These nursery rhymes for kids are the old, well-loved English rhymes that grandparents in India, the UK and the US all know: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Jack and Jill, Hickory Dickory Dock, Row Row Row Your Boat, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Hey Diddle Diddle, Rain Rain Go Away, One Two Buckle My Shoe and Pat-a-cake. Your child picks one, taps Sing and follows the lyrics line by line while a soft tune plays. A small marble hops along the words, and a picture shows what to do with the body: clap, twinkle your hands, point up, fall down, row the boat.
Nothing plays by itself. Every sound starts with a tap, so the page stays calm and your child stays in charge.
Nursery rhymes list on this page
This short nursery rhymes list gives the name of each rhyme, the action your child does, and one picture to tap in the scene. All twelve are traditional rhymes that are hundreds of years old and in the public domain, so the words you see are the classic nursery rhymes lyrics, not a new version.
| Rhyme | Main actions | Tap in the picture | First printed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twinkle Twinkle Little Star | Twinkle hands, point up | Star, moon, diamond | 1806 (Jane Taylor) |
| Baa Baa Black Sheep | Wave, count three bags | Sheep says "Baa, baa!" | about 1744 |
| Humpty Dumpty | Sit, fall down | Egg, horse, king | 1797 |
| Jack and Jill | Climb, fall, roll | Jack, Jill, a pail of water | about 1765 |
| Hickory Dickory Dock | Tick tock, climb, count | Mouse squeaks, clock ticks | about 1744 |
| Row Row Row Your Boat | Row, sway, sleep | Boat, fish, duck | 1852 |
| Old MacDonald Had a Farm | Clap, wave, jump | Cow moos, duck quacks | 1917 (older forms) |
| Mary Had a Little Lamb | Pat, walk, jump | Mary, the lamb | 1830 (Sarah Josepha Hale) |
| Hey Diddle Diddle | Play fiddle, jump, laugh | Cat, cow, dog | about 1765 |
| Rain Rain Go Away | Wave, jump | Cloud, umbrella, sun, rainbow | 1659 (a form) |
| One Two Buckle My Shoe | Count, knock, pick up | Shoe, door, hen | 1805 |
| Pat-a-cake | Clap, pat, roll | Cake, baker, bread | 1698 (a form) |
Some famous songs are left out on purpose. We only use rhymes that are clearly out of copyright, and we skip modern songs and film songs even when they sound traditional.
How to use the sing-along
Three ways to sing
- With music: each line is sung in a clear recorded voice while the tune plays softly underneath. This is the best way to learn a new rhyme.
- Slow, sing after me: the tune goes slower. After each line the voice says "Your turn!" and the tune plays again on its own, so your child can sing that line by themselves. This echo style is how nursery teachers usually teach rhymes.
- No music: only the voice, line by line, with the action pictures. It suits a quiet room, a sleepy evening, or a child who finds music too busy.
Tap a line, tap a picture
Tap any line of the lyrics to hear just that line again. This helps when your child wants the funny bit ("The cow jumped over the moon!") ten times in a row. Tap the pictures in the scene to make them react: the star twinkles, the sheep says baa, the mouse squeaks and the clock ticks. When a whole rhyme is finished, Golu the marble cheers and a new marble drops into the Goli Jar. The language button (अ+A) in the header decides whether menus and prompts are spoken in Hindi, English or both, and the settings have calm motion and calm sound for sensitive children.
Why nursery rhymes matter for learning
People sometimes ask about the learning outcomes of rhymes for kids. Research on early reading keeps finding the same thing: children who know many rhymes find it easier to hear the sounds inside words, and that skill (phonological awareness) is one of the strongest early predictors of reading. Rhymes also teach:
- Rhythm and memory. The beat makes long sentences easy to remember. A three-year-old who cannot repeat a sentence of ten words can often sing a whole verse.
- New English words. Fleece, pail, crown, fiddle and stream are words children rarely hear in daily talk. Each rhyme brings a few, in a setting that explains them.
- Counting. One Two Buckle My Shoe counts to ten, Hickory Dickory Dock has "the clock struck one", and Baa Baa Black Sheep counts three bags. These make good number rhymes for kids 1 to 10.
- Body control. Clapping on the beat, jumping on "jumped" and falling on "fall" link words to movement, which is exactly why teachers love nursery rhymes with action.
- Confidence. Singing a rhyme from start to end is a real achievement for a small child, and they can perform it for family.
