Weave the Diaper Lyrics
A dance that copies a weaver at the loom: this way and that, up and down, in and out, until the cloth is thick.
Weave the Diaper
Weave the diaper tick-a-tick tick,
Weave the diaper tick,
Come this way, come that
As close as a mat,
Athwart and across, up and down, round about,
And forwards, and backwards, and inside, and out;
Weave the diaper thick-a-thick thick,
Weave the diaper thick!
Printed from https://nurseryrhymes.co/weave-the-diaper/
- Type
- Action Songs, Mother Goose
- Tune
- Chanted, with a weaving dance
- Best for ages
- 3 to 8 years
Hand Motions and Actions
| When you sing | Do this |
|---|---|
| Weave the diaper tick-a-tick tick | Throw an imaginary shuttle from one hand to the other. |
| Come this way, come that | Step to one side, then the other. |
| Up and down, round about | Raise your arms, lower them, then turn around. |
| Inside, and out | Step into the circle and back out again. |
What Does Weave the Diaper Mean?
Diaper here is a kind of linen woven with a small, repeating diamond pattern. Long before the word was used for babies, it meant this patterned cloth, often made into towels and napkins. The rhyme follows the weaver's moves: the shuttle carries the thread athwart and across (from side to side), over and under, until the weave is close and thick. Tick-a-tick copies the clack of the loom.
History and Origin
The rhyme is printed in James Orchard Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England. Alice Bertha Gomme, who collected children's games in the 1890s, notes that it went with a dance in which the body and arms acted out the weaving and the flying shuttle.
Learning Activities
- Paper weaving: weave strips of colored paper over and under to make a mat.
- Line dance: two lines face each other and weave between one another on the words.
- Spot the pattern: look for diamond patterns on towels, tablecloths and sweaters.