A Knight

 

A Knight

I know a jolly little lad.
He is a "Gallant Knight"
He goes ahead and does his best
in what he knows is right.

The Horse

The Horse
James Stephens

A sparrow hopped about the street,
And he was not a bit afraid;
He flew between a horse's feet,
And ate his supper undismayed:
I think myself the horse knew well
The bird came for the grains that fell.
 
For his eye was looking down,
And he danced the corn about
In his nosebag, till the brown
Grains of corn were tumbled out;
And I fancy that he said,
"Eat it up, young Speckle-Head!"

The driver then came back again,
He climbed into the heavy dray;
And he tightened up the rein,
Cracked his whip and drove away.
But when the horse's ribs were hit,
The sparrow did not care a bit.

Paper Cuts of Farm Animals

        Below, I have restored a few paper farm animals: horse, cow, goat, duck, rooster, sheep, dog, bunny, pig and cat. These may be freely used by students and teachers for the classroom. Silhouettes on my blog are not to be redistributed by alternative websites and are not meant to be sold or purchased.

These paper cuts of animals found on the farm would make great design
elements in a classroom or any other art project a young
student might need them for.

The Proud Miss O'Haggin

Silhouettes used to illustrate the poem.

The Proud Miss O'Haggin

by John Bennett.

The proud Miss O'Haggin

May ride in her wagon,

Her landau, or drag, in

The park all the day;

But she'd give all her leisure

And wealth beyond measure

For one half the pleasure

Down Haggerty's way,

When young Danny Gilligan

Drives Maggie Milligan

Down Murphy's hill ag'in

In his "coopay."

The Rain Regiment

The Rain Regiment

by Mathilda Schirmer

Across the city's many roofs

Comes a sound of heavy hoofs...

The Regiment of Rain

That beats the windowpane;

That floods each country lane;

That tramples the farmers' grain;

That tangles the horse's mane;

That teases the weather vane,

And angers the raging main!

There are none who can refrain

From admiring the Regiment of Rain.

Jingle by G. G. Wiederseim

Jingle.

by G. G. Wiederseim.

Papa's a-riding away to town

To buy my mama a beautiful

gown

With laces and ruffles and rib-

bons of red,

And a dear little bonnet to put 

on her head.

Shoe Play

Shoe Play.

Five frisky ponies waiting at the gate.

Shoe them, saddle them, and ride off in state.

One pony for my little man;

Two ponies make a span;

Three ponies in a row;

Four ponies ready to go;

Five ponies, glossy and bright

Up street.-down street,

And home again at night.

The Circus Procession

The Circus Procession 

by Evaleen Stein

Oh, hurry! hurry! here they come,
The band in front with the big bass drum
And blaring bugles, — there they are,
On golden thrones in a golden car,
Tooting and fluting, oh, how grand I
Hi diddle, diddle!
The fife and the fiddle!
Hurrah , hurrah for the circus band!

And the red-plumed horses, oh, see them
prance
And daintily lift their hoofs and dance,
While beautiful ladies with golden curls
Are jingling their bridles of gold and pearls,
And close behind
Come every kind
Of animal cages great and small,
O how I wonder what’s in them all!
Here’s one that’s open and glaring there
Is the shaggiest snow-white polar bear I
Woof! but I wonder what we’d do
If his bars broke loose right now, don't you?
And O dear me!
Just look and see 

That pink-cheeked lady in skirts of gauze
And the great big lion with folded paws!
O me I O my!
I’m glad that I
Am not in that lion’s cage, because
Suppose he'd open his horrible jaws !
— But look ! the clown is coming ! Of course
Facing the tail of a spotted horse
And shouting out things to make folks
laugh,
And grinning up at the tall giraffe
That placidly paces along and looks
Just like giraffes in the picture-books!
And there are the elephants, two and two,
Lumbering on as they always do!
The men who lead them look so small
I wonder the elephants mind at all
As they wag their queer
Long trunks, and peer
Through their beady eyes, — folks say they
know
No end of things, and I’m sure it’s so!
And you never must do a thing that’s bad
Or that possibly might make an elephant
mad,
For he’ll never forgive you, it appears,
And will punish you sure, if it takes him
years !
So do not stare
But take good care
To mind your manners, and always try
To smile politely as they go by!
But the camels don’t care if you laugh at
them
With their bumpy humps like a capital M,
They lurch and sway
And seem to say,
As they wrinkle their noses, long and gray,
“ This swaggering stride is quite the plan,
It’s the way we walked in the caravan!”
And now more cages come rumbling by
With glittering people throned on high;
So many spangles and precious things,
They surely must all be queens and kings!
They look so proud
Above the crowd, 

O my, how fine it must feel to ride

On golden wagons that hide inside

Strange animals caught in cannibal isles

And brought in ships for a million miles!

