A Modern Parents' Guide to Nursery Rhymes

Because It's Two O'Clock in the Morning and You Can't Remember "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" - Over 70 Classic Rhymes

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By Jennifer Griffin

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Because it’s two o’clock in the morning and you can’t remember “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”

Once upon a time, every parent knew Little Jack Horner, Wee Willie Winkie, and Little Miss Muffet. Now you will, too, with this crash course on timeless pleasures of Mother Goose and beyond. It features more than 70 poems, lullabies, rounds, and riddles, from classics like “Hey Diddle Diddle,” to newer songs like “The Wheels on the Bus,” too wonderful non-English versus including “Pío, Pío, Pío,” the sweet yet dramatic Chilean ditty about chickens. Plus, exactly how to perform the intricate finger ballet known as “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Includes downloadable recordings.

 

Excerpt

A Few Little Ditties for You and the Kiddies:

The Rhymes, Verses, and Songs

ABC
(The Alphabet Song)

"ABC (The Alphabet Song)" is simple, yes, but that doesn't mean it's not wonderful. And forgive me for insulting your intelligence by including the words here, but I think of the alphabet song as the little black dress of nursery verse. It's fun (memorable happy tune) and functional (baby is learning as you sing); a classic that never goes out of style.

Sound Familiar?

Does the tune ring a bell? The music is the same as that for "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".

ABC

A-B-C-D-E-F-G-

H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-

Q-R-S-

T-U-V

W-X-

Y and Z

Now I know my ABCs

Next time won't you sing with me?

Le Mot Juste

The Oxford English Dictionary contains full entries for more than 170,000 words in use in English today. This gives us lots of options for expressing ourselves. Are you limiting yourself? Try replacing some of your usual vocabulary with words that are more fun; you might be amazed at the difference. Here is an experiment: Wet a sponge and wring it out over the tub or sink with your toddler. First say "wring, wring, wring," then try "squeeze, squeeze, squeeze" instead. Squeeze will get a giggle—it's simply a wackier word. Look for the most colorful, euphonious way to say things.

Alice the Camel

"Alice the Camel" is a simple, memorable song that takes your little one on a wiggly-jiggly lap ride. Not part of the Old Mother Goose tradition, it's a contemporary number that has quickly become classic. (Listen to the music if you don't know the tune.) Camels are fascinating to children for their mysterious fat-carrying humps—you'll start seeing them soon in children's books and at the zoo. The verse, in addition to featuring an exotic creature, may be baby's first countdown.

The Action

Bounce your child on your knee throughout the song, and when a number is mentioned, hold up that many fingers to the child. At the last verse, make a zero sign and whinny/neigh if you feel like it.

Alice The Camel

Alice the camel has five humps.

Alice the camel has five humps.

Alice the camel has five humps.

So go, Alice, go!

Boom, boom, boom . . .

Alice the camel has four humps.

Alice the camel has four humps.

Alice the camel has four humps.

So go, Alice, go!

Boom, boom, boom . . .

Alice the camel has three humps.

Alice the camel has three humps.

Alice the camel has three humps.

So go, Alice, go!

Boom, boom, boom . . .

Alice the camel has two humps.

Alice the camel has two humps.

Alice the camel has two humps.

So go, Alice, go!

Boom, boom, boom . . .

Alice the camel has one hump.

Alice the camel has one hump.

Alice the camel has one hump.

So go, Alice, go!

Boom, boom, boom . . .

Alice the camel has no hump.

Alice the camel has no hump.

Alice the camel has no hump.

So Alice is a horse.

Alouette

"Alouette" is a song about a lark who is being plucked before being cooked. You can sing it in French and learn a few new vocabulary words or sing it in the English translation. The song takes brilliantly to variations, adding as many or as few body parts as you like. Don't miss the opportunity to mime plucking your own little lark. Kids love to be plucked.

Sing On!

A second verse goes like this:

Alouette, gentille alouette,

Alouette, je te plumerai.

Je te plumerai le nez

Je te plumerai le nez

Et le nez, et le nez

Et la tête, et la tête

Alouette.

For additional verses, use any one-syllable body part, such as:

Les joues: cheeks

Les yeux: eyes

Le cou: neck

Les ailes: wings

Le dos: back

Les pattes: feet

La queue: tail

Alouette

Alouette, gentille alouette,

Alouette, je te plumerai

Je te plumerai la tête,

Je te plumerai la tête,

Et la tête, et la tête

Alouette.

