Jack and Jill Lyrics
Two children, one hill and a pail of water that never makes it home. Jack and Jill has been in print since around 1765, and its second verse describes an old cure for a bumped head.
Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
The second verse
Then up Jack got and off did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/jack-and-jill/
- Type
- Mother Goose, Action Songs
- First published
- c. 1765
- Tune
- Traditional
- Best for ages
- 2 to 6 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Jack and Jill went up the hill | March on the spot, lifting your knees high as if climbing. |
| To fetch a pail of water | Pretend to carry a heavy bucket with both hands. |
| Jack fell down and broke his crown | Tumble to the floor and hold your head. |
| And Jill came tumbling after | Roll over gently, or roll your hands over each other. |
What Does Jack and Jill Mean?
The rhyme is a small accident story: two children go to fetch water, Jack falls and hurts his head, and Jill tumbles down after him. "Crown" here means the top of the head.
In the second verse Jack is patched up with vinegar and brown paper, an old home remedy for bruises. Popular theories that the rhyme is about King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette cannot be right, because the rhyme was printed decades before their deaths.
History and Origin
Jack and Jill was first printed around 1765 in Mother Goose's Melody. "Jack and Jill" had long been a common way of saying "a boy and a girl" in English; Shakespeare uses the phrase in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The village of Kilmersdon in Somerset has a local legend linking the rhyme to a couple who lived there, and the village even has a Jack and Jill hill. Like most origin stories for old rhymes, it cannot be proven.
Learning Activities
- Act it out: use a cushion as the hill and a toy bucket for the pail.
- Water science: carry water in different containers (a cup, a sieve, a bucket) and see which works best.
- First aid talk: talk about what we do today when someone bumps their head, compared with vinegar and brown paper.