Nursery Rhymes

The classic nursery rhymes with their full lyrics, simple hand motions and the true stories behind them. Every rhyme can be printed in one click for bedtime, circle time or the classroom.

293 nursery rhymes, each with the full lyrics, hand motions, history and a printable copy. See the full list or browse by type.

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Why Sing Nursery Rhymes With Children?

Nursery rhymes are one of the easiest ways to build early language skills. The strong beat and repeated sounds help children hear how words are built, which supports reading later on. Rhymes like One, Two, Buckle My Shoe practice counting, action songs like London Bridge build coordination, and lullabies like Wee Willie Winkie turn bedtime into a calm routine.

Many of these rhymes are hundreds of years old. Each page explains where the rhyme comes from and what it means, including the popular myths that turn out not to be true.

Every Nursery Rhyme on This Site

The complete list, 293 rhymes from A to Z.

A A Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn · A Diller, a Dollar · A Duck and a Drake · A Little Boy Went Into a Barn · A Long-Tailed Pig · A Pie Sat on a Pear-Tree · A Sunshiny Shower · A Swarm of Bees in May · A Was an Apple Pie · A, B, C, Tumble Down D · A' the Birdies i' the Air · About the Bush, Willy · Aiken Drum · All the Pretty Little Horses · As I Walked by Myself · As I Was Going Along · As I Was Going to St Ives · At the Siege of Belleisle

B Baa Baa Black Sheep · Bat, Bat, Come Under My Hat · Bell Horses · Bessy Bell and Mary Gray · Billy, Billy, Come and Play · Bingo (There Was a Farmer Had a Dog) · Birds of a Feather · Black We Are, but Much Admired · Blow, Wind, Blow · Bow-Wow-Wow · Bow-Wow, Says the Dog · Burnie Bee · Buttons, a Farthing a Pair · Bye, Baby Bunting

C Clap Hands, Clap Hands · Clap, Clap Handies · Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe · Cock a Doodle Doo · Coffee and Tea · Cold and Raw the North Wind Doth Blow · Come, Let's to Bed · Cross Patch · Cry, Baby, Cry · Cuckoo, Cherry Tree · Curly Locks · Currahoo, Curr Dhoo · Cushy Cow Bonny

D Daffy-Down-Dilly · Dame Trot and Her Cat · Dance a Baby Diddy · Dance to Your Daddie · Dance, Little Baby · Dance, Thumbkin, Dance · Dickery, Dickery, Dare · Did You Ever See a Lassie · Did You See My Wife? · Diddle Diddle Dumpling · Diddley-Diddley-Dumpty · Ding Dong Bell · Doctor Foster · Draw a Pail of Water

E Early to Bed · Eena, Deena, Dina, Duss · Elizabeth, Elspeth, Betsy and Bess · Elsie Marley · Every Lady in This Land (Fingers and Toes)

F Feetikin, Feetikin · Fiddle-de-dee · For Every Evil Under the Sun · For Want of a Nail · Fox, a Fox, a Brummalary · Foxy's Hole · Friday Night's Dream

G Gay Go Up and Gay Go Down · Georgie Porgie · Girls and Boys Come Out to Play · Goosey Goosey Gander · Great A, Little a · Great A, Little A, This Is Pancake Day · Green Cheese, Yellow Laces

H Handy Pandy · Hark Hark the Dogs Do Bark · He That Would Thrive · Hector Protector · Here Comes an Old Soldier from Botany Bay · Here Goes My Lord · Here Sits the Lord Mayor · Here Stands a Post · Here We Go Gathering Nuts in May · Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush · Hey Diddle Diddle · Hey Diddle Dinkety, Poppety, Pet · Hey Ding a Ding, What Shall I Sing? · Hey, My Kitten, My Kitten · Hickety Pickety My Black Hen · Hickory Dickory Dock · High Diddle Ding, Did You Hear the Bells Ring? · Hot Cross Buns · How Many Days Has My Baby to Play? · How Many Miles to Babylon? · Humpty Dumpty · Hush, Baby, My Doll

I I Do Not Like Thee, Doctor Fell · I Doubt, I Doubt · I Had a Little Hobby-Horse · I Had a Little Husband · I Had a Little Nut Tree · I Have a Little Sister · I Have Seen You, Little Mouse · I Love Sixpence · I Saw a Ship A-Sailing · I See the Moon · I Went Up One Pair of Stairs · I Won't Be My Father's Jack · I Would If I Could · I'll Tell You a Story · If All the Seas Were One Sea · If All the World Were Paper · If Ifs and Ands Were Pots and Pans · If Wishes Were Horses · In a Cottage in Fife (Comical Folk) · In Fir Tar Is · In Marble Walls as White as Milk · Intery, Mintery · Is John Smith Within? · It's Raining, It's Pouring

J Jack and Jill · Jack Be Nimble · Jack Sprat · Jack Sprat Had a Cat · Jacky, Come Give Me Thy Fiddle · Jacky, Come Give Me Your Fiddle · Johnny Shall Have a New Bonnet

L Lavender's Blue · Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up · Leg Over Leg · Little Betty Blue · Little Bo-Peep · Little Boy Blue · Little Fred · Little Girl, Little Girl, Where Have You Been? · Little Jack Horner · Little Jack Jingle · Little Jumping Joan · Little King Boggen · Little Lad, Little Lad · Little Maid, Pretty Maid · Little Miss Muffet · Little Nancy Etticoat · Little Poll Parrot · Little Robin Redbreast · Little Tommy Tittlemouse · Little Tommy Tucker · London Bridge Is Falling Down · Long Legs, Crooked Thighs (Riddle) · Looby Loo · Lucy Locket

