This file includes carousels, circus, park, amusement parks and fairs, carnival rides.
Also see Specific Destinations, Travel, Disney Vacations, and Zoo.
(Laurie Dawson)
The county fair is a bright balloon
Carried on a string,
An ice cream cone and popcorn stand,
A many-splendored thing.
The county fair is a hundred things
All to see and do . . .
A daring act, a flower show.
It's cotton candy, too.
The county fair is the midway,
A kewpie doll for a prize . . .
A shooting match, a thrilling ride
For every age and size.
The county fair is blue ribbon day
For every canning mom
Whose jar is judged the best of all . . .
Such gay ones to choose from.
The county fair is the farmer's day
With prize steers in the rings;
The best crops, the fowls, the pets . . .
The county fair's many things.
(author unknown)
Let's all go to the country fair,
there's blossoms and ribbons and hope in the air.
The harvest is in and we have time to spare,
and the best place to be is the county fair.
There is nothing better that I have found
Than hearing music with a glorious sound
As we ride round and round on the merry-go-round.
And so to the country fair I am bound.
(Hilary Martin)
We're Going to the Farm . . .
We'll see the chickens and the ducks,
We'll hear the quacks and all the clucks!
We'll ride a big tractor, and feed a tall horse,
But the best will be the goats, of course!!!
Also see the Farming file.
(Keith Barbour)
The old man walks in Echo Park
From bench to bench he moves from morning 'til dark
For the ducks some bread he brings
Wonder if he'll feed them this time next spring
Listening to the children play
Reminds him of other days
Many years ago
Thoughts of a child that he helped grow
(Chicago)
You'd think it was the Fourth of July
People talking, really smiling
A man playing guitar
Singing for us all
Will you help him change the world
Can you dig it (yes, I can)
And I've been waiting such a long time
For today
I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel. (E. B. White)
(author unknown)
So this is the roller coaster.
Hey! Look, we're climbing up.
In fact, we're going quite high,
Trucking up to the top.
Why is everyone tense?
Why do some folks frown?
Oh! Now I get it!
Because we're going
DOWN!
I did a Ferris wheel page. Used my circle cutter to make a circle about 6 inches in diameter, and then without moving the post, made the circle about 5-1/2 inches, thereby getting that circle 'outline' shape. Freehand cut the base (big tall triangle) and cut small triangles for the cars. Mine happened to be for the state fair, and I had quilt pictures and Ferris wheel pictures, so I decorated the cars with Mrs. G. quilt stickers and cut the Ferris wheel in the same purple/green/blue colors. It sounds weird, but I've gotten lots of compliments on it. For a roller coaster, you could do the track swooping up and down across a two-page spread, with paper cars or just your photos 'riding the rail'. (unknown)
(author unknown)
Camels and bears and ponies are found
All prancing about on the merry-go-round
Toot-a-lee-too, toot-a-lee-too,
On the merry go round.
The merry go round sings toot-a-lee-too
Come take a ride, there's a pony for you,
Toot-a-lee-too, toot-a-lee-too,
On the merry-go-round.
(Myra Cohn Livingston)
The merry-go-round
whirls round and round
in a giant circle on the ground.
And the horses run
an exciting race
while the wind blows music in your face.
Then the whole world spins
to a colored tune
but the ride is over much too soon.
(Rachel Field)
Purple horses with orange manes
Elephants pink and blue,
Tigers and lions that never were seen
In circus parade or zoo!
Bring out your money and choose your steed,
And prance to delightful sound.
What fun if the world would turn someday
Into a Merry-Go-Round!
(author unknown)
The rollicking, frolicking merry-go-round
Goes around and around and around,
And the tinkly, twinkly music plays
With a gay and a silvery sound.
The ponies kick their frisky heels
At the tinkly, twinkly sound,
As the rollicking, frolicking merry-go-round
Goes around and around and around.
If I had my choice each summer day
Of the spot where I'd like to be,
The rollicking, frolicking, merry-go-round
Would be the place for me.
And all of the time that the music played
With its tinkly, twinkly sound,
I'd go riding around and around,
On the rollicking, frolicking merry-go-round.
(author unknown)
What do you dream
On that long wooden chair
When the wind of the carousel
Ruffles your hair?
See the smiles on the faces
Of kids spinning 'round
And let your mind wander
With the calliope sound.
Laughter fills the air
Oh, so full of glee
Have you ever felt
So lively and free?
The horses gallop 'round
In their marvelous teams
Don't ever lose sight
Of your carousel dreams.
First cut a shallow red triangle for the top of the carousel. The width is about a wide as a page and the height is 2 or 3 inches. Adhere the triangle to the page with the top point of the triangle touching the top of the page. Then cut a gold triangle that is about 1/3 as wide at the base as the red one and slightly shorter. Center it on the red triangle with the top point touching the top of the page.
Next cut a 12-inch strip of teal about an inch or more wide. Draw with the scallop borderline along one long edge and cut out. Put the strip (scallop side down) along the bottom of the red triangle.
To make the poles (any number you want) cut two strips of paper (one red and one gold) using the wavy borderline as a pattern. The strips should be long enough to go from the scallop teal strip to the bottom of the page and about 1/4 inch wide. Loosely intertwine the two strips and adhere to the page so they look like a twisted pole.
Adhere the teal die-cut horse in the center of the strip. Cut a saddle for the horse out of red paper. You can also add small flowers around the horse's neck or on his head. (based on an idea by CMC Linda M)
(author unknown)
The trumpets blow, the bugles play,
The circus is coming to town today!
With a big elephant and a jolly old clown,
A really live circus is coming to town!
With lions and tigers and monkeys, too,
It's hard to believe that it's really true!
The animals roar, and they chatter and scream;
It seems like a wonderful, magical dream.
A - acts, acrobats, aerialists, amazing, amusement rides, animals, anticipation, applause, arcade, awesome
B - balancing act, balloon animals, Barnum and Bailey, bears, big top, brass band, box seats
C - cages, camels, cannon, carnival, carousel, cars, center ring, children, circus, clowns, contortionist, cotton candy, costumes
D - dance troupe, dancing bears, daredevil, dazzling, dogs
E - elephants, enjoyment, entertainment, enthusiasm, excitement
F - family, fantastic, fire-breathing, food, freak show, fun
G - Grand Finale, grandstand, gymnastics
H - handstand, high dive, high wire, hilarious, hoops, horses, human cannonball
I - I liked the ____ best!, ice cream cone, incredible
J - joy, juggling, jumping
K - kids, knife thrower
L - lemonade, leopard, lion
M - magic, magnificent, make believe, makeup, midway, mimes, monkeys, music
N - net, noise, novelties
O - oddities, over too soon
P - parades, peanuts, performers, popcorn, puppeteers
Q - queue, quick action, quite____
R - ring toss, Ringling Brothers, rings, ringmaster
S - seals, sensational, side show, spot light, stilt-walker, stunts, sword swallower
T - tent, three rings, thrills, tickets, tigers, tight rope walker, trapeze, travel
U - unbelievable, unforgettable, unicycle
V - vaudeville acts, ventriloquist
W - wagons, walking on stilts, whistle, wonderful, wow!
X - eXcellent, eXciting, eXtraordinary, eXtremely _____
Y - young at heart, youngsters
Z - zany, zebra, zoom lens (for photos)