practice

Action Songs for Kids: 20 Classics With Moves

By Chaz Bagri17 October 20259 min read

Children raise their arms in the air copying a man leading a song at the front of the room

Twenty traditional action songs for kids with the moves written out, from jumping songs to calm ones, for anyone who has forgotten the actions.

Action songs for kids are songs or rhymes where each line comes with a movement, so children sing and move at the same time. The twenty below are all traditional, so the words belong to everyone. Each has its moves written out, because the tune usually comes back to a grown-up long before the actions do. They run from loud and bouncy to lying still.

An action rhyme is the same idea, chanted rather than sung. Both belong under the wider heading of music and movement, which is what most nurseries call this part of the day.

What makes an action song work with young children?

A good one has a short verse, a clear cue to move and a repeat. Many children pick up the actions before the words, so the songs that last are the ones where the body knows what's coming.

The Department for Education's Development Matters guidance has three tips worth borrowing. Sing slowly, so children clearly hear the words and the melody. Keep to a small range of high and low notes, and remember that children's voices are higher than adults'. And ask for their singing voice rather than loud singing, since young children often shout when asked to sing loudly.

Sing the same few songs often, too. Development Matters suggests singing songs regularly so children learn the words, melody and actions off by heart.

Which action songs get children jumping?

Start here when the energy is high, and spread everyone out so nobody can touch a neighbour. For under-5s, songs like these count towards the NHS daily activity figure; the figures for each age are set out in how much exercise kids need.

1. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Touch each body part as you sing it, with eyes, ears, mouth and nose in the second half. Sing it again faster each round. A favourite trick is to drop a word and only do its action, which turns a warm-up into a listening game.

2. The Grand Old Duke of York

March on the spot. When the song says up, stretch tall on tiptoes; when it says down, crouch low; at halfway, freeze in between. The changes come quickly at the end, which is where the giggling starts. It's good for ages 3 and up.

3. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush

Hold hands and walk in a circle for the chorus, then stop and mime each verse: washing your face, brushing your hair, stamping your feet. Children love inventing the next verse themselves.

4. Pop Goes the Weasel

Crouch down low and creep slowly round as the song builds. On the pop, everyone jumps up high with arms in the air. Holding the pause before the pop is the best part, so stretch it out. Ask for soft, bent-knee landings.

5. Jack Be Nimble

The candlestick is a beanbag or a rolled towel on the floor. Each child takes a run-up of a few steps and jumps over it on the last line. Raise the towel for older children, or have toddlers step over instead.

Which action songs work in a circle or with a partner?

These need two or more children. For the playground ring games that need a bigger group, such as the farmer's in his den, see our playground games.

6. Ring a Ring o' Roses

Hold hands and walk round in a circle, then everyone falls down at the end of the verse. Children who know a second verse can crouch on the floor and jump up together.

7. Here We Go Looby Loo

Walk round in a circle for the chorus. In the verses, put a body part into the middle of the ring, take it out, then give it a shake: hands, feet, head, then the whole of you. That last verse usually ends in a happy heap.

8. London Bridge Is Falling Down

Two grown-ups or tall children hold hands to make an arch. Everyone else walks underneath in a line as the song plays. On the last line, the arch comes down and catches whoever is inside, who then swaps in to make the arch.

9. Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Sit on the floor facing a partner, feet touching, holding hands. Rock forwards and back together, as if rowing. Go faster for a second round, then very slowly. With a baby or toddler, sit them on your lap facing you instead.

10. See Saw Margery Daw

Stand facing a partner and hold both hands. One of you crouches while the other stands tall, then you swap, up and down like a seesaw. It's balance practice for two.

11. Pat-a-Cake

Sit facing each other and clap a pattern: your own hands, then each other's. Roll your hands round each other, then draw the first letter of the child's name in the air. Finish by pretending to slide the cake into the oven.

12. Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross

Everyone gallops round the room on a pretend horse, reins in hand, and stops dead at the cross. Try a trot, then a gallop, then a slow walk. With a baby or toddler, bounce them gently on your knees instead and lift them on the last line.

13. Jack and Jill

Partners carry an imaginary bucket between them and march up the hill with high knees. On the fall, Jack sits down and rolls gently onto his side, and Jill tumbles after. Swap who falls first, and keep the tumble slow.

Which action rhymes work sitting down?

These use hands more than feet, which makes them good for the carpet, a café table or the back seat.

14. Incy Wincy Spider

Climb your fingers upwards, touching thumb to finger in turn. Wiggle your fingers down for the rain, sweep your arms round in a big circle for the sun, then climb the spider up again. Toddlers may manage the rain long before the climbing.

15. Wind the Bobbin Up

Roll your fists round each other, pull your hands apart and tap your fists together. Then point to the ceiling, the floor, the window and the door, and clap. Swap the things you point at for whatever is in the room.

