Home In the Good Ol' Summertime Index

This file includes July, Summer, June, August, and a Summer ABC List. Also see Seasons, Water and Sun, Moon and Stars.

Page Toppers

(Note: Many of these page toppers were compiled by Jean Gifford. They are for free distribution only.)

Quotes

Running Through the Sprinkler

(author unknown)

You can let the water chase you,
You can jump across the spray.
When you're running
through the sprinkler,
There are lots of games to play.
You can stay there
as the water comes,
or run every-which-way,
When you're running
through the sprinkler
on a sunny summer day.

Summer Night

(Jean McKinney)

A summer evening's lovely
With its shadows blue and deep
And its busy crickets strumming
Drowsy songs to make us sleep.

With its flitting fireflies glowing,
With its stars so big and bright,
And its gentle breezes sighing
Little secrets through the night.

Summers at the Beach

(author unknown)

Remember summers at the beach?
Chasing gulls just out of reach;
It seems such a shameless crime
To leave our childhood summer-times.

Summer Vacation

(Mary Ann Hoberman)

In my head I hear a humming:
Summer, summer summer's coming.
Soon we're going on vacation
But there is a complication:
Day by day the problem's growing--
We don't know yet where we're going!

Mother likes the country best;
That's so she can read and rest.
Dad thinks resting is a bore;
He's for fishing at the shore.
Sailing is my brother's pick;
Sailing makes my sister sick;
She says swimming's much more cool,
Swimming in a swimming pool.
As for me, why, I don't care,
I'd be happy anywhere!

Bed in Summer

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer quite the other way
I have to go to bed by day.

I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown up people's feet
Still going past me in the street,

And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?

I love summer!

(author unknown)

I love summer! Summer is hot.
It's sun and shade.
It's water to wade.
It's frogs and bugs.
It's grass for rugs.
It's eating outside.
It's a tree-swing ride.
It's tomatoes and corn.
It's dew in the morn.
It's dogs and boys
And lots of noise.
It's a hot sunny sky.
It's summer. That's why . . .
I love summer.

Sing a Song of Summer

(Kay Winters)

When crickets sing
their evening song
and
fireflies turn
their lanterns on
and
spiders spin
at early dawn
and weave their cobwebs
on my lawn--
It's summer.

Song of Summer

(Margaret Wise Brown)

Here comes a bunny
The first to stray
Out of April
And into May.

And here comes a robin
The first to fly
Out of June
And into July.

Here are the fireflies
Last to remember
The end of August
And first of September.

And here comes a caterpillar
The last to creep
Out of summer
And into sleep.

Lullaby for Summer Nights

(Elsie S. Lindgren)

Quietly hums
each breeze that passes
lullabies
in the trees and grasses
over and over
singing the words,
weaving a dream
for the tired birds,
hushing the nestlings
snuggled in trees,
and mice, and foxes,
and newborn bees,
and restless bugs
in hammocks of clover,
rocking, murmuring
over and over
lullabies in the treetops,
lullabies in the grasses!

To the Summer Breeze

(author unknown)

Summer breeze, so softly blowing,
In my garden pinks are growing,
If you'll go and send the showers,
You may come and smell my flowers.

Summer ABC List

(Compiled by Denny Davis)

A - August, absolutely amazing, amusement park, annual ____, activities, adventures, Adirondack chair, airplane rides, anticipation, awesome sunsets
B - beach, backyard barbecues, badminton, beautiful ____, blissful, boats, bathing suits, barefoot, bugs, busy having fun, biking
C - crickets, childhood memories, camping, canoeing, carefree, carnival, circus, casual, cookouts
D - Dog Days, dazzling sunshine, daydreams, deck chair, delightful, dozing
E - endless, eager, enjoyment, enthusiasm, entertainment, everybody loves summer, extra special times
F - fun, fireworks, fireflies, fishing, family time, fans, Fourth of July, freckles, freedom
G - Good Old Summertime, grass, garden, games, giggles, gone fishin', gorgeous weather, grasshoppers
H - hot, hammock, happy days, hide-and-go-seek
I - I Love Summer, ice cream, ice cubes, ice tea, insects, interesting things to do
J - June, July, June bugs, jet ski, journeys, joy, jump rope
K - kids, kickball, knee pads, Kool-Aid
L - lake, lazy, lawn chair, laughter, leisure, lemonade, lightning bugs, lounge chair
M - mowing the lawn, magnificent, marvelous, mellow, memories
N - no school!, national park, nifty, noisy, nonstop fun
O - outside, oodles of fun, ordinary day, outstanding
P - picnics, playing, Popsicles, pool, parade, perfect, pleasant, parks
Q - barbeQue, quality time, quenching your thirst, quest for fun, quite ____
R - rain, running through the sprinkler, reunions, riding bikes, ray of sunshine, relaxing resting
S - sunshine, splashing, swimming, swimming pool, sailing, seeking shade, sand castles, skinned knees, sleeping in, spontaneous, straw hat, sunburn
T - tan, too hot!, travel, thermometer, thirsty, thrills
U - ultimate ___, unbelievable, underwater fun, unforgettable, UV rays
V - vacation, very ___, visiting friends, vivid colors, voyages
W - water, warm, wading, watermelon
X - relaXation, eXcellent, xeroscape, eXotic places
Y - yard work, yearly vacation, yippee!, young at heart
Z - zany, zestful, zippy

