A programme for children under five
Nursery rhymes, stories, and music
'The stories,' said a little girl, 'used to last so long, but now they are most annoyingly short.' 'This problem,' suggests her mother, 'is no doubt tied up with old age - 4 years 11 months!' It seems true that for our younger listeners the nursery rhymes form the special attraction in our programme, while for the older ones the story is indispensable. At the same time, however, the older children take a great and often very active interest in the rhymes and the smaller ones delight in all the imitative sounds and familiar words that occur in the stories. Bearing these points in mind, we try to vary the balance of stories and rhymes within each week. Frequently, though not invariably, we reserve our shortest tale for Monday and think of that as the younger children's day. This week's short Monday story by Ruth Ainsworth is about two kittens called Pepper and Salt. 'The Happy Bus' by Joan Seager and 'The Little Grey Mouse' by I.M. Dubois (tomorrow and Wednesday) are longer, while those on Thursday and Friday, 'Getting Ready for the Walk' and 'The Big Brown Egg' by Mary Manton, are the longest of all. (Elizabeth A. Taylor)