But hark ! it's near

The end, for hear

That sudden screeching in piercing key!

The steaming, screaming cal-li-o-pe!

Just plain pianos sound terribly tame

Beside this one with the wonderful name,

And wouldn’t you love some day to sit

In a circus wagon and play on it?

The Happy Wind

The Happy Wind

by Ninette M. Isowater

A Happy little southern wind

Went wandering away;

It was the dearest little wind

That ever went astray.

It touched the city's outer edge,

Then swiftly turned aside,

For it had heard that little winds,

Caught by the hot streets, died.

It wend along a country lane,

And through the meadows fair; 

It lifted up a horse's mane,

And stirred a baby's hair.

It lingered in a quiet place

Where tall, fair lilies grow;

When moon drew near, it hid itself

Where pines stand in a row.

It slept until the shadows turned,

Then, dancing, went its way;

No other little wind that blew

Had such a pleasant day.

Paper Cuts of Children With a Pony

A girl and a boy lead a pony through a pasture.

A boy balances on a chair, a pony nips and pulls away.

A boy rides a pony and a girl greets him.

The Plains' Call...

The Plains' Call

by Arthur Chapman

I must ride out on the plains again,

With a horse 'twixt knee and knee,

Where the wolves howl and the winds growl,

And the clouds drift fast o'er me;

I must ride out on the plains once more,

On the Westland's broad and level floor.

I must ride forth on the plains at morn,

Where the cactus flowers are,

And the lark calls, and the white walls

Of the mountain loom afar;

I must ride out, when breaks the day--

Ride where the gods of outdoors play.

I must ride out on the plains at night,

And smell the dew wet sage,

When the moon glows, and the late snows

Gleam like a book's white page;

I must ride out on the plains again,

And quit this haunt of pygmy men.

The Circus Day Parade

Oh the circus-day parade! How the bugles played and played!

And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed,

As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time

Filled the hungry hearts of all of us with melody sublime!

How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own,

And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known!

And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind,

Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined!

How the horesmen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue,

And of crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you,

Waved the banners that they bore, as the knights in days of yore,

Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore!

How to Draw: The Head of A Horse

Many young students love to practice drawing animals even though it is near to impossible to give them opportunities to do so from real life in a classroom environment. Above is a simple step-by-step, how to exercise in drawing a horse up close that educators may either print out or project on to a white board. This exercise uses triangle shapes to determine proportions of the horses head.

Paper Circus Performers For Little Ones

Color the following circus performers for big top fun!

Color and cut-out this paper lion tamer.

Color and cut-out this paper clown and elephant.

Color and cut-out this performing horseback rider.

More Circus Paper Projects:

• Balloon Nose Clown Craft - Circus/Carnival
• Altered Art Circus
• Take me to the circus
• Circus fold-out book

Paper Circus Toys for Young Students to Color

Color the following paper seals and their trainer for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper chariot rider for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper elephant and clown for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper giraffe with musical clowns for a child's circus toy collection.

Color this paper rhinoceros for a child's circus toy collection.

A seal balances a ball on his nose.

More Paper Circus Collections:

• Paper Circus from the Little Paper Dog
• Circus Roundabout
• Paper Circus Set 1 from DaWanda
• All About Old Toys

Paper Patterns by Paul Konewka

      Paul Konewka was an artist remarkable for his skill and expression in silhouette designs. He was a Pole by birth and studied both sculpture and painting. His chief works are the illustrations of "Faust," and of the "Midsummer's Night Dream." I will eventually include these collections under his name. He died at the young age of 31 in Berlin, 1871.

A self portrait of Paul Konewka.

Related Content:

• Literatur von und über Paul Konewka im Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek
• Silhouetten zu Goethes Faust

Papercutting by Walter Crane

      Walter Crane (1845–1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century. His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Below I will include some of his silhouettes.

a chimney sweep

a workhorse