Over on the Farm: A Counting Picture Book Rhyme

by Christopher Gunson, Edward Miller (Designed by)

Very small children are invited to stretch, splash, leap, and snuggle their way with the numbers from one to ten, along with familiar animals in a farmland version of the gentle children's song, "Over in the Meadow."

Genres: Picture Books, Counting, Animals, Childrens, Number, Mathematics, Storytime

32 pages, Library Binding

First published May 2, 1996

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun counting picture book, told in rhyme, with beautiful illustrations of the animals!

[Sydney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cute animal counting book. It counts animals from 1 to 10 so it would help young children learn how to count.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful book. Seven is always a problem to rhyme.

[Sarah Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read the “over in the “ series that is insanely similar and I think this one was first 1995 and the other 2012. I could be wrong though. It’s a cute little farm counting book.

[Kim Redington · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun counting book of baby animals as they stretch, hop, rustle, and leap in a beautifully-illustrated setting. Wonderful for simple counting skills and rhyming for young ones.

[Atanas Dimitrov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hotel books.
Great for my reading challenge.
Though I have to admit: I already knew how to count to ten.
But great drawings.
And those ten pigs sure like to snuggle.

[Laura Gibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book teaches rhyming, counting, animals and colors. Each page has a different animal, and the animal’s mother tells her babies to do something so they do it. For example: the mother frog tells her babies to splash, so they splashed and they splashed by the old willow tree. The whole thing rhymes and each page follows the same pattern, just with a different animal and different numbers. The pages have really bright illustrations, and they animals are all very clear and are all smiling, so they look very happy and content.
I think for uses in the classroom, you can have the kids act out what the mothers are telling their babies to do. Examples of this could be scratching, hopping, paddling, stretching or splashing. I liked this book and think an activity such as this would be fun to do. It would help teach the kids and get them involved in what the book was saying to do. Thematically, it could be used with counting, numbers, animals or colors.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book would be perfect for children who are at the toddler/preschool age or even in kindergarten. This book is a counting book so children can start to recognize and name numbers as well as learn how to count in sequence. This book also is a nice introduction to farm animals for those younger toddlers who are just learning. I think that this book is also very interactive. A teacher or a parent could have the children play along and do the things the animals do in the story. Such as when the mother frog tells her children to hop you could have the child hop as well to make it more exciting and engaging for them. The artwork in this book is also very well done. I think that children will love to look at all the cute animals while learning some mathematics as well. All in all great pick for those who are involved with younger children.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is perhaps one of the cutest kids books I've ever read. Adorable paintings by author/illustrator Gunson from the UK. I just love the little rhymes esp the pigs "Over on the farm in a warm muddy pen lived a kind mother pig and her little piggies ten. 'Snuggle,' said the mother. 'We snuggle,' said the ten. So they snuggled and they slept in their warm muddy pen."

[Kalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is such a cute counting book. It counts the number of animals for different kinds of animals and does it in a really cute and fun way! You can also talk about the different animals and what sounds they make and possibly even what each animal can do to contribute to our lives! Plus it counts to 10 from 1-10 which is more developmentally appropriate for the age it gears towards!

[Sierra Hagar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the pictures in this book. You don't see very many picture books with paintings like the illustrations in this book. I think that children will really enjoy this book because it is catchy and rhymes. It is not just math. Children also really like animals. This book could be used for so many different extension activities.

[Scott Hayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another illustrated book following the "Over in the Meadow" tune. Whenever I read these books, I always think it would make a great combined science-literature-writing unit for elementary school. Assign an ecosystem to a student, let them look up niche animals and their behaviors, then weave the learning into song lyrics. Books like this give a model for it.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book to sing to toddlers and preschoolers, even K-1 - they can stand up and act out the actions the mama animals give to their babies - flap, rustle, blink, etc. To the tune of "Over in the Meadow."

[Nicole Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a cute book. I think that it is a great book if you want to introduce your child to numbers as well as animals. The rhymes in this book are very cute. It is a good book to read to your children before they go to bed.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the style of Over in the Meadow, Gunson's book invites children to run, snuggle, hop, blink and other movements as they count from 1-10. Told with rhymes and rhythm the book the pictures complement the story.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the sweet illustrations! Text was cute, too. You can sing it to the tune "Over in the Meadow."

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good counting book. The colors in the illustrations are wonderful.

[Emilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the illustration in this book. They were super cute and they had bright vibrant colors. It's also a good book to start teaching counting with kids.

[Morgan Bradshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how this book had real life animals that the students can pick out how many animals there are in their life.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this short counting book. I think the art was really beautiful in there as well. The rhyming is another fun aspect of this story that kids love to listen to.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute.

[Cassie]

Over on the Farm is a great counting book teachers can use in their classroom. This book has great pictures and storyline. This book is based on animals and counting. Children love to read books they are interested in. This book uses sheep, fox, and owls to help with counting. Teachers can use this in a counting lesson and also on a lesson about animals.