    ReplyDelete
  17. Karen,

    Dave and I want to make an elephant, iguana, koala and quail.

    That leaves N U X Y

    I'm excited to see the collection!

    Marcelle

    ReplyDelete
  18. OK update:
    Here are the ones I have received
    Alligator - Aidan
    Bear - Heather
    Cheeta - Mike
    Frog - Miriam
    Jaguar - Heather
    Mouse - Martin
    Owl - Doug & Lesli
    Penguin Heather
    Salamander - Susan Hatch
    Turtle - Miriam
    Vulture - Steve
    X (back half of an Ox) - Dad
    Zebra - Rachel

    Claimed are:
    Elephant - David & Marcelle
    Giraffe - Barbie
    Hedgehog - Karen
    Iguana - David & Marcelle
    Koala - David & Marcelle
    Lion - MBL
    Quail - David & Marcelle

    That leaves:
    D
    N
    R
    U
    Y

    Thanks so much everybody!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi there, This is the strange Diddily Dee Dot's Dreamland. I visited your site before Christmas and left a message saying how beautiful it was and saying if you ever get stuck for a poem or Rhyme, just pop over to one of my websites and take one.
    An awful lot of the pages are written by myself, who has the names seligor, of seligor's castle, diddily of Dodie's World and Diddilydeedot of diddilydeedotsdreamland. those that are not by myself have the author/or anonymous, but all are so old they are well past copyright. I do hope you keep your web site going. To often people start but stop after a short time.
    Somewhere, I think it may be in
    Seligor's Castle I have written a poem, a bit like the Antelope but this one is all Welsh Names of people and places in Wales, the country I come from. You would love it. You could match names with States.
    You will also find a massive amount of Images. A lot are in the photo albums. I don't want to advertise my full web site names but if you would like to write an email to
    dottido@hotmail.com I will send them to you . You may also notice I do have a real name. Dorothy Milnes-Simm, with 5 children, 19 grand-children and 6 great grand-children, most of whom have forgotten my real name ha ha ha. It was lovely talking to you. Hope your New Year brings you much happiness. hugs Seli. xxx

    ReplyDelete
  20. Hi there, This is the strange Diddily Dee Dot's Dreamland. I visited your site before Christmas and left a message saying how beautiful it was and saying if you ever get stuck for a poem or Rhyme, just pop over to one of my websites and take one.
    An awful lot of the pages are written by myself, who has the names seligor, of seligor's castle, diddily of Dodie's World and Diddilydeedot of diddilydeedotsdreamland. those that are not by myself have the author/or anonymous, but all are so old they are well past copyright. I do hope you keep your web site going. To often people start but stop after a short time.
    Somewhere, I think it may be in
    Seligor's Castle I have written a poem, a bit like the Antelope but this one is all Welsh Names of people and places in Wales, the country I come from. You would love it. You could match names with States.
    You will also find a massive amount of Images. A lot are in the photo albums. I don't want to advertise my full web site names but if you would like to write an email to
    dottido@hotmail.com I will send them to you . You may also notice I do have a real name. Dorothy Milnes-Simm, with 5 children, 19 grand-children and 6 great grand-children, most of whom have forgotten my real name ha ha ha. It was lovely talking to you. Hope your New Year brings you much happiness. hugs Seli. xxx

    ReplyDelete