Hippity Hop to Bed Lyrics
At bedtime, a child would much rather stay up, but when father says must, there is nothing to do except hop off to bed. Five bouncy lines that make the end of the day into a little hopping game.
Hippity Hop to Bed
O it's hippity hop to bed!
I'd rather sit up instead.
But when father says "must,"
There's nothing but just
Go hippity hop to bed.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/hippity-hop-to-bed/
- Type
- Poems for Children, Lullabies
- Written by
- Leroy F. Jackson
- Tune
- Bouncy and a little grumbly, with a hop on each hippity hop
- Best for ages
- 2 to 6 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| O it's hippity hop to bed! | Hop gently on the spot, one hop for each beat. |
| I'd rather sit up instead | Sit on the floor and fold your arms with a pretend pout. |
| Go hippity hop to bed | Hop, or walk with bouncy steps, towards the bedroom. |
What Does Hippity Hop to Bed Mean?
Every parent knows the moment this poem describes. The child says out loud what they feel, I'd rather sit up instead, and then gives in with good humour. The turn comes in the middle: when father says "must", there is no arguing. The word "must" in quotation marks shows that father has said it firmly.
What makes the poem work is the sound of hippity hop. It is a hopping rhythm, so a child who is sulking about bedtime can hop to bed and make a game of it. Bed and instead rhyme, and must and just rhyme too. The poem ends with the same words it started with, so the whole thing is a small loop that can be said again and again on the way upstairs.
It does not make bedtime sound wonderful, and children tend to trust it for that reason. It makes bedtime sound doable.
History and Origin
Leroy F. Jackson (1881 to 1958) wrote the poem for his 1918 collection of rhymes for children. Several of the verses, like this one, are only five or six lines long.
He turns the bouncing sound hippity hop into a bedtime refrain, which makes bedtime a game rather than a command.
Learning Activities
- Hop route: mark a hopping path from the living room to the bedroom with cushions or tape.
- Bedtime countdown: say the poem as a signal that bedtime has started, then hop through the steps.
- Own ending: ask each child to swap hippity hop for another way of moving, like tiptoe or creep.
- Rhyme pairs: say bed and instead, then must and just, and listen to how they match.