25 POEMS AND NURSERY RHYMES BY GIANNI RODARI TO READ TO CHILDREN

Any excuse is good to have mom and dad tell a story, a poem or a rhythmic nursery rhyme. The intertwining of words enchant children and entertain adults who tell them; rhymes can be "borrowed" from famous authors such as Rodari, but if you have imagination they can also be invented from scratch! Find out in this video which other games for children can be made in no time.

Gianni Rodari, the poet of children and young people

In April of last year the celebrations started to pay homage to the great Gianni Rodari, poet and pedagogist, as well as one of the greatest Italian authors of children's and youth literature. His books have been appreciated all over the world and translated into several languages. and we are quite sure that those who are reading us will surely have had one in their hands when they were in elementary or middle school ... For Gianni Rodari, children were spokespersons of great truths and deserved to be heard; here are the rhythmic motifs he created specifically for they:

1) The cicada and the ant
I apologize to the ancient fable
if I don't like the stingy ant
I'm on the side of the cicada
that the most beautiful song does not sell ...
give!

2) Children, learn to do difficult things
It's hard to do hard things:
speak deaf,
show the rose to the blind.
Children, learn to do difficult things:
shake hands with the blind,
sing for the deaf,
free the slaves who think they are free.

3) Como in the dresser
Once an accent
out of distraction he fell
on the city of Como
turning it into a dresser.
Imagine the citizens
comaschi, poor people:
said and done they found each other
locked up in drawers.
Fortunately a schoolboy
he reread the poem
and freed the prisoners
deleting the accent.
Now to the public gardens
they dedicated a bust
"To him who knows how to put
accents in the right place ".

4) All animals
I would like it someday
to be able to speak
with all animals.
What do you think?
Who knows what brilliant speeches
they know how to do horses,
what funny stories
they know parrots,
the crocodiles, the snakes.
A simple hen
who lays the egg every morning
who knows what it means to us
with his cock.
And the elephant, so big and fat,
he must know a lot
more than his trunk:
but who understands it
when does it tick?
Not even the cat
can tell us anything.
Ask him how he is
does not answer you at all.
Or - at most - say "meow",
which perhaps means "hello".

Nursery rhymes about children by Gianni Rodari

5) The first day of school
The bell rings;
sweeps, sweeps the janitor;
the janitor comes to open the door;
the teacher comes from the station;
Mom comes, oh schoolboy,
to get you out of bed ...
The sun comes into the room:
come on, the vacation is over.
Put the pen in the case,
the sanitary napkin in the notebook,
points the pencil
and run to write your life.
Write well, without haste
a page every day.
Write words straight and clear:
Love, fight, work. 6) The country of holidays
The Country of Holidays
is not far away at all:
if you look on the calendar
you can find it easily.
Occupies, between June and September,
the most beautiful season.
You get there after exams.
Passport, the report card.
Every day here is Sunday,
but we work a lot:
between games, dives and walks
he never rests.

7) For mom
Nursery rhyme of words
whoever wants to come forward.
My head is full of words
with "the moon" and "the whale" inside.
But the most beautiful in my heart
I hear them beat: "mom", "love".

8) Short and crazy nursery rhyme
Short and crazy nursery rhyme:
the port wants to marry the port;
the viola studies the violin;
the mule says: "My son is the mill";
the apple says: “My grandfather is the melon”;
the fool wants to be a brick.
And the craziest on earth
do you know what he wants?
Make war!

9) Spring nursery rhyme
Spring nursery rhyme
the longer the day,
sweeter in the evening.
tomorrow perhaps in the grass
the first violet will emerge.
Oh first fresh and new viola
blessed is the first who finds you,
your perfume will tell him,
spring has come, it's here.
The other gentlemen don't know
and still in winter they will believe:
maybe important people,
but their calendar is running late.

10) After the rain
After the rain comes the clear sky
the rainbow shines in the sky.
It is like a flagged bridge
and the sun passes us celebrated.
It's nice to look up
its red and blue flags.
But you can see it, this is bad
only after the storm.
It wouldn't be cheaper
the storm don't do it at all?
A stormless rainbow,
this would be a party.
It would be a celebration for the whole earth
make peace before the war.

11) The reverse fairy tales
Once upon a time
a poor wolf,
which he carried to his grandmother
dinner in a bundle.
And in the middle of the woods
where "is darker
ran into the terrible
Little Red Riding Hood,
armed with a trombone
like the brigand Gasparone,
What happened then,
you guess it.
Sometimes the fairy tales
they happen on the contrary
and then it's a disaster:
Snow White sticks on the head
the dwarves of the forest,
Sleeping Beauty does not fall asleep,
the Prince marries
an ugly stepsister,
the happy stepmother,
and poor Cinderella
remains a spinster and does
guarding the pot.

Poems by the author de Grammar of fantasy

12) To a child painter
Hanging on a wall
I saw your little drawing:
on a large large sheet
there was a man in a corner.
A little, little man,
maybe also
a little scared
from that white desert
in which it had happened,
and stood aside
not daring to come forward
like a poor dwarf
in the land of giants.
You had colored it
with true passion:
I remember his magnificent
orange hat.
But next time,
please from my heart,
draw a bigger man,
friend painter.
Because that man is you,
you in person, and I want
that you conquer the world:
take, in the meantime
whole sheet!
Draw figures
great great,
strong, fearless,
always ready to go
for a nice adventure.

