The classic singing game, complete with actions for washing hands, washing clothes, and heading off to school. It's built for movement as much as for listening, so let little ones act each verse out.
Sung. The 'here we go round' tune, shared with This Is the Way.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,
Here we go round the mulberry bush.
On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we wash our hands,
Wash our hands, wash our hands,
This is the way we wash our hands,
On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we wash our clothes.
Wash our clothes, wash our clothes,
This is the way we wash our clothes,
On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we go to school,
Go to school, go to school,
This is the way we go to school,
On a cold and frosty morning.
This is the way we come out of school,
Come out of school, come out of school,
This is the way we come out of school,
On a cold and frosty morning.
About this rhyme
Roud 7882 · First recorded by J. O. Halliwell, 1849
This is a ring game, and an old one. It first turns up in print in 1849, when James Orchard Halliwell wrote it down as a children's game, and an earlier form may have run 'here we go round the bramble bush' before mulberry took over. You will sometimes read that it began with women prisoners circling a mulberry tree at Wakefield gaol. A tree really did stand there, but no record from the time backs the story up, so treat it as a maybe.
Hold hands and circle round on the chorus. Then stop and mime each action, washing hands, washing clothes, with a shiver on 'cold and frosty morning'. You can swap in real jobs too: this is the way we brush our teeth.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition