Have you ever heard someone say, “A watched pot never boils,” or “Two wrongs don’t make a right”? These are called proverbs and adages. They are short, wise sayings that give us advice. You might hear them in conversations, songs, movies, books, and TV shows.
One common proverb is “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” This means if someone does something bad to you, doing something bad back isn’t the right choice. Here are some other popular proverbs:
Adages are similar to proverbs. Here are some you might know:
People often use adages and proverbs to share advice. Maybe your family has a saying passed down from your grandparents. That’s how many adages and proverbs spread from person to person.
Adages and proverbs aren’t meant to be taken literally. For example, “A watched pot never boils” doesn’t mean the water won’t boil if you watch it. It means time feels slow when you’re waiting for something. It’s like waiting for the school bell to ring; time seems to stand still!
On the other hand, “Time flies when you’re having fun” means time goes by quickly when you’re enjoying yourself.
Proverbs give us practical wisdom. The Bible even has a whole book of them! One popular proverb is “Actions speak louder than words.” This means what you do is more important than what you say. If you say you’re a hard worker but don’t actually work hard, people might not believe you.
“The early bird catches the worm” is an adage about not procrastinating. It means doing things early is better. If you do your homework right after school, you won’t have to worry about it later.
Just like words have meanings, so do adages and proverbs. It takes time to learn them, but the more you hear and use them, the easier it gets.
You can understand an adage or proverb by thinking about when and why it’s used. For example, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is” means if something sounds amazing, it might not be real. Like winning free money—it’s usually a trick.
Another adage is “The best things in life are free.” This means the most important things, like family and friends, don’t cost money.
Adages and proverbs make your writing and speaking more interesting. They also teach valuable lessons quickly. Try using one next time you talk to someone—they might think you’re very wise!
Proverb Hunt: Go on a “Proverb Hunt” around your home or neighborhood. Ask family members or friends if they know any proverbs or adages. Write down the ones you hear and try to find out what they mean. Share your findings with the class and see if anyone else found the same ones!
Create Your Own Proverb: Think about a piece of advice you would like to give to someone. Try to create your own proverb or adage that shares this advice. Draw a picture that represents your new saying and explain what it means to your classmates.
Proverb Charades: Play a game of charades using proverbs and adages. Each child picks a proverb or adage and acts it out without speaking, while the others guess which saying it is. This will help you remember the meanings and have fun at the same time!
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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Proverbs and adages for kids.
Have you ever heard someone say, “A watched pot never boils,” or “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” or “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”? These common sayings are called adages or proverbs. Adages and proverbs are short, simple statements of wisdom or advice. They are often used in conversation, and you might also hear them in songs, movies, books, and TV shows.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right” is a popular proverb that means if someone hits you, hitting them back isn’t the right thing to do. Or if someone steals from you, it doesn’t mean it’s okay to steal from them. Those are both wrong choices.
Here are some other popular proverbs:
– A cat has nine lives.
– A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
– Actions speak louder than words.
– The pen is mightier than the sword.
Adages are just like proverbs. Here are some popular adages; see if any of them sound familiar to you:
– Birds of a feather flock together.
– Opposites attract.
– Don’t judge a book by its cover.
– Better safe than sorry.
People might call the same saying an adage or a proverb; that’s okay because they are closely related. Both adages and proverbs give advice. Can you think of a saying that your family says? Maybe that saying was started by your grandparents and then passed to your parents, who now say it to you. That’s also how many adages and proverbs were passed on to other people.
Adages and proverbs are not to be taken literally, which means the words in the proverb or adage don’t exactly tell us what it means. Listen to this adage as an example: “A watched pot never boils.” If there was a pot of water on the stove, would it really never boil just because you were watching it? Of course not; it would eventually boil. So that adage doesn’t literally mean what it says.
However, have you ever waited for a pot of water to boil? It seems to take a long time, doesn’t it? The adage “A watched pot never boils” is saying that time seems to move really slowly when we are anxiously waiting for something to happen. It’s kind of like at the end of a school day when you’re waiting for the bell to ring. You might keep looking at the clock to see if any time has passed, but it seems to be standing still. “A watched pot never boils” is advising us not to watch the pot or the clock; do something else to distract you, or time will seem to move really slowly.
On the other hand, the adage “Time flies when you’re having fun” is saying just the opposite. When you are having a good time, it seems like time goes by way too fast.
Proverbs, like adages, are statements that give practical wisdom in simple ways. The Bible has an entire book of proverbs. These proverbs have been used by many authors in their writing and have also been recited in many famous speeches.
There is a popular proverb that says, “Actions speak louder than words.” It is easy to say you will do something, but harder to actually do the thing you said you’d do. If your neighbor wants to hire you to weed their garden and you say you’re a hard worker, but later your neighbor sees you lying on the grass while the rest of your family pulls weeds, they probably won’t believe what you said about being a hard worker. So the way that you act says a whole lot more about you than the things that you say.
Another popular adage is “The early bird catches the worm.” This saying is not actually talking about birds and worms; it’s talking about procrastination. When we procrastinate, we put off doing things that we should be doing right away. Instead of doing your homework when you get home from school, you might choose to watch TV instead. Then it’s time for dinner, then baths. By the time you finally get around to doing your homework, it’s already bedtime. “The early bird catches the worm” is an adage that gives the advice to do things as soon as possible. If you do your homework right after school, then you don’t have to worry about it for the rest of the day, and you don’t have to stay up late doing it either.
In other words, the bird that is the first one up gets the first pick of all the worms. Just like if you were the first person to dinner, you might get first pick at all the food. The adage “The early bird gets the worm” means it pays to do things early.
Just like each word that we speak has its own definition, so too does each adage and proverb have its own meaning. It takes time to learn the meaning of each proverb or adage, just like it takes time to learn the meaning of each new word. But the more you hear proverbs and adages and begin to use them yourself, the easier it will get.
You can figure out the meaning of an adage or proverb by thinking about when, where, why, and how it’s used. Let’s see if you can figure out the meaning of this popular adage: “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Have you ever seen an advertisement that said you just won a lot of money? Did you then run excitedly to tell your parents? Perhaps when you told your parents, they said to you, “If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Can you figure out what the adage means? That adage is used quite often, and there’s good reason for that. There’s a lot of wisdom or truth to it. How likely is it that someone is willing to give away money? How likely are you to give money away? Do you know many people who give away money, or do they usually want something in return? This adage means that if it seems too good or too incredible to be true, it’s probably not. It’s not really free money; it’s a gimmick or a trick, and someone likely wants something from you in return.
Were you able to figure that adage out? How about this one: “The best things in life are free.” What do you think this adage means? Think of the things you love most in life: your family, your friends, playing outside, laughing, hanging out in the sunshine, the ocean. Do any of those things cost money? This adage simply means the most important, enjoyable things in life usually do not have a price tag attached to them.
Not only can using adages and proverbs add interest to the things that you write or say, but they can also be a helpful way to teach valuable lessons. A reader or listener can learn something very quickly from adages and proverbs, and so can you. So how about you try using one the next time you talk to someone? They’ll probably think you’re pretty wise.
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