There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

An old lady swallows a fly, then a spider to catch it, then bird after cat after dog — each one bigger and more absurd than the last, in a chain that just keeps growing.

For the kid who loves piling silliness on top of silliness, this cumulative rhyme builds to a laugh-out-loud extreme with every page turn.

• Big idea: One small problem can snowball into something enormous and ridiculous — and sometimes the fix is stranger than the trouble itself.
• Vibes: Silly, escalating, gleefully gross-out

• love rhyming and finishing the last word
• enjoy repetitive, cumulative songs and stories
• like to peek through die-cut holes and guess what's next
• respond well to silly, exaggerated storytelling

• Story recall: Can you remember the order of everything the old lady swallowed?
• Imagination: What do you think it looks like inside the old lady's stomach?
• Prediction: What do you think she'll swallow next, and why?
• Silly connection: What's the strangest thing you can imagine someone swallowing by accident?
• Wordplay: Can you say the whole rhyme back to me, all the way from the fly?