American Folk Song · Rhythmic Improvisation · Grades K–3
Old Mister Rabbit lyrics, how to play the garden improvisation game, barred instrument arrangement, and a complete teaching guide for grades K–3. Low la, low sol, do pentatonic, ti-tam, quarter rest, rhythmic improvisation. One of the most open-ended and replayable songs in the library.
Old Mister Rabbit lyrics · American folk song
The complete Old Mister Rabbit lyrics — with a note on the original version and the classroom adaptation. The improvisation game builds on the first verse, with students supplying whatever the rabbit ate from the garden.
The garden improvisation game
Each child suggests what the rabbit ate — the word must fit the beat. The game gets more creative every time you play it. There are specific decisions about how to manage the first round with reserved students, how to handle it when suggestions go well beyond vegetables, and a particularly effective 3rd grade extension involving syllable constraints. All demonstrated in the full video.
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About this song
Old Mister Rabbit is an American folk song with roots in African-American musical tradition. It has the rare quality of becoming more engaging the more times you play it — because each repetition invites a new improvised word that fits into the same rhythmic slot. Students who played it in Kindergarten have a completely different experience playing it in 2nd grade.
The improvisation mechanic is the heart of the song. By substituting different vegetables — then different foods — then anything at all — students are doing genuine rhythmic improvisation: they're creating original musical content that fits a rhythmic pattern. The syllable structure of whatever they choose creates a new rhythmic pattern automatically.
"Old Mister Rabbit grows with your students. In Kindergarten, they suggest carrots and lettuce. By 3rd grade, they're analyzing syllable counts and proposing sugar snap peas. The same song, the same rabbit, completely different musical and linguistic thinking."
— Deborah Skydell Pasternack, The Singing ClassroomLow la: Using just the first part of the song, you can isolate low la as a jump down from do. This makes it one of the clearest songs for introducing low la in a do pentatonic context.
Low sol: Appears as a jump down from do, followed by low la — two lower-register pitches introduced in close proximity, which helps students hear the difference between them.
Ti-tam: The rhythm is clearly illustrated by the word "sometimes" — the short-long pattern that gives the word its characteristic lilt. If students already know syncopa and understand the concept of a tied note, ti-tam follows naturally. If not, this song is a simple and accessible introduction.
Quarter rest: Using just the first part of the song, the rest appears on the final beat — making it easy to isolate and point to once students know the song well.
Adding barred instruments
Whether you have a few instruments or enough for the whole class, there's a version that works. Both setups are demonstrated in the full teaching video — including a specific mallet technique option that ties directly into the rhythm concept being taught.
Instruments pass around the circle during the "sometimes naughty bunny" section. Students play when the instrument reaches them and keep the beat while waiting. The full setup is in the teaching video.
Students rotate to a new instrument during the bridge section, then play from "Old Mister Rabbit." There's a specific mallet option that connects directly to the rhythm teaching. Both variations are in the teaching video.
What teachers say
"The first time a child suggested I was growing in the garden and had been eaten, the class erupted. But here's the thing — they sang 'eating all my teacher' perfectly on the beat. That's rhythmic improvisation working exactly as it should."
"The two-syllable vegetable constraint for 3rd grade is one of the best teaching extensions I've ever used. Students are suddenly analyzing syllable counts, arguing about whether 'tomato' is two or three syllables, and completely engaged in a linguistic puzzle that's also a music lesson."
"I use this for low la every year. The jump down from do is so clear in the melody that when I put it on the board later, students recognize it immediately. They've been singing it for weeks without knowing what it was called."
More improvisation songs & animal folk songs
Cumulative folk song with composing extension. Tim-ri, low sol, do pentatonic.
See teaching guide →Four-part round with melodic improvisation over a pentatonic ostinato. Low sol, internal hearing.
See teaching guide →Longways set with barred instrument improvisation. Syncopa, low sol, do pentatonic.
See teaching guide →Common questions
The main verse: "Old Mister Rabbit, / You've got a mighty habit / Of jumping in my garden / And eating all my cabbage." The optional second verse: "Sometimes, naughty bunny, / I don't think it's funny, / You ate up all my garden." The original second verse had different lyrics ("Sometime, we will marry; Sometime, devilish marry; Sometime, you'll play thunder") that don't translate well to classrooms. For the improvisation game, students substitute whatever the rabbit ate in place of "cabbage" — each child supplies a different word or phrase that fits the beat.
Students take turns suggesting what the rabbit ate — the word or phrase must fit the beat rhythmically. There are specific decisions about how to run the first round and how to handle the game as suggestions get more creative. Both are covered in the teaching video.
The 3rd grade extension uses a specific syllable constraint that turns the game into a simultaneous linguistic and rhythmic challenge. Students end up analyzing syllable counts and having genuine debates about specific vegetables. The full extension is demonstrated in the teaching video.
Using just the first part of the song, you can isolate low la as a jump down from do. The song contains do, re, mi, low sol, and low la — the complete do pentatonic scale below the tonic. Low la appears in close proximity to low sol, which helps students hear the difference between the two lower-register pitches. The jump down from do to low la is particularly clear in the melody and easy to point to once students know the song well.
Two setups depending on how many instruments you have — a passing game and a rotation game. Each has a specific technique for what students do while waiting for their turn. There's also a mallet option that connects directly to the ti-tam rhythm concept being taught. Both versions are demonstrated in the teaching video.
The real problem
Every teacher knows this feeling. You find a song, try it on Monday, and something goes sideways — the kids don't engage, you're not sure how to introduce it, the lesson loses momentum. It's not that the song was wrong. You just didn't have a clear picture of how it actually goes.
That's what makes The Singing Classroom different. Every song in the library — including this one — has a full video of Deborah teaching it with real students. You don't have to guess how to introduce it, how to structure the activity, or how to handle the tricky moments. You watch it. Then you teach it.
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