MarytaleNursery rhymes
Nursery rhymes with the full words — all five verses of Twinkle Twinkle and Bo-Peep, the last verse of Mary's lamb, and what each one is for.
28 stories
Almost every one of these is known by its first four lines and almost none of them stops there. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star has five verses and an argument in it. Mary Had a Little Lamb has a last verse that explains the whole thing. We print the words in full, exactly as they were published, because the missing parts are usually the good parts.
Underneath each one there is a short note about where it came from and what it is for — which letter to put in Pat-a-Cake, what Humpty Dumpty originally was, why the spider climbs back up. Some of these rhymes are older than printed English: Pat-a-Cake turns up in a play from 1698, and children have been telling the rain to go away since the sixteen hundreds.
🔑 Rhymes are not read the way stories are read. Half of them need hands — clapping, counting toes, fingers walking up a spout — and the words only work when somebody is doing the thing. The notes say which is which.
Baa, Baa, Black Sheep1-2 min read · 2 pagesBaa, baa, black sheep — the full words of the rhyme, and the three bags of wool that all have somebody waiting for them.
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed1-2 min read · 5 pagesFive little monkeys jumping on the bed — the full counting rhyme from five down to one, with the doctor, the telephone and the mother.
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes1-2 min read · 2 pagesHead, shoulders, knees and toes — the full words of the action rhyme, and how to speed it up until the whole thing collapses into laughing.
Hey Diddle Diddle1-2 min read · 2 pagesHey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle — the full words of the rhyme in which every single line is impossible.
Hickory Dickory Dock1-2 min read · 2 pagesHickory dickory dock, the mouse ran up the clock — the full words, and the actions that turn it into a counting game.
Humpty Dumpty1-2 min read · 2 pagesHumpty Dumpty sat on a wall — the full words of the rhyme, and the fact that it never once says what Humpty Dumpty is.
Jack and Jill1-2 min read · 3 pagesJack and Jill went up the hill — the full words of the rhyme, including the verse where Jack gets his head mended with vinegar.
Little Bo-Peep1-2 min read · 5 pagesLittle Bo-Peep has lost her sheep — the full words of the rhyme, including the verses where she finds the tails and has to sew them back on.
Little Jack Horner1-2 min read · 2 pagesLittle Jack Horner sat in a corner — the full words of the rhyme, and why he is so very pleased with himself at the end.
Little Miss Muffet1-2 min read · 2 pagesLittle Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet — the full words of the rhyme, and what a tuffet and curds and whey actually are.
London Bridge Is Falling Down1-2 min read · 6 pagesLondon Bridge is falling down — the full words of the rhyme, verse by verse, with the wood and clay, the bricks and the iron bars.
Mary Had a Little Lamb1-2 min read · 4 pagesMary had a little lamb — the full words of Sarah Josepha Hale's 1830 poem, including the verses that usually get left off.
Old MacDonald Had a Farm1-2 min read · 5 pagesOld MacDonald had a farm — the full words, verse by verse, with the cow, the duck, the pig and the sheep, and how to let a child add the next animal.
Old Mother Hubbard1-2 min read · 4 pagesOld Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard — the full opening verses of the rhyme, and the dog that turns out to be remarkable.
Oranges and Lemons1-2 min read · 7 pagesOranges and lemons, say the bells of St Clement's — the full words of the London church-bell rhyme, and the game at the end.
Pat-a-Cake1-2 min read · 2 pagesPat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man — the full words of the clapping rhyme, and where to put your child's initial at the end.
Polly Put the Kettle On1-2 min read · 2 pagesPolly put the kettle on — the full words of the rhyme, and the trick the children play on the visitors at the end.
Rain, Rain, Go Away1-2 min read · 2 pagesRain, rain, go away — the full words of the rhyme children say at a wet window, and how old the habit turns out to be.
Ring Around the Rosie1-2 min read · 1 pagesRing around the rosie — the full words of the ring game, the British «ring a ring o' roses», and the myth about the plague.
Row, Row, Row Your Boat1-2 min read · 1 pagesRow, row, row your boat — the full words, what to do with a child's hands, and the verse about the crocodile that came later.
The Grand Old Duke of York1-2 min read · 2 pagesThe grand old Duke of York had ten thousand men — the full words, and the standing-up-and-sitting-down that goes with it.
The Itsy Bitsy Spider1-2 min read · 2 pagesThe itsy bitsy spider — the full words, the hand movements that go with them, and why the British call it the incy wincy spider.
The Muffin Man1-2 min read · 2 pagesDo you know the muffin man — the full words of the rhyme, the question and the answer, and the game that goes with it.
This Little Piggy1-2 min read · 2 pagesThis little piggy went to market — the full words of the toe-counting rhyme, and what to do with a child's foot while you say it.
Three Blind Mice1-2 min read · 2 pagesThree blind mice — the full words of the round, and a warning that the third verse is grimmer than the tune suggests.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star1-2 min read · 5 pagesTwinkle, twinkle, little star — the full words of Jane Taylor's 1806 poem, all five verses, not just the one everybody knows.
Wee Willie Winkie1-2 min read · 2 pagesWee Willie Winkie runs through the town — the full words of the Scottish bedtime rhyme, and who he is knocking for.
Wind the Bobbin Up1-2 min read · 3 pagesWind the bobbin up — the full words of the action rhyme, with what the hands do on each line, from the mills of Lancashire.
Frequently asked
- Are these the complete words?
- Yes, and that is the point of the page. Most places print the first verse only. Twinkle Twinkle has five, and Mary's lamb has four, and the parts that get dropped are the ones that make sense of the rest.
- Who wrote them?
- Four have known authors — Jane Taylor wrote Twinkle Twinkle in 1806, Sarah Josepha Hale wrote Mary's Lamb in 1830, Sarah Catherine Martin wrote Old Mother Hubbard in 1805, and William Miller wrote Wee Willie Winkie in Glasgow in 1841. The rest are traditional, with no single author.
- Is there music?
- Not here. These are the words. The tunes came later and mostly belong to somebody else — Twinkle Twinkle's melody is a French one from 1761 that Mozart wrote variations on.
- What age are they for?
- From about two, earlier than anything else on this site. A baby joins in on the repeated line long before following a story.
- Are these the American or the British versions?
- Both, where they differ. The spider is itsy bitsy here and incy wincy in Britain; the ring game is ring around the rosie in America and ring a ring o roses in Britain — each page says so. Wee Willie Winkie and Wind the Bobbin Up are British and hardly known in America; they are here because they are worth knowing.
Want to know where these stories come from? The articles are here
By topic
- Bedtime stories about animals
- Short bedtime stories
- Long bedtime stories
- Classic fairy tales
- 5 minute bedtime stories
- Calming bedtime stories
- Moral stories
- Brothers Grimm fairy tales
- Princess bedtime stories
- Aesop's fables
- Bear bedtime stories
- Hans Christian Andersen
- Bedtime stories about cats
- Christmas bedtime stories
- Panchatantra stories
- Jataka tales
- Akbar and Birbal stories
- Dinosaur bedtime stories