M March Winds and April Showers · Mary Had a Little Lamb · Mary Had a Pretty Bird · Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary · Merry Are the Bells · Miss Jane Had a Bag · Miss Mary Mack · Mistress Mason Broke a Basin · Monday's Child · Multiplication Is Vexation · My Lady Wind · My Little Old Man and I Fell Out · My Maid Mary

N Nancy Dawson · Neevie-Neevie-Nick-Nack

O Oats and Beans and Barley Grow · Oh That I Were Where I Would Be · Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone? · Oh, the Rusty, Dusty Miller · Old Father Greybeard · Old King Cole · Old MacDonald Had a Farm · Old Mother Goose · Old Mother Hubbard · Once I Saw a Little Bird · One for the Money · One Misty Moisty Morning · One, Two, Buckle My Shoe · One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught a Fish Alive · One's None, Two's Some

P Pat-a-Cake · Pease Porridge Hot · Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater · Peter White Will Ne'er Go Right · Pippen Hill · Polly Put the Kettle On · Poor Old Robinson Crusoe · Pop Goes the Weasel · Pretty John Watts · Pussy Cat Ate the Dumplings · Pussy Cat by the Fire · Pussy Cat Pussy Cat · Pussy-Cat Mew

Q Queen Anne

R Rain Rain Go Away · Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross · Ride Away, Ride Away · Ring Around the Rosie · Ring the Bell, Knock at the Door · Robert Barns, Fellow Fine · Robin and Richard · Rock-a-Bye Baby · Rock-a-Bye, Baby, Thy Cradle Is Green · Rosemary Green and Lavender Blue · Roses Are Red · Row, Row, Row Your Boat · Rub-a-Dub-Dub

S Saint Swithin's Day · Sally Go Round the Moon · See a Pin and Pick It Up · See Saw Margery Daw · See Saw Sacradown · Shoe the Colt · Sieve My Lady's Oatmeal · Simple Simon · Sing a Song of Sixpence · Sing, Sing, What Shall I Sing? · Six Little Mice · Sleep, Baby, Sleep · Smiling Girls, Rosy Boys · Snail, Snail, Come Put Out Your Horn · Sulky Sue

T The Alphabet Song (ABC Song) · The Cat Sat Asleep by the Side of the Fire · The Cock Doth Crow · The Cock's on the Housetop · The Cuckoo Is a Bonny Bird · The Dove and the Wren · The Farmer in the Dell · The Grand Old Duke of York · The Greedy Man · The Hart He Loves the High Wood · The King of France · The Lion and the Unicorn · The Man in the Moon · The Man in the Wilderness · The Man Who Had Naught · The Muffin Man · The North Wind Doth Blow · The Old Man of Tobago · The Old Woman of Exeter · The Old Woman of Harrow · The Old Woman of Leeds · The Piper and His Cow · The Queen of Hearts · The Rule of the Road · There Was a Crooked Man · There Was a Lady Loved a Swine · There Was a Little Girl · There Was a Monkey Climbed Up a Tree · There Was an Old Woman Sold Puddings and Pies · There Was an Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket · There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe · There Was an Old Woman Who Lived Under a Hill · There Was an Old Woman, and What Do You Think? · There Was an Old Woman, as I've Heard Tell · There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone · There's a Neat Little Clock · Thirty Days Hath September · This Is the House That Jack Built · This Is the Way the Ladies Ride · This Little Piggy · This Old Man · Thread the Needle · Three Blind Mice · Three Little Kittens · Three Straws on a Staff · Three Wise Men of Gotham · Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor · To Make Your Candles Last · To Market, To Market · Tom, He Was a Piper's Son · Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son · Tommy Snooks and Bessy Brooks · Tweedledum and Tweedledee · Twinkle Twinkle Little Star · Two Little Blackbirds

U Up Hill and Down Dale

W Wee Willie Winkie · What Are Little Boys Made Of? · What Is the News of the Day? · What Is the Rhyme for Porringer? · When Good King Arthur Ruled This Land · When the Wind Is in the East · Where Are You Going, My Pretty Maid? · Willie Wastle · Willy Boy, Willy Boy

Y Young Lambs to Sell

All Nursery Rhymes A to Z

Browse every rhyme by the first letter of its title.

Know a rhyme we are missing? Maybe one your family sang, or a different version of a classic. Tell us on our contact page and we will look it up and add it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a nursery rhyme?
A nursery rhyme is a short traditional poem or song for young children. Most were passed down by families for generations before anyone printed them, which is why the same rhyme can have slightly different words in different places.
What is the most popular nursery rhyme?
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is one of the best known worldwide, together with Humpty Dumpty, Baa Baa Black Sheep and Jack and Jill.
Who was Mother Goose?
Mother Goose is an imaginary author, not a real person. Her name appeared on collections of traditional rhymes from the 1700s, such as Mother Goose's Melody, printed in London around 1765, and it has been attached to classic rhymes ever since.
At what age should children learn nursery rhymes?
You can start from birth. Babies enjoy the rhythm and your voice long before they understand the words. Around ages 2 to 5 children begin joining in, finishing lines and doing the actions, which is when rhymes help most with early reading skills.
Can I print the lyrics?
Yes. Every rhyme page has a Print the lyrics button that prints a clean page with just the words, ideal for classrooms, circle time and bedtime.