Fun with Alliteration!

Updated with additional Alliteration Examples: Famous cliches and sayings, 5/27/10

Spending time with the grandchildren sometimes gives grandparents cause to think quickly for ways to entertain them, especially in the car while stuck in traffic on the way to the beach on a summer weekend day. One way we grandparents pass the time and keep our two older grandchildren distracted is to teach them tongue twisters using alliteration. Longer tongue twisters are also known as alliteration poems or verses.

Examples of Alliteration

Alliteration is the use of the same consonant sounds in words that are near each other. It is the sound, not the letter, that is important: therefore ‘candy’ and ‘Cindy’ do not alliterate, but ‘cool’ and ‘kids’ do.

A tongue twister is defined as a phrase or sentence that is hard to speak fast, usually because of alliteration or a sequence of nearly similar sounds.

On the educational side, it is a great exercise to help our grandchildren learn phonetic alphabet awareness and develop concentration and memory skills. Tongue twisters and alliteration poems can make learning fun and an enjoyable time for grandparents and grandchildren together.

Alliteration Examples in Nursery Rhymes

Betty Botter by Mother Goose

Betty Botter bought some butter,
but, she said, the butter’s bitter;
if I put it in my batter
it will make my batter bitter,
but a bit of better butter
will make my batter better.
So she bought a bit of butter
better than her bitter butter,
and she put it in her batter
and the batter was not bitter.
So ’twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Three Grey Geese by Mother Goose

Three grey geese in a green field grazing,
Grey were the geese and green was the grazing.

Baker’s Reply to the Needle Salesman by Unknown

I need not your needles,
They’re needless to me,
For kneading of needles,
Were needless, you see;
But did my neat trousers
But need to be kneed,
I then should have need
Of your needles indeed.

Alliteration Examples: Fun Activities

A very funny activity you can do with your grandchildren using one line tongue twisters is to create Alphabet Tongue Twisters. Alliteration examples of alphabet tongue twisters are: the famous “S” tongue twister, She sells sea shells by the seashore., the “P” tongue twister, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, and “H”, Happy hippos who hop happily have hippy hips (not a famous alphabet tongue twister, but I wanted to make one).

Here are some examples of one line alphabet alliteration tongue twisters:

A: An ape ate Ace’s acorn.
B: Baby Bobby bed bounced better by bedtime before Billy bounced.
C: Cory collected cola cans counting continuously.

For the younger children with a limited vocabulary, it is okay for them to make up words and to do it phonetically. Their examples of alliteration can turn out quite funny and have everyone laughing together. You can tell them to make silly alliteration tongue twisters to make you all laugh. After your grandchildren make up their tongue twisters using alliteration, have them challenge you to say them three or four times fast without stumbling, or read the longer tongue twister alliteration poems as fast as you can without making mistakes. When you recite the silly tongue twisters, be silly yourself and they’ll enjoy it even more! The sillier the better! Actually the best tongue twisters are the funny tongue twisters. Alliteration helps to do just that.

For older grandchildren, do it this way:

Players pick a letter…perhaps the initial of their name…and try to write or say the longest sentence in which every word starts with that letter. The sentence should make sense even if it is not sensible.

Another way to play the game in the car…Starting with the person behind the driver, have him call out a single letter. Immediately, the person to his right must make up a tongue twister sentence. All the words in the sentence must begin with the same letter. The person to his right, then must recite the alphabet tongue twister 3 times fast. Play until everyone has had a turn reciting a tongue twister.

Alliteration Famous Poems and Tongue Twisters

Famous Poems

Robert Frost used alliteration in his famous poem, Nothing Gold Can Stay. If you’ve read the Outsiders, you may be familiar with this poem.  Can you find the examples of alliteration?

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Find more Famous Poems using alliteration on Nana’s Corner.

Tongue Twisters

Well known tongue twisters are also examples of alliteration famous poems. See how many times it takes you to read these fast without making a mistake!

I’m not the pheasant plucker, I’m the pheasant plucker’s mate,
And I’m only plucking pheasants ’cause the pheasant plucker’s late.
I’m not the pheasant plucker, I’m the pheasant plucker’s son,
And I’m only plucking pheasants till the pheasant pluckers come.

A tutor who tooted the flute
Tried to tutor two tooters to toot
Said the two to the tutor
“Is it tougher to toot
Or to tutor two tooters to toot?”

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

A certain young fellow named Beebee
Wished to marry a lady named Phoebe
“But,” he said. “I must see
What the minister’s fee be
Before Phoebe be Phoebe Beebee”

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck would chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck
If a woodchuck would chuck wood.

