What the song is about
A child plays with toy blocks on the floor. They find a blue one, then stack red, yellow and green blocks into a tall tower. They are proud of it: the prettiest tower I've ever seen! At the end the tower falls (Oops! There they go.), and the child laughs and says Bye-bye, blocks!
Useful words and expressions
- Colors: red, yellow, blue, green. The adjective colorful means full of colors.
- Numbers: one to five, five blocks tall.
- Look at...: Look at my blocks, look at my tower. You use it to show someone something.
- Stack them up: put things one on top of another. Stacking is the -ing form.
- Put it on top: place it at the highest point.
- Stand tall: One little block is standing so tall.
- Let it fall / don't let it fall: I'll try my best not to let it fall. Try my best means "try as hard as I can".
- Watch them go! and There they go!: things you say when something moves or happens quickly.
- Oops!: what you say after a small accident.
- Bye-bye: a friendly, childlike way to say goodbye.
Grammar
- Imperatives (orders and invitations): Look at my blocks, Stack them up, Count the red, Put it on top.
- let + object + verb: let the colors show, not to let it fall.
- Superlative + present perfect: the prettiest tower I've ever seen. This means "no tower I have seen is prettier". pretty → prettiest.
- Future with will: I'll try my best, we'll never stop.
- Once + present, will + verb: Once we start stacking, we'll never stop. After once (= as soon as), English uses the present tense, not will.
- Present continuous: is standing, Everything's looking...
Careful: song language
- block-tastic is an invented, playful word (block + fantastic). It is fun in the song, but it is not a real English word.
- so block-tastic and fine uses fine to rhyme with line. In normal speech you would say Everything looks great!
- Give me one more is direct and informal. A polite request is Can I have one more, please?
- Now count the red is short for the red one or the red block.