Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Where it comes from

Nobody knows who made it up. The earliest printing we know of is from September 1912, in The Children’s Friend, a magazine for children published in Salt Lake City. It was a “rest exercise”, sung to the tune of Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. By the 1920s, schools across America were singing it in their morning exercises and at school shows.

These words come from a book for kindergarten teachers by Florence Towne, who taught kindergarten in Chicago. In her game of 1919, the children stand in a ring and touch their heads, shoulders, knees and toes, trying not to bend their knees when they reach down. Then they hold hands and skip round, singing the tune again to make the skip last longer. She didn’t know where to find its music, and said almost any tune that fits the words would do, adding that the Mulberry Bush tune was very like it.

Today most people sing “head” rather than “heads”, finish with the eyes, ears, mouth and nose instead of the skip, and use a different tune. We haven’t found that version in a printing old enough to be out of copyright, so these are the 1919 words.

The tune in the player is The Mulberry Bush, from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911). These words don’t quite fit it note for note, so we’ve changed the rhythm in a few places.

Old words

• ’round: short for “around”.

Tips

• With a young baby lying on their back, it works as a slow, gentle touch game. Say each word as you touch, then give them a cuddle at the end.
• Toddlers love it fast. Sing it slowly first, then faster each time round, until everyone’s in a muddle.
• Swap roles: let your toddler touch your head, shoulders, knees and toes, or a teddy’s.