16. Hickory Dickory Dock

Swing one arm slowly like a pendulum. Run two fingers up the other arm as the mouse goes up the clock, clap once when the clock strikes, then run the fingers back down. Change the number on the clock and clap that many times.

17. Humpty Dumpty

Sit on a low step or a cushion and wobble. On the fall, roll sideways onto something soft. Then the grown-ups act out trying to put Humpty together again, which children find very funny. Keep the wall low.

Which songs calm children down at the end?

Finish with one of these, and the session ends quietly instead of with a pile-up.

18. Rock-a-bye Baby

Give each child a teddy or a rolled-up jumper to rock in their arms, swaying side to side. When the cradle falls, lower the teddy slowly to the floor and lay it down. Sing it quieter each time.

19. Wee Willie Winkie

Tiptoe round the room as quietly as you can, tapping softly on pretend doors and windows. On the last line, everyone lies down to sleep. It's a natural bridge from moving to resting.

20. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Open and close your hands like twinkling stars, and make a diamond shape with your fingers and thumbs. Sing it once sitting in star, pose 3 on our Freedom Flow mat: sit tall with legs wide and toes pointing up, and twinkle your hands in front of you. Then lie back for one more slow verse with eyes closed.

Three ready-made song sets, from party to bedtime

Strung together, four or five songs make a session. Three that work:

The ten-minute carpet session. Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, then Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, Incy Wincy Spider, Wind the Bobbin Up, and Twinkle, Twinkle to finish. Loud to quiet, which is the order that matters.
The party set. London Bridge Is Falling Down, Here We Go Looby Loo, Pop Goes the Weasel, then Ring a Ring o' Roses so everyone ends on the floor and you can count heads.
The before-bed set. Row, Row, Row Your Boat very slowly, Rock-a-bye Baby with a teddy, then Wee Willie Winkie and Twinkle, Twinkle lying down.

If you'd like that last song to end somewhere soft, our Freedom Flow design has the star pose laser-engraved on it, so the shape is there on the mat to copy. Every children's yoga mat we sell suits ages 3 to 8, and a parent fits on one as well. For more ways to move between songs, our movement breaks take 30 seconds to five minutes, and Simon says ideas for kids work as a song-free version of the same copy-me game.

How do action songs fit EYFS music and movement?

In England, the early years foundation stage (EYFS) is the framework nurseries, childminders and Reception classes follow from birth to five. The early learning goals in its statutory framework, which children are assessed against at the end of Reception, include singing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs, and performing songs with others and, when appropriate, trying to move in time with music.

Development Matters names Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star as an example of an action song babies and toddlers enjoy. It also asks settings to introduce action songs from different cultures and languages. Our twenty are the English-language ones most British grown-ups half remember, so ask families for the songs they sang growing up. Development Matters suggests settings learn songs and rhymes from parents, and choose ones that reflect the range of cultures and languages of children today.

The government's Help for early years providers says children love silly songs, especially ones with actions, movement and laughter, and that changing the words of familiar songs is great fun. So a Mulberry Bush verse about brushing the dog's teeth is fine. Circle time is a natural home for all of this; our circle time games fit around the songs.

What if your child only watches?

Plenty of children stand at the edge of the circle the first few times. Watching is one way to learn the actions, and some children who only watched at nursery come home and do the whole song in the kitchen.

Give a watcher a part that isn't singing. They can choose the next song, hold the teddy for Rock-a-bye, or be the clock in Hickory Dickory Dock. Sit next to them rather than across from them, and do the hand actions small. Give it time: familiarity does most of the work, and a song they know is easier to join than one they don't.

At home, sounds can come before songs. NHS advice for parents of 3 to 5-year-olds suggests adding music or sounds that match a story, like birds singing or rain falling. If a child never seems to respond to songs or sounds, or you have any worry about their hearing, your health visitor or GP is the place to start.

Frequently asked questions

What are good action songs for toddlers?

Start with the short, repetitive ones that use hands more than feet: Incy Wincy Spider, Pat-a-Cake, Wind the Bobbin Up and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Many toddlers copy an action well before they can manage the words. Ring a Ring o' Roses suits them too, because falling down is the whole point and nobody can do it wrong.

What is the difference between an action song and an action rhyme?

Very little. An action song is sung to a tune, and an action rhyme is usually chanted or spoken, like Humpty Dumpty or This Little Piggy. Both pair words with movements, so children are listening for the cue to move. Nurseries use the two names almost interchangeably, and most lists, including this one, mix them.

Why are action songs good for children?

They join listening, words and movement in one go. Development Matters says that as babies and toddlers join in with the words and actions of action rhymes, they are developing their attention and listening. For under-5s, the NHS counts every kind of movement, so a few songs on the carpet add up too. And they cost nothing.

Do you need music or a video for action songs?

No. Every song here works with your own voice, and Development Matters, the government's non-statutory early years guidance, suggests singing slowly so children clearly hear the words and the tune. Your singing doesn't need to be good, and a child copying you, actions and all, is the whole activity.

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