Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor Lyrics
Count cherry stones, buttons or skipping jumps, and wherever you stop tells you who you will be. Tinker Tailor is one of the oldest and best-known counting rhymes in English.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor
Tinker, tailor,
soldier, sailor,
rich man, poor man,
beggar-man, thief.
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/tinker-tailor/
- Type
- Counting Rhymes
- Tune
- Spoken rhyme
- Best for ages
- 4 to 10 years
What Does Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor Mean?
The rhyme is a list of eight people, said one per count. Children used it to "tell fortunes": counting the stones left on a plate after eating cherries or plums, the buttons on a coat, or the number of jumps before tripping in a skipping game. Wherever the count stopped was your answer.
Some of the jobs need explaining today. A tinker mended pots and pans, a tailor made clothes, and a beggar man asked for money in the street.
History and Origin
The list is very old. A similar line appears in a play by William Congreve in 1695, and by the 1800s the rhyme was known all over Britain. When Alice Bertha Gomme collected children's games in the 1890s, she found children in Wakefield saying it while hitting a shuttlecock, one word per hit, until it fell. In 1974 John le Carré used the first words for the title of his famous spy novel, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Learning Activities
- Button count: count the buttons on a coat or cardigan with the rhyme and see where you land.
- Skipping game: say one word per jump and see how far you get before tripping.
- Jobs today: make a modern version with jobs children know: doctor, teacher, builder, baker.
- Old jobs: talk about what a tinker and a tailor did, and whether those jobs still exist.