On a morning in early spring, particularly when the grass is still wet with dew, it’s common to witness a hundred robins at a time scattered across the Long Meadow. They always seem to me like miniature livestock grazing in a field. What they’re doing, of course, is hunting for worms and insects, and that’s what this puppet show is about.

You don’t need a robin puppet to perform this poem at home. Instead, improvise movements with your hand, making it flutter like a wing as the robin flies down to the ground and snapping it like a beak as she tries to catch the worm. And after your children become familiar with the poem, invite them to play one of the parts themselves. Before you know it, a short poem may turn into a long game of trying to dodge the robin’s beak and playing tug-of-war with the unyielding worm.

Music:

“Wriggly Worm Rag”
Featuring Sylvie Holder-Foster, flute

Poem:

Robin and the Worm
By Charles Foster

When Winter ended in the forest,
The earth began to thaw.
Robin flew down to look around
And do you know what she saw?

A wriggly worm -
A tasty morning snack.
The Robin snatched it in her beak,
But the wriggly worm pulled back

And pulled and pulled and pulled and...
Pop! It got away.
But maybe next time when they meet
It will go the robin's way.