Popular Nursery Rhymes and Songs Everyone Knows
31 rhymes with full lyrics
These 31 are the well-known rhymes and songs most families meet first, each with its full words, what it means and a few ways to use it with a child. Start with the songs everyone can join, such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep (sung to the same tune), Mary Had a Little Lamb, Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Add the party and group songs: Happy Birthday to You, The Farmer in the Dell, London Bridge Is Falling Down and Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.
For babies and toddlers. Pat-a-Cake is often the first clapping game, This Little Piggy counts five toes, and Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town telling children it is bedtime. For counting. This Old Man gives every number from one to ten its own rhyme and action, One, Two, Buckle My Shoe counts to twenty, and Hickory Dickory Dock has a mouse, a clock and one chime.
Classic characters and stories. Humpty Dumpty began as a riddle whose answer is an egg. Little Miss Muffet, Little Bo-Peep, Little Boy Blue, Little Jack Horner, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, Old Mother Hubbard and Three Little Kittens each tell a tiny story in a few lines. Hey Diddle Diddle is pure nonsense, Jack Be Nimble is an invitation to jump, and Rain Rain Go Away is the wet-day rhyme. The rest are Pease Porridge Hot, a quick clapping game, Polly Put the Kettle On, Pussy Cat Pussy Cat, The Muffin Man and Pop Goes the Weasel, which builds up slowly to a jump.
Many of these also appear on the lists for preschool songs and circle time. This page is the short list of the best known; each rhyme's own page has the details.