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June

Quotes and Page Toppers

June

(Aileen Fisher)

The day is warm
and a breeze is blowing,
the sky is blue
and its eye is glowing,
and everything's new
and green and growing . . .

My shoes are off
and my socks are showing . . .

My socks are off . . .

Do you know how I'm going?
BAREFOOT!

June's Picture

(Annette Wynne)

Let me paint June's picture—first I take some gold,
Fill the picture full of sun, all that it can hold;
Save some for the butterflies, darting all around,
And some more for buttercups here upon the ground;
Take a lot of baby-blue -- this to make the sky,
With a lot of downy white—soft clouds floating by;
Cover all the ground with green, hang it from the trees,
Sprinkle it with shiny white, neatly as you please;
So—a million daisies spring up everywhere,
Surely you can see now what is in the air!
Here's a thread of silver -- that's a little brook
To hide in dainty places where only children look.
Next, comes something, guess -- it grows
Among green hedges -- it's the rose!
Brown for a bird to sing a song,
Brown for a road to walk along.
Then add some happy children to the fields and flowers and skies,
And so you have June's picture here before your eyes.

from The Vision of Sir Launfal

(James Russell Lowell)

And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days;
Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,
And over it softly her warm ear lays:
Whether we look, or whether we listen,
We hear life murmur, or see it glisten;
Every clod feels a stir of might,
An instinct within it that reaches and towers,
And, grasping blindly above it for light,
Climbs to a soul in grass and flowers;
The flush of life may well be seen
Thrilling back over hills and valleys;
The cowslip startles in meadows green,
The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,
And there's never a leaf or a blade too mean
To be some happy creature's palace.

Songs about June

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July

Page Toppers and Quotes

July

(Robert F. Skillings)

A very pleasant month is this
To be in a country town.
The sunlight doth the foliage kiss,
Each verdant leaflet beams with bliss,
I see not one that's brown.

Fresh zephyrs fan the thrifty trees
The oaks, the elms, the willows,
The lake's face caressed by the breeze
In imitation of the seas,
Is flecked with tiny billows.

July

(Susan Hartley Swett)

When the scarlet cardinal tells
Her dream to the dragon fly,
And the lazy breeze makes a nest in the trees,
And murmurs a lullaby,
It is July.

When the tangled cobweb pulls
The cornflower's cap awry,
And the lilies tall lean over the wall
To bow to the butterfly,
It is July.

When the heat like a mist veil floats,
And poppies flame in the rye,
And the silver note in the streamlet's throat
Has softened almost to a sigh,
It is July.

When the hours are so still that time
Forgets them, and lets them lie
'Neath petals pink till the night stars wink
At the sunset in the sky,
It is July.

When each finger-post by the way
Says that Slumbertown is nigh;
When the grass is tall, and the roses fall,
And nobody wonders why,
It is July.

Songs about July

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August

Page Toppers and Quotes

August

(Annette Wynne)

August days are hot and still,
Not a breath on house or hill,
Not a breath on height or plain,
Weary travelers cry for rain;
But the children quickly find
A shady place quite to their mind;
And there all quietly they stay,
Until the sun has gone away,—
August is too hot for play!

August Heat

(author unknown)

In August, when the days are hot,
I like to find a shady spot,
And hardly move a single bit—
And sit—
    And sit—
      And sit—
        And sit!

Songs about August

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Songs about Summer

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