30 Popular Nursery Rhyme Lyrics for Preschoolers

Preschoolers love reciting nursery rhymes so I wanted to give you a handy list of 30 popular nursery rhyme lyrics for preschoolers to help foster that love. In this collection, you’ll find age-appropriate, fun, silly rhymes. Some of these rhymes involve counting, a number of them promote new vocabulary and others encourage movement which helps develop gross motor skills.

Each and every one of them have rhyming patterns that help children with oral and language development (skills necessary for learning how to read!)

You can download and print out this list from the link at the bottom of this page!

This post contains affiliated links. For more information, please read my full disclosure.

30 Popular Nursery Rhyme Lyrics

So without further ado here’s your collection of nursery rhyme lyrics. Enjoy!

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep

Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes sir,
Three bags full
One for my master,
And one for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

Diddle Diddle Dumpling

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his stockings on,
One shoe off, one shoe on;
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John.

Hey, Diddle, Diddle

Hey, diddle, diddle
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Hickory, Dickory, Dock

Hickory, Dickory, Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down,
Hickory, Dickory, Dock.

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.

Hush-a-Bye, Baby

Hush-a-bye, baby, on the treetop!
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bough breaks the cradle will fall;
And down will come baby cradle and all.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.
Down came the rain
And washed the spider out.
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

Jack Be Nimble

Jack be nimble, Jack be quick,
Jack jump over the candlestick.

Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Little Bo-Peep

Little Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,
And can’t tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they’ll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

Little Boy Blue

Little Boy Blue, come, blow your horn!
The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn.
Where’s the little boy that looks after the sheep?
He’s under the haystack, fast asleep!

Little Jack Horner

Little Jack Horner
Sat in the corner,
Eating his Christmas pie:
He stuck in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And said, “What a good boy am I!”

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a big spider,
And sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

London Bridge is Falling Down

London Bridge is falling down
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow,
And everywhere that Mary went
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,
Which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play
To see a lamb at school.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
Silver bells and cockle-shells,
And pretty maids all of a row.

The Mulberry Bush

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush; the mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
Early in the morning.

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone

Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone
Oh, where, oh where can he be?
With his ears cut short and his tail cut long
Oh, where, oh where can he be?

One, Two, Three, Four, Five

One, two, three, four, five,
Once I caught a fish alive.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
But I let it go again.
Why did you let it go?
Because it bit my finger so.
Which finger did it bite?
The little one upon the right.

One Two Buckle My Shoe

One, two,
Buckle my shoe;
Three, four,
Knock at the door;
Five, six,
Pick up sticks;
Seven, eight,
Lay them straight;
Nine, ten,
A big, fat hen.

Pease Porridge

Pease porridge hot,
Pease porridge cold,
Pease porridge in the pot,
Nine days old.
Some like it hot,
Some like it cold,
Some like it in the pot,
Nine days old.

Peter Piper

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;
A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
Where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day;
Little Johnny wants to play.

Ring Around the Rosie

Ring around the rosies,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes, ashes,*
We all fall down!

(some replace ashes with ‘sashes’, ‘a tissue’, or “red bird, bluebird”)

Sing a Song of Sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
four-and-twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie!

When the pie was opened
The birds began to sing;
Now wasn’t that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

This Little Piggy (Originally Five Toes)

This little piggy went to market;
This little piggy stayed at home;
This little piggy had roast beef;
This little piggy had none;
This little piggy cried, “Wee, wee, wee!
All the way home.”

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are:
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are.

The Three Little Kittens

The three little kittens they lost their mittens,
And they began to cry,
Oh, mother dear, we sadly fear
Our mittens we have lost
What? Lost your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow.
Then you shall have no pie.

The three little kittens they found their mittens,
And they began to sigh,
Oh, mother dear, see here, see here,
Our mittens we have found
What? Found your mittens, you good little kittens,
Then you shall have some pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow.
You shall have some pie.

The three little kittens put on their mittens,
And soon ate up their pie;
Oh, mother dear, we greatly fear
Our mittens we have soiled
What? Soiled your mittens, you naughty kittens!
Then they began to cry,
Mee-ow, mee-ow.
Then they began to cry.

The three little kittens they washed their mittens,
And hung them out to dry;
Oh! mother dear, see here, see here,
Our mittens we have washed
What? Washed your mittens, you good little kittens,
But I smell a rat close by.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
I smell a rat close by.

Wee Willie Winkie

Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town,
Upstairs, downstairs, in his nightgown;
Rapping at the window, crying through the lock,
“Are the children in their beds? For now it’s eight o’clock.”

Yankee Doodle

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-riding on a pony,
Stuck a feather in his cap
And called it macaroni.

---

Want a printable version for easy reference? Here you go – it’s free!

---

Be sure to check out more in language arts

• Teaching Preschoolers to Read
• 10 Fun Counting Books for Preschoolers
• Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

References

Note: All the nursery rhymes in this article were taken from one of the original public domain sources listed below. Some of the lyrics have been slightly modified so they could be presented here in a more traditional version which have been used over this past century.

• The Project Gutenberg – Our Old Nursery Rhymes Alfred Moffat. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61009/61009-h/61009-h.htm
• The Project Gutenberg EBook of National Rhymes of the Nursery, by Various. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36685/36685-h/36685-h.htm
• The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Real Mother Goose Illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10607/10607-h/10607-h.htm

---

---