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Cover of Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill

Traditional

ages 0 to 2poetryread aloudabout 30 seconds aloud

Jack and Jill go up a hill for water, Jack falls and cracks his crown, Jill tumbles after him, and Jack is patched up with vinegar and brown paper by Dame Dob. It has a beginning, an accident, and a fix, which makes it a proper little story rather than just a jingle, and the tumbling rhythm mimics the fall itself. A good one for acting out the climb and the topple with your hands.

From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
  To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
  And Jill came tumbling after.

Then up Jack got and off did trot,
  As fast as he could caper,
To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob
  With vinegar and brown paper.

Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition

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