When my son Bobby was very young, he had a hard time remembering his numbers. He easily recognized 0, 1, 2 and 3, so I focused on helping him learn the other numbers up to twelve. While playing the card game “Phase 10,” I came up with the jingle for Numbers 6 and 9, which actually helped him to identify those numbers. Later that day, while the children were taking their naps, I sat down and wrote all the other stanzas below, based on the characteristics Bobby had attributed to the numbers.

Someday I hope to have these rhymes made into a children’s book. Is there an illustrator among my readers who would be interested in doing the artwork?

 

Numbers 0, 1, 2 and 3

Zero, one and two and three,
Little numbers, just like me.

Three and two and one and ‘o,
I can count them just like so.

Number 4

Number four looks like a chair
With all its legs up in the air.

Turn it upside down and you
Have letter “h.” It’s true, it’s true.

Hats Off to 5 and 7

Five and seven have a hat
To keep them covered upwards;

Five keeps his hat right on straight,
But seven wears his backwards.

Number 8

Number eight looks very great:
A circle and a circle.
It’s not a B, as you can see:
A circle and a circle.

Numbers 6 and 9

Six is round at bottom,
Nine is round at top;
When I learn my numbers,
I’ll skip and jump and hop.

Numbers 10, 11 and 12

One and zero make a ten,
Like a stick beside a hen;

One and one eleven make:
Two trees growing by a lake;

Number twelve is one and two,
One for me and two for you.

January 10, 2002
© 2017 Angela Umphers Rueger – All Rights Reserved
Photo taken in Chesapeake, Virginia, 2000