Rhymes for kids of 3 to 5 years, and younger
These are good rhymes for kids of 3 to 5 years, but even babies enjoy them. Here is what to expect at each age:
| Age | What your child can do | Best rhymes to start with |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 | Listen, bounce, clap with you. Nursery rhymes for babies work best sung by you, face to face, without a screen. | Pat-a-cake, Twinkle Twinkle |
| 2-3 (nursery) | Joins in the last word of a line ("little ...star!"), copies one action | Twinkle Twinkle, Row Row Row Your Boat, Rain Rain Go Away |
| 3-4 (LKG) | Sings whole lines, does actions on the beat, fills in rhyming words | Baa Baa Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Old MacDonald |
| 4-5 (UKG) | Sings a full rhyme alone, notices which words rhyme, counts along | Hickory Dickory Dock, One Two Buckle My Shoe, Jack and Jill |
| 5-6 (class 1) | Reads some lyric words, changes words to make silly new verses, performs for others | Hey Diddle Diddle, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Old MacDonald with new animals |
For toddlers, simple rhymes for toddlers with a strong beat and one action are best. Keep sessions short: five to ten minutes is plenty. The WHO and paediatric groups suggest that children under 2 learn more from a grown-up singing with them than from a screen, so for babies, use this page to learn the tune yourself and then sing without the phone.
How to teach a child to rhyme at home
Parents often search how to teach a child to rhyme. Rhymes are the easiest way in. Try these five-minute ideas:
- Leave a gap. Sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little ..." and stop. Let your child shout "star!". Filling in the rhyming word is the first step to hearing rhyme.
- Play "Does it rhyme?" Say two words from a rhyme: star, are (yes!); star, cow (no!). Then try our rhyming words game.
- Change the animal. In Old MacDonald, let your child pick the next animal and its sound. Our animal sounds game gives plenty of ideas.
- Act it out with real things. Put a soft toy on a cushion and let it "fall" for Humpty Dumpty. Carry a small bucket up the stairs for Jack and Jill.
- Sing in daily moments. Row Row Row Your Boat in the bath, Rain Rain Go Away at the window in the monsoon, Twinkle Twinkle on the balcony at night.
Use the "Slow, sing after me" mode on the way to school with the screen turned away: the child just listens and repeats each line.
Nursery rhymes meaning in Hindi, for bilingual homes
Many Indian families sing English rhymes without talking about what they mean. Each rhyme here has a Hindi name, for example टिमटिम तारा for Twinkle Twinkle and बा बा काली भेड़ for Baa Baa Black Sheep. After singing, explain one line in Hindi: "तारा आसमान में बहुत ऊपर है, हीरे जैसा चमकता है।" Talking about the meaning in the home language helps children understand the English, and it does not slow them down. For Hindi rhymes like मछली जल की रानी है and चंदा मामा दूर के, see our Hindi rhymes page.
Do nursery rhymes have dark origins?
You may read online that nursery rhymes with dark origins hide stories about plague, kings or taxes. Most of these stories were invented in the twentieth century and historians have found little proof for them. For your child, a rhyme is simply about a star, a sheep or an egg on a wall. We chose gentle rhymes, and when something falls (Humpty, Jack), the scene shows helpers, and the tone stays playful.
Nursery rhymes music, piano and xylophone notes
The tune under each line is played by your device, note by note, so it works offline and costs no data. If your child has a toy xylophone or keyboard, Twinkle Twinkle uses only six notes: C C G G A A G, then F F E E D D C. Mary Had a Little Lamb starts E D C D E E E. These are the same nursery rhymes piano notes that beginner music books use. You can also try them on our baby keyboard game.
Rhymes for nursery, LKG, UKG and class 1
Schools often ask children to recite a rhyme at an event or in a rhymes for kids for competition. Pick a rhyme your child already loves, practise with "Slow, sing after me", then add the actions from the pictures, since teachers look for clear words, expression and movement. For rhymes for kids for UKG and class 1, One Two Buckle My Shoe and Hickory Dickory Dock also show counting skills. To make a printed lyric sheet, print this page from your browser; there is no separate PDF.
Gentle tips for shy or sensitive children
- Some children watch for days before they sing. That is normal; listening is learning.
- For children with speech delay, let them do just the actions or the animal sounds at first. Praise the try: "You clapped every beat!"
- Autistic children often love the same rhyme on repeat. Let them, and use the No music mode if the tune is too much.
- If your child gets upset when a rhyme ends, sing it once more without the screen as a goodbye song.
When you want more to do, try action words for more movement and counting 1 to 10 after One Two Buckle My Shoe.