13) The question mark
Once upon a time there was a point
question, a great curiosone
with only one big curl,
asking questions
to all the people,
and if the answer
it wasn't the right one
waved her curl
like a whip.
He was put on exams
at the bottom of a problem
so complicated
that no one found the result.
The poor fellow, that
he was not bad at heart,
became with remorse
an exclamation point.

14) Tragedy of a comma
Once upon a time
a poor comma
than because of a schoolboy
inattentive
happened in place of a period
after the last word
of the poem.
The poor girl, alone,
it had to bear the weight
of a hundred big words,
some even with the accent.
For the excruciating fatigue he died.
She was buried
under a cross
from the pencil
master's blue,
and instead of chrysanthemums and evergreens
we had a bunch
of exclamation marks.

15) The Semicolon family
Once upon a time there was a point
and there was also a comma:
they were so much friends,
they got married and were happy.
Night and day
they went around
always arm in arm:
"What a model couple"
people said
“What a real treat
the Semicolon family ".
As they pass
as a sign of homage
even capital letters
became tiny:
and if someone, then,
to bow is not quick
the master's pencil
cut off her head.

16) Autumn
The cat chases the leaves
dry on the sidewalk.
The contends (he believes them alive)
to the broom that collects them.
Those that from high branches
come down red and yellow
I'm sure butterflies
that challenge his jumps.
The slow death of the year
it is only a good game for him,
and for the men who make it
at sunset a happy fire.

17) Who is a man
With a great flutter of wings
from the field, frightened,
the sparrows in droves
they are turned to the nest.
Now they tell their grandfather
the terrible adventure:
"There was a man! He made us
a good fear.
Too bad for those beans
buried just yesterday.
But with that man ... Ah, grandfather,
you ran away too, if you were there.
Big big, big big,
a hat on your head,
it was certainly there
to make us the party ... ".
"And what did he do?". "Nothing.
What on earth was he supposed to do?
With those wide arms
it was ugly to look at! ”.
"Wasn't he working?" "Oh go,
we have already told you.
He stood between the furrows
with an air of spite ... ".
"A scarecrow,
that's what it was, then!
Didn't you know that
is not a man who does not work? ”.

Poems by Gianni Rodari, short or that reach into space

18) The lie
In the land of the lie,
truth is a disease.

19) How heavy is a tear?
The tear of a capricious child
weighs less than the wind,
that of a hungry child
weighs more than the whole earth.

20) The sun
Tell everyone
what he wants:
the best stove
it is always sun.

21) Interplanetary distraction
Who knows if at this time on Mars,
on Mercury or Neptune,
someone
in a school desk
is looking for the word
that he misses
to begin the theme
on the blank page.
And certainly in the sky of Orion,
Gemini, Leo,
another forgets
in the inkwell
the punctuation marks ...
as I do.
I almost feel it
the creak
of a nib
at the bottom of the firmament:
in a tiny dot
in the Milky Way
a tiny schoolboy
in his history book
draw a puppet.
He knows he's not well,
and "I know too:
but we will laugh together
when I meet him.

22) The child moon
And now to whom we give it
this little girl moon
that flies in an "amen"
from the North Pole to China?
If we give it to a general,
poor moon spinning top,
he will want to shoot it
like a bullet.
If we give it to a miser
runs to put it in the bank:
we don't see it anymore
neither red nor white.
If we give it to a footballer,
the balloon moon,
will want a lunar wage:
every kick a trillion.
The best to do
is to give it to children,
who don't get paid
playing with balloons:
if they ride on it
who knows what a party;
if the moon goes fast,
his head is not spinning,
indeed they will spur it on
the beautiful rocking moon,
shouting for joy
from one to the other world.
Hippogriff of the moon
holding the bridle,
they will go around the sky
on the hunt for wonders.

The lines we enjoyed in school

23) Girotondo around the world
Nursery rhyme for all children,
for the Italians and the Abyssinians,
for the Russians and the British,
the Americans and the French;
for those black as coal,
for those red like brick;
for the yellow ones who are in China
where is it evening if it is morning here.
For those who are in the middle of the ice
and they sleep in a sack of rags;
for those in the forest
where the monkeys always party.
For those who are here or there,
in the countryside or in the city,
for children around the world
who make a great circle,
with your hands in your hands,
on parallels and meridians ...

24) The Country Without Errors
Once upon a time there was a man who went by land and sea
in search of the Country Without Errors.
He walks and walks, he did nothing but walk,
countries he saw of all colors,
of long, of broad, of cold, of warm,
say so so:
and if he found one mistake there, he found two here.
Discovering the error, he resumed the bundle
and he left in four and four.
There were countries without water,
countries without wine,
countries without countries, even,
but the Country Without Errors where was it, where was it?
You will say: He was a good man. One who sought
a beautiful thing. Sorry, though,
it wasn't better if it stopped
in any place,
and all those mistakes
did he correct some?

25) The smell of the trades
I know the smells of the trades:
grocers know about nutmeg,
the overalls of the worker smells of oil,
the baker knows of flour,
the peasants know of the earth,
the painters of paint,
on the doctor's white coat
there is a good smell of medicine.
The slackers, strange though,
they know nothing and stink a little.