"Five Little Monkeys" is a
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
and
fingerplay
Fingerplay, commonly seen in early childhood, is hand action or movement combined with singing or spoken-words to engage the child's interest. According to Erikson, many children develop autonomy and "want to learn and imitate the activities and ...
of American origin. It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. Each successive verse sequentially counts down from the starting number.
The song has similar tune to the Austrian folk song “ Wie Böhmen noch bei Öst'rreich war” and first verse of the 1890s folk song "
Shortnin' Bread
"Shortnin' Bread" (also spelled "Shortenin' Bread", "Short'nin' Bread", or "Sho'tnin' Bread") is an African-American folk song dating back at least to the 1890s. James Whitcomb Riley published it as a poem in 1900, building on older lyrics. A " ...
."
Lyrics
One version of the lyrics, published in the 2015 collection ''No More Monkeys'', runs:
Variations
Alternate versions of the song changes the last monkey's reference to "she" or "one". An additional verse on the last verse following the last monkey going down include lines such as:
Gestures
The song can be performed with to accompany to each verse are, such as:
*Hold up a number of fingers equal to the number of monkeys and bounce them onto the palm of the other hand;
*Hold head;
*Put your pinky finger to your cheek and thumb to your ear (as if using a telephone);
*Wag your index finger
Influence
Eileen Christelow has written a series of books titled "Five Little Monkeys ..". She acknowledges that she did not write the original lyrics, she heard it from her daughter.
"Five little monkeys jumping on the bed. One fell off and bumped her head. . ." NO, I did NOT write that rhyme, Eileen Christelow
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See also
* Ten Little Indians
"Ten Little Indians" is a traditional American children's counting out rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 12976. The term "Indians" in this sense refers to Indigenous North American peoples.
In 1868, songwriter Septimus Winner adapt ...
References
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Children's games
English children's songs
American folk songs
Children's poetry
Early childhood education
Finger plays
Fictional monkeys
Fictional quintets
English nursery rhymes
Year of song unknown
Songwriter unknown