Children's songs

I remember that one! It was good fun.

The one that seemed to stay in my head for ages was

The wheels on the bus go round and round,
Round and round, round and round
All day long!

Oh how many times have I wanted the wheels to fall off that bus .

My DGC's current favourites are "Any Old Iron" and "Your Baby Has Gone Down the Plughole" They think Granny knows some very silly songs! (I suspect these aren't the sort the OP expected!)

I can remember singing Morningtown Ride to our DD. Also Lazy Bones sleeping in the sun
How you gonna get your day's work done
Never get your day's work done
Sleeping in the noon day sun.

My DGs liked
There was an old man called Michael Finnegan
He grew whiskers on his chin Egan
The wind came out and blew them in again
Poor old Michael Finnegan,
Begin again

Or :
Curly Wigs the barber
Went to shave his father
The razor slipped
He cut his lip
Curly Wigs the barber

I think both liked the more macabre songs !!!!

Oh what’ll we do with the herring’s head?
Oh what’ll we do with the herrings head?
We’ll make it into loaves of bread, herring’s head, loaves of bread
And all manner of things
How are ye the day
How are ye the day
How are ye the day
Me hinny-o

Carry on with herrings eyes (puddings and pies)
Herrings fins (needles and pins)
Herrings belly (lass called Nellie)
Herrings tail ( barrel of ale)

Adding each new bit of the herring as you go.

I have one more little DGD who I expect will enjoy it as much as the others did, when she’s a bit bigger

We update the Wheels on the Bus with new verses like 'the teenagers on the bus, they text, text text' or the 'lions bus go roar, roar, roar' depending on the circumstances and good for their imagination and general knowledge!

Sung with toddler on your lap and tapping his/her feet together

Walking up and down one day
I peeped through the window over the way
Pulling his stitches through and through
There sat a cobbler mending a shoe
Tippy tap tap
Tippy tap too
That's the way to mend a shoe

My Mum sang it to my sons when they were little

Anyone remember this one?

Tommy Thumb, Tommy Thumb
where are you?
Here I am, here I am,
How do you do.
Peter Pointer, Peter Pointer
where are you?
Here I am, here I am,
How do you do.
Middle Man Tall, Middle Man Tall
where are you?
Here I am, here I am,
How do you do.
Ruby Ring, Ruby Ring
where are you?
Here I am, here I am,
How do you do.
Baby Small, Baby Small
where are you?
Here I am, here I am,
How do you do.
Fingers All, Fingers All
where are you?
Here We Are, Here We Are
How do you do.....
(wiggle all fingers to wave)

Ah....great memories!

I remember my gran singing Mares eat Oats:

Mares eat oats
And does eat oats and
little lambs eat ivy

Although it sounded like a nonsense rhyme when sung.

Thank you for some of these. I get tired of Itsy Bitsy Spider and Round and Round the Garden.

I'll have to look up the tunes for some of the above; I'm sure they will be on you tube.

Nobody likes me
Everybody hates me
Just because I eat worms
Short fat hairy ones
Long tall skinny ones
See how the little ones squirm
Bite all their heads off
Suck all the juice out
Throw the empty skins away
Nobody Likes me
Everybody hates me
Cos I eat worms all day
Nobody likes us
Everybody hates us
Just because we eat worms
Short fat hairy ones
Long tall skinny ones
See how the little ones squirm
Bite all their heads off
Suck all the juice out
Throw the empty skins away
Nobody Likes us
Everybody hates us
Cos we eat worms all day

The playgroup children and my own loved this one

At our annual Town Show, my Service would have a marquee every year with musical activities for the children.
One of the activities was TIM TAM (music and movement for toddlers) and perennial favourites were ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, with infinite variations, and ‘Row, row, row your boat’ with adjustments to the verses ...

‘Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
If you see a crocodile,
Don’t forget to scream ... AARGH...

tanith I remember my big sister telling me that one making all sorts of squirmy noise effects as she did!

I loved it!

Five little ducks went out one day
Over the hills and far away
Mother duck said quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,
But only four little ducks came back.

Next verses are 3, 2, 1, then no little ducks came back, ?
And the line of quacks gets one shorter each time.

My girls would say
“Again”
each time we finished the 6 verses. Oh what memories.

The farmers in his den, the farmers in his den, eee I eee I the farmers in his den. The farmer wants a wife the farmer wants a wife, ee i cherry pie, the farmer wants a wife

Grannybags you have to have actions and noise effects or it’s not scary.

This is the way the ladies go. Niminy nim, niminy nim, niminy nim. (Bouncing child gently on your lap)
This is the way the gentlemen go, Trottety trot, trottety trot, trottety trot. (Bounce a bit faster)
This is the way the farmers go, Galloping, galloping, galloping ( bounce faster)
And fall in a ditch! (Make them "fall" but hold on to them).

Luckygirl, my mum used to sing a version of that song. Maizy doats and dozey doats. Looking it up it was a song from the war time.

Ah rubysong I have just spent many happy hours doing that one with my 16 month old grandson. Sadly we have now come home and left him with his parents in New Zealand. How I miss him!

Our version is slightly different:
This is the way the little boys ride trip trot trip trot
This is the way the ladies ride- gee up, gee up, gee up
This is the way the big daddies ride - gallop a gallop a gallop
This is the way the old men ride - hobble dee, hobble dee, hobble dee and Down in a Ditch!

He would scream with laughter when he went down in the ditch!

Unconventional but little GS absolutely loves the Popeye the Sailor Man song. He sits on my knees, facing away from me but with me holding on to him.

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I live in a caravan
I opened the door......
And I fell on the floor
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man, toot! toot!

When it gets to the bit "I opened the door, and I fell on the floor...", I let him "fall" between my knees and he shrieks with laughter! no wonder I need a TKR

I’m sur I posted on here this morning.
Anyway never mind. Reading Chewbaccas post I was reminded of a incident when I was teaching 6 yr olds. If they had been good we had a little concert on Friday afternoon. Poems, jokes dances etc. One little boy sang Popeye the Sailor man
However when we came to the 3rd line it Wes

“ There’s a hole in the middle
Where I do a piddle
I’m Popeye the Sailor man.

The children loved it. He said his Grandad had taught it to him

Did anyone's Dad do this one with them?

Under the water, one, two, three,
catching fishes for my tea
Round, dead or alive!

I think I may have done it with my own kids but I so clearly remember having it done to me.

You stand with the child's legs astride at hip level and hold the child sort of horizontal. You can bounce them for the first two lines, then on "round" you turn around, then on "dead", you duck them right down so their head nearly touches the floor, then on "alive" you lift them up really high or throw them up (depending on how heavy the child is!)

I know most of those older ones.
The Popeye ones - I know an even ruder one but it would be banned from here. And certainly not for children.
A skipping game - Wallflowers.
I like the song about Michael Finnegan I was just thinking about it yesterday as I was plucking out my old lady's hairs from my chin .