Toes
This Little Pig
- Tune:
- None: say it in a sing-song voice
This little pig went to market; This little pig stayed at home; This little pig had roast beef; This little pig had none; This little pig said, “Wee, wee! I can’t find my way home.”
How to play
- “This little pig went to market;” Hold your baby’s big toe between your finger and thumb, and give it a gentle wiggle.
- “This little pig stayed at home;” Move on to the next toe and wiggle that one.
- “This little pig had roast beef;” The middle toe.
- “This little pig had none;” The fourth toe. A sad face works well here.
- “This little pig said, ‘Wee, wee! I can’t find my way home.’” Hold the little toe, then pause… and run your fingers up their leg to their tummy for a tickle.
Where it comes from
Its first line turns up in 1728, in a medley of rhymes called “The Nurses Song”. The first full version we know of is in The Famous Tommy Thumb’s Little Story-Book, printed in London in about 1760. In that one, the last pig went to the barn door and cried for more.
These words come from The Real Mother Goose (1916), where the little pig is lost. Today most people say the last pig cries “wee, wee, wee” all the way home, and many say “This little piggy” all the way through. Use whichever words you know.
Old words
- market: where farmers took their animals and food to sell.
- roast beef: older versions say “roast meat”.
Tips
- Socks or a sleepsuit on? Play it on their fingers instead, starting with the thumb.
- Do one foot, then the other. The second time round, the tickle is no surprise, and that’s part of the fun.
- Slow right down on the last line, so the tickle takes its time to arrive.
More action rhymes
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- 1 min to play
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Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
- Length
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Hey Diddle Diddle
- Length
- 1 min to play
- Type
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