From the recording Character Development Songs for Kids
Activity Idea (building confidence):
Have students write or draw a picture based on a learning experience they have had where they took a risk and learned something (e.g., riding a bike, learning to swim, learning to write or read). Discuss how learning or doing something new can be scary (as suggested in the song), but that we learn new things when we take risks. Put a sign up in your class that says, “TAKE A RISK!”
Lyrics
What if every baby robin said,
“I’m never going to fly”
‘Cause my mother went and
built this nest away up here
too high”?
Then we’d have to build small ladders
up the side of all our trees
So those robins could climb up and
down as easy as you please!
Chorus:
Oh, sometimes you’ve gotta risk it,
gotta step out on a limb
Hey, it’s when your knees
are knockin’ that
The miracles begin.
Just say: “I’m scared, but I don’t care.
I’m gonna TRY! and then
Well, if things don’t work out this time
you can simply TRY AGAIN!”
What if every caterpillar said,
“I’m never going to change
I’m perfect as I am,
There’s not a thing I’d rearrange —
Oh, well, maybe I’m too fuzzy,
but to change that would be hard!”?
Then you’d never see a butterfly
a-playin’ in your yard
(Repeat Chorus)
What if when you were a baby,
you just never learned to walk?
You decided it was just to hard
to try to learn to talk.
Then today you would have
crawled to school
to hear me sing this song
And sung: “Goo-goo-goo-goo-ga ga”
when you tried to sing along!
(Repeat Chorus)