Adventures of Mother Goose
A skit for Mother Goose Day [May 1] or to use with a nursery rhyme theme.
Props:
You will need a long skirt, a shawl and/or bonnet and a stuffed goose in a basket for Mother Goose. You will also need some pictures of each rhyme from a coloring book or simple puppets and an area to act out the skit
The skit can be performed very informally with all the children in the audience participating, or more formally with selected children holding up the pictures or acting out each rhyme as it is recited. If you are working with children who can read or who have memorized the rhymes, you can have some of the children prepare in advance to act out rhymes with puppets.
You can either set up the pictures around the stage area and move from one to another or pull them out of the goose's basket as you say each rhyme.
"Mother Goose" does the narration as a monologue. You can ad lib as much as you want. I use a life-sized goose puppet that honks by means of a small bicycle horn. The goose honks happily every time the children finish one of the rhymes...
Hi, boys and girls, as you can see, I'm Mother Goose. I've had quite an adventure today. I'd like to tell you about it. I went all through Nursery Rhyme Land and met many people that you may already know.
If you know the nursery rhymes I'm using, will you help me say them?
The day started normally enough. I heard my neighbor, Old Mother Hubbard, fixing breakfast for her dog. Will you help me say the rhyme about Old Mother Hubbard?
Old Mother Hubbard went to her cupboard
To fetch her poor dog a bone.
But when she got there, the cupboard was bare.
And so her poor dog had none.
I had just asked Polly to put the kettle on for a nice cup of tea, when I heard a knock at my door and there was Little Bo Peep. She had lost her sheep.
Can you help me say the rhyme about Little Bo Peep?
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep
And can't tell where to find them.
Leave them alone and they'll come home
Wagging their tails behind them.
Even though I told her that the sheep would come back by themselves, Bo Peep was worried because Little Boy Blue was supposed to be helping her and she couldn't find him either, so I promised I would help her look for them.
Do you know how I usually travel? I'll bet you don't know this rhyme!
Old Mother Goose when she wanted to wander
Would ride on the back of a very fine gander.
Did you know that one? Well, I'm not going to ride on my gander today because he has a sore wing. I'll just carry him in his basket.
We'll go ask Humpty Dumpty if he's seen any lost sheep or a missing shepherd boy. Humpty Dumpty sits on a high wall and he can see the countryside all around. If they are close by, he will be able to see them. Can you help me say the rhyme about Humpty Dumpty?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.
Oh dear! Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall!
The last time he did that, he cracked his head and couldn't remember anything for weeks. The king's men are taking him to the egg hospital, so I guess we'll have to ask someone else to help us look for Bo Peep's sheep.
We'll go to the house where the three little kittens live. Maybe the sheep have been playing with them. Do you know the rhyme about the three little kittens?
Three little kittens, they lost their mittens
And they began to cry.
"Oh, Mother dear, see here, see here.
Our mittens we have lost."
"What! Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Now you shall have no pie.
Meow! Meow! No, you shall have no pie."
Oh dear! The kittens are so busy looking for their lost mittens, I don't think they'll be much help looking for lost sheep. Let's ask somebody else.
I need a drink of water from the well. Here come my friends, Jack and Jill. Do you know the rhyme about these children? Will you help me say it?
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
After I helped Jack and Jill get untangled and cleaned up the spilled water, I saw something small and white and fluffy going into the school yard. I thought that I had found Bo Peep's lost sheep until I saw that this sheep was following Mary. Mary's lamb is very different from Bo Peep's sheep.
You know the rhyme about Mary's lamb. Please, help me say it.
Mary had a little lamb.
It's fleece was white as snow
and everywhere that Mary went
the lamb was sure to go.
Next to the school yard there is a strange house. You may have heard about this house. It's a big shoe where lots of people live. Do you think anybody here has seen the lost sheep? Let's say the rhyme about the old woman who lived in a shoe and find out.
There was an old woman who lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what to do
She gave them some broth without any bread
And kissed them all soundly and sent them to bed.
Oh dear, I didn't realize how late it was getting. The Shoe children have all gone to bed and we should be going home too!
I looked up and saw my friend the old woman who was tossed up in a basket. She was sweeping the cobwebs off the clouds. I'll bet you don't know the rhyme about her! It goes like this:
There was an old woman tossed up in a basket.
Seventeen times as high as the moon.
And where she was going I could not help ask it.
For under her arm she carried a broom.
"Old woman, Old Woman, Old Woman," said I.
"Wither, Oh wither, Oh wither so high? "
"To sweep the cobwebs off the sky."
"Can I go with you?"
"Aye, bye and bye. "
"Have you seen Bo Peep's sheep?" I asked her.
"Yes," she said. "They were up here with the cow that jumped over the moon a little while ago. You probably thought they were clouds."
I'll bet you know the rhyme about the cow. Please, help me say it.
Hey! diddle diddle!
The cat and the fiddle.
The cow jumped over the moon.
The little dog laughed to see such sport.
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
Gee! This whole day has been a run-away day, hasn't it? Bo Peep's sheep ran away. The kitten's mittens ran away. And now a dish has run away with a spoon.
I think I'll try one more place. Maybe the sheep are in the meadow. If I can't find Bo Peep's sheep this time, I'm going to run away home. I'm getting tired. This goose is very heavy!
Do you know the rhyme about a sheep in a meadow? It goes like this:
Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.
The sheep's in the meadow.
The cow's in the corn.
Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He's under the haystack fast asleep.
Sure enough, Bo Peep's sheep were right where they were supposed to be: playing in the meadow. Little Boy Blue was sound asleep in the haystack and didn't even realize that Bo Peep and I had been looking all through Nursery Rhyme Land for him.
Come on, Goose! It's time for us to go home.
Thank you for helping me say the rhymes. Have a happy Mother Goose Day!
The End