Story Song · Grades PreK–2 · England & United States
Old Mother Hubbard lyrics — all 9 verses — plus the song card partner matching game and a complete teaching guide for PreK through 2nd grade. A relaxing, picture-rich end-of-class song that children love, with a clever partner activity that doubles as a rhyming word lesson.
All 9 verses
The complete Old Mother Hubbard lyrics. Each verse sends Mother Hubbard on a new errand — and each time she returns, the dog is doing something increasingly absurd. The rhyming pairs are highlighted — these are the words children fill in during the echo singing activity.
The song card game
Print two sets of song cards and cut them apart. Each child gets one card — they have to find the partner whose card "goes with" theirs. Each pair is a rhyming couplet from the song.
| Card A — what Mother Hubbard bought | Card B — what the dog was doing |
|---|---|
| Bread | Dog standing on his head |
| Fruit | Dog playing the flute |
| Cheese | Dog scratching his fleas |
| Wig | Dog dancing a jig |
| Hat | Dog feeding the cat |
| Coat | Dog riding a goat |
| Shoes | Dog reading the news |
| Bone | Dog waiting at home |
About this song
Old Mother Hubbard is one of the best end-of-class songs in the early elementary repertoire because it's genuinely relaxing without being boring. Children enjoy looking at the song card pictures while listening, and the absurdist humor of the dog's escalating antics — standing on his head, playing the flute, dancing a jig — keeps them engaged across all 9 verses without fidgeting.
The echo singing structure is immediately accessible. After one or two hearings, even PreK students anticipate the rhyming word and want to fill it in. That anticipation is the song doing the teaching — the children are analyzing rhyme structure before you've introduced any formal concept.
"This is a great song to use at the end of class. It's relaxing, and the kids enjoy looking at the pictures."
— Deborah Skydell Pasternack, The Singing ClassroomThe partner matching game extends the song into a genuine musical and literacy activity. Each child must remember their verse, identify the rhyming pair, find their partner, and then sing their verse — a surprising amount of musical work embedded in what feels like a game. The activity also coordinates beautifully with classroom teachers who are working on rhyming words in language arts.
Solo singing assessment: Having each pair sing their own verse is a natural, low-stakes context for assessing individual singing ability. Students are singing a short, familiar phrase with a partner — not alone in front of the class — which reduces anxiety and gives you a genuine window into their voices.
Teaching guide
Using the song cards, sing the song once through. Children enjoy looking at the pictures — the cards carry a lot of the engagement for this song. Don't rush the first hearing; let the images and the absurd humor land.
Sing again, but pause before the rhyming word at the end of each verse and let children fill it in. "She went to the grocer to buy him some fruit, but when she got back he was..." Children sing: "playing the flute!" Once they're confident with the rhyming words, they can take on more of the song.
Print two sets of song cards and cut them apart — 16 cards total. Pass one card to each child. For PreK and K: guide children one at a time, have them show their card, and ask "whose card goes with this one?" The matching child raises their card and they sit together. For grades 1–2: set a 2-minute time limit and let children find their own partners. When found, they sit down together immediately.
Once all children are in pairs, have each pair sing their verse — either together or one line each. This is a natural solo singing assessment moment: students are singing a familiar short phrase with a partner, which is far less intimidating than a solo performance. You get a genuine read on their individual voices.
Common questions
The full Old Mother Hubbard lyrics cover 9 verses. The opening verse establishes the story: Old Mother Hubbard goes to the cupboard to get her dog a bone, but the cupboard is bare. Each subsequent verse sends her to a different shop — baker, grocer, dairy, barber, hatter, tailor, cobbler, butcher — and each time she returns to find the dog doing something increasingly absurd: standing on his head, playing the flute, scratching his fleas, dancing a jig, feeding the cat, riding a goat, reading the news. In the final verse she goes to the butcher for a bone, and when she returns the dog is simply waiting at home.
Print two sets of the song cards and cut them into individual pictures — 16 cards total for 8 pairs. Give one card to each child. Each card shows either what Mother Hubbard went to buy (e.g., fruit) or what the dog was doing when she returned (e.g., playing the flute). Children must find the partner whose card rhymes with and matches their own. For PreK and K, guide the matching one pair at a time. For grades 1–2, set a 2-minute limit and let children find partners independently. Once paired, each pair sings their verse.
Old Mother Hubbard works well for PreK through 2nd grade. It's particularly effective as an end-of-class song — relaxing, picture-rich, and just funny enough to keep students engaged through 9 verses. The partner matching game works best after the class has heard the song at several previous classes and knows the rhyming pairs well. PreK and K need guided matching; grades 1–2 can find partners independently.
The song's rhyming couplets — bread/head, fruit/flute, cheese/fleas, wig/jig, hat/cat, coat/goat, shoes/news, bone/home — make it a natural complement to classroom rhyming word instruction. The partner matching game is essentially a rhyming word activity embedded in a musical context. When classroom teachers are working on rhyming words in language arts, Old Mother Hubbard is an ideal music class reinforcement — and teachers appreciate the connection when you mention it.
More story songs & picture card games
Another story song with 10 dramatic roles, motions, and unpitched percussion. Natural companion to Old Mother Hubbard.
See teaching guide →Counting down story song with motions. Same age range and relaxed energy as Old Mother Hubbard.
See teaching guide →Classic English nursery rhyme. Sol-mi, play acting, a natural pairing with Old Mother Hubbard for the same lesson.
See teaching guide →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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