Monty Harper Songbook

I wrote this song and performed it for the 2008 summer library program theme, "Catch the Reading Bug." It's an interactive cumulative song. Kids can fill in the last word of each verse, and there are sounds and motions for each bug in the cumulative section. It's not recorded yet - sorry, but if you want to learn it, let me know.

Insect Zoo - song lyric

Chorus:
Guess what I've got in my insect zoo
Guess what I've got in my insect zoo
Guess what I've got in my insect zoo
I can't wait to show you!

I've got one that's long and skinny
He plays a disappearing trick
He hides by acting like a twig
He's my walking stick!

This one will jump away from you
Like a kernel in a popcorn popper
His powerful legs launch him into the air
He's my grasshopper

My walking sticks are hiding (hold still and quiet for a moment)
My grasshoppers are gliding (make whirring sound while showing a grasshopper hopping with fingers)
I will show them all to you
When you visit my insect zoo

Repeat Chorus

His wings have colorful patterns
You'll see them when he flutters by
He's slurping nectar from the flowers
My beautiful butterfly

Every night he gives a concert
You don't even need a ticket
He goes chirp chirp chirp with his two front wings
That's music to my cricket

My butterflies are slurping (slurp sound while curling and uncurling finger to represent butterfly tongue)
You can hear my crickets chirping (rub edges of flat hands together and chirp)
My walking sticks are hiding (hold still and quiet for a moment)
My grasshoppers are gliding (make whirring sound while showing a grasshopper hopping with fingers)
I will show them all to you
When you visit my insect zoo

Repeat Chorus

These girls all work together
They gather dead bugs and plants
They're digging a city of tunnels
My colony of ants!

These workers gather pollen
From the flowers and the trees
They turn nectar into honey
In my hive of busy bees

My ants are excavating (make mandibles out of two hands in front of mouth, say "dig, dig, dig" while opening and closing)
My bees are pollenating (buzz while fluttering hand around like a bee)
My butterflies are slurping (slurp sound while curling and uncurling finger to represent butterfly tongue)
You can hear my crickets chirping (rub edges of flat hands together and chirp)
My walking sticks are hiding (hold still and quiet for a moment)
My grasshoppers are gliding (make whirring sound while showing a grasshopper hopping with fingers)
I will show them all to you
When you visit my insect zoo

Repeat Chorus

He's bioluminescent
And not a very frightening bug
His abdomen lights up at night
That's why he's called a lightning bug

These come in many colors
I have a black and pink bug
If you pick him up he'll make a terrible smell
That's why he's called a stinkbug

My lightning bug is blinking (open and close hands while moving around, say "blink, blink, blink")
My stinkbug is stinking (hold nose and say "pee-you")
My ants are excavating (make mandibles out of two hands in front of mouth, say "dig, dig, dig" while opening and closing)
My bees are pollenating (buzz while fluttering hand around like a bee)
My butterflies are slurping (slurp sound while curling and uncurling finger to represent butterfly tongue)
You can hear my crickets chirping (rub edges of flat hands together and chirp)
My walking sticks are hiding (hold still and quiet for a moment)
My grasshoppers are gliding (make whirring sound while showing a grasshopper hopping with fingers)
I will show them all to you
When you visit my insect zoo