History of Nursery Rhymes

Wherever there's a mother, father, grandparent, sister, aunt, or other caregiver, there is a mother goose. From Iran to India, Singapore to Switzerland, she is everpresent with tales to tell.

One thing most of us will share is the knowledge of at least one nursery rhyme from childhood that we could easily recall long before we could read or write.

The actual history of nursery rhymes goes back centuries to when the written language was scarce or limited to the highly educated gentry. A quarter of nursery rhymes are believed to be at least 200 years old. While their reflections of society may be outdated, their popularity and message is not.

Peek-a-boo is probably the oldest of all English language infant amusement with the earliest documented variation mentioned as early as 1364.

Sometimes nursery rhymes were used to spread gossip about royalty, act as warnings, document terrible events such as plagues or burning bridges and us parents often worry about whether we want to be talking to our very young child about heads being chopped off (Oranges & Lemons)! I'm sure I'm not the only parent to skip the last two lines of this rhyme every now and then.

We would love to hear about the history of nursery rhymes in your country/language – contact us with interesting stories and we will update this page with more information. email hello@itsasmallworld.co.nz