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Rocking

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Good for:
Baby, Toddler
Tune:
The round printed in the Franklin Square Song Collection (New York, 1881), credited to E. O. Lyte
Hear how the tune goes, on a music box

Row, row, row your boat, Gently down the stream; Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily; Life is but a dream.

How to play

  1. Before you start: sit facing each other. A young baby can sit on your lap, leaning back against your bent knees, with your hands holding them under their arms. A toddler can sit on the floor and hold both your hands.
  2. “Row, row, row your boat,” Rock slowly forwards and backwards together, as if you’re pulling on the oars.
  3. “Gently down the stream;” Keep rocking, nice and slow.
  4. “Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,” Rock a little faster, or sway from side to side.
  5. “Life is but a dream.” Slow right down, and finish with a cuddle, or lean back and lie down together as if you’ve floated off to sleep.

Where it comes from

The words were first printed in America in 1852, with a different tune. The tune everyone knows today was printed with them in 1881, in a school songbook called the Franklin Square Song Collection. It credits the tune to E. O. Lyte, but nobody is sure whether he wrote it or just arranged it.

The song is a round: once the first singer reaches “gently”, a second singer starts again from the beginning, and so on. Toddlers are too small to sing a round, but older brothers and sisters might give it a go.

The NHS names Row, Row, Row Your Boat as a good rhyme with actions for toddlers, because doing the actions helps them remember the words.

The extra verses many people sing now, with crocodiles, lions and polar bears, are much newer, so we’ve left them out. Make up your own instead: “if you see a duck, don’t forget to quack”.

Old words

  • merrily: happily, cheerfully.
  • but a dream: only a dream.

Tips

  • Keep the rocking slow and gentle. Rocking on your lap is for babies who can hold their heads up steadily, held securely all the way through.
  • For a younger baby, sit them on your lap facing outwards and rock together, so you don’t need their hands at all.
  • A toddler might like to be the one rowing: hold their hands and let them pull you forwards and back.
  • Sing it more and more quietly as a calming end to playtime.

Where these words come from

Public domain. An American song, first printed in 1852. These words and their tune were printed together in 1881. Text from the Franklin Square Song Collection, selected by J. P. McCaskey (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881), page 69, as scanned by Google Books from Harvard University’s copy. Original source

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