I Will Tell My Own Daddy When He Comes Home Lyrics
A child plans to tell Daddy that Mammy earned a penny, spent a groat, and burnt a hole in the child's new coat.
I Will Tell My Own Daddy When He Comes Home
I will tell my own daddy when he comes home,
What little good work my mammy has done.
She has earnt a penny, spent a groat,
And burnt a hole in the child's new coat.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/i-will-tell-my-own-daddy/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 7 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| I will tell my own daddy | Point to yourself, then to an imaginary door. |
| spent a groat | Hold out an open palm and then close it. |
| burnt a hole in the child's new coat | Poke a finger through a circle made with the other hand. |
What Does I Will Tell My Own Daddy When He Comes Home Mean?
The rhyme is a light, teasing complaint. The child is waiting for Daddy to come home and has news about the day: Mammy has earned a penny, then spent a groat, an old silver coin worth four pennies, so more went out than came in. To make matters worse, a hole was burnt in the child's new coat. The tone is playful, the kind of grumble that families laugh about, and every household has days when the money and the mending do not quite balance.
The lines rhyme in pairs, home with done and groat with coat, which gives the rhyme its swing.
History and Origin
The rhyme is printed in Gammer Gurton's Garland, a small collection of nursery rhymes, among short verses with no author named. The book also lists it by its first line in its table of contents.
The next verse on the same page is a different rhyme that begins "I had a little moppet".
Learning Activities
- Coin talk: look at a few coins and talk about what a penny and a groat might have bought.
- Patch it: sew or glue a patch over a hole in a scrap of cloth.
- Tell the news: take turns telling a family member one piece of news about your day.
- Rhyme pairs: find the rhyming words in lines three and four.