English Translation

Little pheasant, tasty little pheasant,

Little pheasant, I will pluck you

I will pluck you on your head,

I will pluck you on your head,

Pluck your head, pluck your head

Little pheasant.

As I Was Going to St. Ives

"As I Was Going to St. Ives" is a jaunty rhyme, a juicy riddle, and a kid's first trick question all rolled into one. It's a puzzler that may lay the foundation for a life of crossword puzzle, Scrabble, or Sudoku dominance. The rhyme is believed to have ancient origins. A piece of papyrus with a similar riddle involving cats was found in Egypt and dates to around 1700 bce.

Guess!

So just how many were going to St. Ives? Only one: the "I" of the verse. FYI, if everyone mentioned—and every thing, the sacks included—were going, too, then the final tally would be a whopping 2,802.

As I Was Going to St. Ives

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, wives,

How many were going to St. Ives?

A Tisket, A Tasket

What's a tisket? A tasket?! Calm down. These are nonsense words. Don't get your knickers in a twist over every mysterious little tisket, tuffet, or knick-knack paddy whack.

A tisket, a tasket

A green and yellow basket

I wrote a letter to my love

And on the way I dropped it.

I dropped it, I dropped it

And on the way I dropped it

A little boy, he picked it up

And put it in his pocket.

Jazz It Up

Find the classic Ella Fitzgerald recording of this old favorite. Singing along with Ella is a very cool way to spend quality nursery time.

Dr. Pavlov, I Presume?

Ivan Pavlov was a Russian psychologist famous for his experiments with dogs. He discovered that if you ring a bell every time you feed a dog, and then you ring a bell and don't actually bring food, the dog's body will react as though the food is forthcoming. This became known as conditioning.

Conditioning can be a mom's best friend. I have found that if you pair a verse (or song) with an activity, the verse acts as a trigger that spurs the activity. For instance, if you sing the "clean up" song every time you clean up, your child will come to so closely associate the song with the activity that he will not resist it as he might if you just asked him to help. Ditto with lullabies. Certain lullabies make my son sleepy, not just because they are soporifics on their own, but because I have paired them with nap- and bedtime. One song I sing to him is an old French pop standard "Plus Je T'Embrasse." I wonder what will happen years from now if he's in a bar in Paris and the little trio in the corner strikes up this song. Will he fall asleep in his drink? One more thing to worry about. Stick to the classic lullabies, friends, and be very careful about powerful psychological tricks.

Banbury Cross

"Banbury Cross" can be recited when your child is on a rocking horse—a "cockhorse" is another name for a rocking horse—but of course it works just as well when she's on your lap. You can rock or trot to Banbury Cross. If another adult is in the room, have him make a clopping effect as you recite the poem for a nifty duet.

See the Cross

Banbury is a town in Oxfordshire, England, that once boasted three prominent crosses, which evidently loomed large in the town's psyche. They were destroyed in the early 1600s, some 150 years before this verse appeared.

Banbury Cross

Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross

To see a fine lady upon a white horse

Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes

She shall have music wherever she goes.

Clean Up, Clean Up

"Clean Up, Clean Up" might seem like a forgettable little thing, but try singing it when it's time to pick up toys, and you'll see it's a miracle. It is to tidying rooms what Pavlov's bell is to his dog's dinner (see here). Maybe it's the whistle-while-you-work effect. All I know is that it's effective.

Clean up, clean up,

Everybody everywhere,

Clean up, clean up,

Everybody do your share.

Make It Personal!

Insert your child's name into the last line if you like: "Come on Luke, you do your share." For two-syllable names, cut the "you": "Come on Lily, do your share," and so on.

De Colores

This traditional song, beloved throughout the Spanish-speaking world, is a celebration of pastoral bliss. It has become the anthem of farm workers and the labor unions supporting them, and has been covered widely. My favorite is Joan Baez's version.

Curiously, though the song is about colors, not a single color is named. After you sing it, point out to baby which colors you can see in your own environment.

Genre:

On Sale
Mar 29, 2022
Page Count
192 pages
ISBN-13
9781523512355

Jennifer Griffin

Jennifer Griffin

About the Author

Jennifer (“soft and white”) Griffin is the author of Humpty Who? and the mother of two. As a Jennifer—the most common name of her generation— she has been obsessed with names her whole life. She and her husband live in New York City with their son, Luke (“worshipful”), and daughter, Josephine (“God adds”). 

Learn more about this author