Elijah T. Grasshopper Delights Kids with a Hoppin’ Good Time
Elijah T. Grasshopper entertained children and adults alike on Bellingham Town Common thanks to the Bellingham Public Library and a grant from Bellingham Cultural Council.
By Jennifer Russo
An impressive crowd of children, their grownups, and their teddy bear friends gathered at Bellingham Common to join in the fun of a teddy bear picnic. Blankets scattered the lawn in front of the gazebo, where Elijah T. Grasshopper entertained everyone with inventive songs that were not only a joy to listen to but worked in great life lessons, too.
Joined by an assistant and some of his puppet friends, Grasshopper had the kids moving and shaking, tumbling, running, and dancing. When Weatherbee the frog was asked what frogs say, he replied “mooo,” resulting in a bunch of laughs and insistent corrections from the audience. This was followed by an active song which encouraged kids to jump up and down like a frog.
A crowd favorite was inspired by Willa the worm, a shy worm who wanted to know if the kids liked to play hide and seek, which of course everyone did. Grasshopper played “hiding music,” a sneaky guitar riff, and told everyone they should go hide whenever they heard it played. Some kids hid behind their parents, some behind trees or trash cans, and some simply covered their eyes.
When they were not hiding, they were doing the wiggle worm dance, which prompted them to wiggle, jiggle, and diggle. When asked what the fourth verse should be that rhymed with those, one child yelled out “pickle,” and Grasshopper didn’t miss a beat – replying that he has heard of pickle ball, but never a pickle worm. The last verse was of course, giggle, which the kids certainly did.
An importance on the job of a firefighter was emphasized and each put on a plastic fire cap for the next song. He made sure to insist that everyone take a “nap” to be sure they were rested for the job and proceeded to snore loudly every time he asked them to sleep, which led to eruptions of laughter and yelling that he was being too loud, which of course he denied entirely.
Another popular song was called What a Mess – a song that talked about keeping the planet clean. He began by asking three questions: 1) How many kiddos think it’s important to keep the earth clean, 2) How many kiddos think it’s important to keep the sky clean, and 3) How many kiddos think it’s important to keep the oceans clean? Then he had his assistant dump chopped up pool noodles on everyone to see how fast they could clean them up during the song.
It was a wonderful way to spend a sunny lunch hour, with everyone participating and hopefully learning something in the process.
Learn more about Elijah T. Grasshopper at www.elijahtgrasshopper.com
This concert was hosted by the Bellingham Public Library and supported by a grant from the Bellingham Cultural Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
