There's a Neat Little Clock Lyrics
The schoolroom clock points to the time with its two little hands, and the rhyme asks children to be like it: clean, bright and ready to help.
There's a Neat Little Clock
There's a neat little clock,
In the schoolroom it stands,
And it points to the time
With its two little hands.
And may we, like the clock,
Keep a face clean and bright,
With hands ever ready
To do what is right.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/theres-a-neat-little-clock/
- Type
- Mother Goose
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
What Does There's a Neat Little Clock Mean?
The first verse describes a clock on the classroom wall with its two hands, the short hour hand and the long minute hand. The second verse turns it into a lesson: just as the clock has a clean, bright face and hands that are always working, children can keep their faces clean and their hands ready to do what is right.
History and Origin
The rhyme is printed in The Real Mother Goose (1916) as "The Clock". Moral rhymes like this were common in schoolbooks of the time, and the playful pairing of a clock's face and hands with a child's made the lesson easy to remember.
Learning Activities
- Clock hands: point out the hour hand and minute hand on a real clock.
- Paper clock: make a clock from a paper plate with moving hands.
- Helping hands: list ways your child's hands can help today.