This cumulative song has a number of titles and alternate lyrics. I heard it originally as “I had a rooster, my rooster pleased me,” but I much prefer this “love” version that I learned from my colleague, Ning. Changing two simple words evokes so much more gentle friendliness in the animal-child relationship.
I’ve replaced the name of the tree with a local variety so we can talk in storytime about what grows in our neighbourhoods. And then I rewrote it with dinosaurs to have a little fun.
I Love My Rooster
C
I love my rooster, my rooster loves me
G7
I feed my rooster by the big maple tree
C F
My little rooster goes cock-a-doodle-doo
C G7 C
Dee doodle dee doodle dee doodle dee doo
C
I love my kitten, my kitten loves me
G7
I feed my kitten by the big maple tree
C
My little kitten goes meow meow meow
F
My little rooster goes cock-a-doodle-doo
C G7 C
Dee doodle dee doodle dee doodle dee doo
C
I love my duck, my duck loves me
G7
I feed my duck by the big maple tree
C
My little duck goes quack quack quack
My little kitten goes meow meow meow
F
My little rooster goes cock-a-doodle-doo
C G7 C
Dee doodle dee doodle dee doodle dee doo
etc
I Love My Dinosaur
C
I love my tyrannosaur, my tyrannosaur loves me
G7
I feed my tyrannosaur by the prehistoric tree
C F
My little tyrannosaur goes roar roar roar
C G7 C
Roar roary, roar roary, roar roary roar roar
Verses
Triceratops... snort...
Pteranodon... squawk..
Brontosaurus... chomp...
Felt Story Extension
If you already have a set of felt animals (farm, wild, prehistoric, or otherwise) just add a tree. I free-handed both my trees, and adapted my rooster from an existing hen pattern. The rest of the farm animals are visiting from my Old Macdonald set, while the dinosaurs come from the template shared on Mel’s Desk.
Flannel Friday is hosted this week by Mollie at What Happens in Storytime…
Storytime Ukulele 
I love following your blog! I’ve been playing uke for 8 months now and I’ve been working at a preschool for over a year now. We sang I love my rooster yesterday in group and it went really well! Ever thought about sound clips? I didn’t know this song and had to search for one for awhile 😊 Keep up the good work
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Thanks for the feedback, Lynn. I usually try to link to a recording of songs that aren’t particularly well-known, but I see I neglected to for this one. My chords are very similar to the Loudest Librarian, and she has a recording on her site: https://loudestlibrarian.com/tag/uke-chords-i-bought-me-a-rooster/
I’ve considered adding sound clips, but my strumming is fairly basic, and not necessarily the best example for emulating.
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