Busy Bee! Busy Bee! Lyrics
A girl asks a busy bee where it lives and is told, in a comb. She asks a little rabbit where it is rushing and is told, home under the brush.
Busy Bee! Busy Bee!
"Busy bee! busy bee!
Where is your home?"
"In truth, pretty maiden,
I live in a comb."
"And you, little Rabbit,
Where do you rush?"
"I rush to my home, dear,
Under the brush!"
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/busy-bee-busy-bee/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Animal Rhymes
- Written by
- Mary Mapes Dodge
- Tune
- Light questions, each with a quick answer
- Best for ages
- 2 to 6 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Busy bee! busy bee! | Buzz and flutter your fingers by your shoulders. |
| I rush to my home, dear, Under the brush! | Dart your hand away and tuck it under your other arm. |
What Does Busy Bee! Busy Bee! Mean?
The rhyme is two short conversations, each four lines long. In the first, the speaker asks the bee where it lives and the bee answers "in a comb". A honeycomb is the six-sided wax cells where bees store honey and bring up their young. Maiden is an old word for a girl, so the bee calls the speaker "pretty maiden". In the second, a rabbit rushes past on its way home "under the brush", the low, thick bushes and undergrowth where a small animal can hide.
Each question gets a quick answer that names a home, so children can ask the same kind of question of other animals. Each question rhymes with its answer: home with comb, and rush with brush.
History and Origin
The verse is in Mary Mapes Dodge's Rhymes and Jingles (1874), a book of short pieces for young children.
Learning Activities
- Where do you live: ask the child where other animals live, such as a spider, a fish or a bird, and make a new verse.
- Bee home picture: draw a comb of six-sided cells and a bee on top.
- Two parts: one child is the maiden and asks, and the other answers as the bee and the rabbit.
- Quick as a rabbit: walk fast, then slow, and say the last two lines at both speeds.