I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought wasn’t the thought I thought I thought.
If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn’t have thought so much.

A skunk sat on a stump.
The stump thought the skunk stunk.
The skunk thought the stump stunk .
What stunk the skunk or the stump?

If one doctor doctors another doctor
Does the doctor who doctors the doctor
Doctor the doctor the way the doctor he is doctoring doctors?
Or does the doctor doctor the way
The doctor who doctors doctors?

The doctoring doctor doctors the doctor the way
The doctoring doctor wants to doctor the doctor.
Not the way the doctored doctor wants to be doctored.

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See’s saw
Before See sawed Soar’s seesaw,
See’s saw would not have sawed
Soar’s seesaw.
So See’s saw sawed Soar’s seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See’s saw sawed
Soar’s seesaw!

I cannot bear to see a bear
Bear down upon a hare.
When bare of hair he strips the hare,
Right there I cry, “Forbear!”

If Freaky Fred Found Fifty Feet of Fruit
And Fed Forty Feet to his Friend Frank
How many Feet of Fruit did Freaky Fred Find?

Did Dick Pickens prick his pinkie
Pickling cheap cling peaches in an inch of Pinch
Or framing his famed French finch photos?

Dr. Johnson and Mr. Johnson,
After great consideration,
Came to the conclusion
That the Indian nation
Beyond the Indian Ocean
Is back in education
Because the chief occupation is cultivation.

A tree toad loved a she-toad
Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree toad
But a three-toed toad was she.
The two-toed tree toad tried to win
The three-toed she-toad’s heart,
For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree toad trod.
But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.
He couldn’t please her whim.
From her tree toad bower
With her three-toed power
The she-toad vetoed him.

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.
The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn’t sleep in a shack;
Sheep should sleep in a shed.

You’ve no need to light a night-light
On a light night like tonight,
For a night-light’s light’s a slight light,
And tonight’s a night that’s light.
When a night’s light, like tonight’s light,
It is really not quite right
To light night-lights with their slight lights
On a light night like tonight.

Of all the felt I ever felt,
I never felt a piece of felt
Which felt as fine as that felt felt,
When first I felt that felt hat’s felt.

A flea and a fly in a flue
Said the fly “Oh what should we do”
Said the flea” Let us fly
Said the fly”Let us flee”
So they flew through a flaw in the flue

If a Hottentot taught
A Hottentot tot to talk
Ere the tot could totter,
Ought the Hottentot tot
Be taught to say ought or naught
Or what ought to be taught ‘er?

Ed Nott was shot and Sam Shott was not.
So it is better to be Shott than Nott.
Some say Nott was not shot.
But Shott says he shot Nott.
Either the shot Shott shot at Nott was not shot, or Nott was shot.
If the shot Shott shot shot Nott, Nott was shot.
But if the shot Shott shot shot Shott, the shot was Shott, not Nott.
However, the shot Shott shot shot not Shott – but Nott.
So, Ed Nott was shot and that’s hot! Is it not?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickles Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck of picked peppers,
How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Dr. Seuss Poems Containing Alliteration

from Dr Seuss poem Fox in Socks

Luke’s duck likes lakes. Luke Luck licks lakes. Luke’s duck licks lakes. Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes. Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes.

and from the same Dr. Seuss poem…

Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees’ cheese freeze.
That’s what made these three free fleas sneeze.

NEW: Alliteration Examples: Famous Cliches and Sayings

• baby blues
• baby boomer
• back breaker
• bad blood
• belle of the ball
• best buddies
• bite the bullet
• blind as a bat
• bounce back
• by the book
• cat cries
• cut corners
• cash cow
• close call
• cold as a cucumber
• crack the code
• cream of the crop
• cuts to the core
• dead as a doornail
• do or die
• fall head over heals
• fan the flames
• fickle finger of fate
• fuss and feathers
• green as grass
• hale and hearty
• hard headed
• have a heart
• have high hopes
• hit the hay
• live and learn
• make merry
• money makers
• more the merrier
• poor but proud
• sink or swim
• watchful waiting
• weary warriors

Can you give me some more cliches or sayings that are alliteration examples?

also…ask your grandchildren to find examples of alliteration in these Dr. Seuss poems:

• Dr. Seuss’ ABC Book
• Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Find Lists of Children’s Books with Alliteration Examples at these sites:

• Amazon.com books listed above use alliteration
• Alliteration in Children’s Books
• Alliteration