Monday's Child Lyrics
Which day of the week were you born on? Monday's Child gives every day its own little fortune, and families have looked up their birthdays in it since at least the 1830s.
Monday's Child
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
But the child that's born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/mondays-child/
- Type
- Counting Rhymes, Mother Goose
- First published
- 1838
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 4 to 10 years
What Does Monday's Child Mean?
Each line gives a playful "fortune" for a day of the week: Monday's child is beautiful, Friday's child is loving, and so on. It is not meant to be taken seriously, and Wednesday's "full of woe" usually gets a laugh rather than a worry.
A few old words need explaining. Sabbath day here means Sunday, bonny means pretty, blithe means carefree, and gay had its old meaning of cheerful.
History and Origin
The rhyme was first written down in 1838 by Anna Eliza Bray in Traditions of Devonshire, a collection of folklore from the south-west of England, where it was already being recited. Several versions exist, and in some the days swap fortunes.
Learning Activities
- Find your day: look up the day of the week each family member was born and read out their line.
- Days of the week: use the rhyme to practice the order of the days.
- Write a new version: older children can invent their own fortune for each day.