One of the best-known nursery rhymes, weighing up what boys and girls are supposedly made of. The neat opposites make it satisfying to chant, though the roles it hands out are very much of their time.
Spoken in a teasing sing-song.
From Mother Goose / Nursery Rhymes (traditional). See the whole collection.
What are little boys made of, made of?
What are little boys made of?
"Snaps and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;
And that's what little boys are made of."
What are little girls made of, made of?
What are little girls made of?
"Sugar and spice, and all that's nice;
And that's what little girls are made of."
How it's usually said today
What are little boys made of, made of?
What are little boys made of?
Slugs and snails, and puppy-dogs' tails;
That's what little boys are made of.
What are little girls made of, made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice, and all things nice;
That's what little girls are made of.
Traditional rhymes have no single fixed text. The main version on this page is as printed in our source edition; this one is the wording most people say today.
About this rhyme
This rhyme is often credited to the poet Robert Southey, writing in the early 1800s, though the attribution is not certain and no one can prove he wrote it. It was printed in the first half of the nineteenth century. Early versions vary in the exact words, with 'snips', 'snaps' and 'snails' all appearing. It is a teasing verse about boys and girls, and plenty of families now change the ingredients to suit.
It is built as a question and answer, so let your child supply the ingredients. Ask what little boys are made of, wait, then give the reply together. Because it plays on old ideas about boys and girls, it is an easy one to rewrite at home into whatever your child actually is.
Public domain. Text from The Real Mother Goose (Blanche Fisher Wright, 1916), via Project Gutenberg. View the source edition