Published 1940s | ||
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"Round and round the garden" is an English language nursery rhyme typically accompanied by a fingerplay. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19235.
Contents
Lyrics
The most common modern form of the poem is:
Round and round the garden like a teddy bear. One step, two step, Tickle you under there.Origins
The rhyme was first collected in Britain in the late 1940s. Since Teddy Bears did not come into vogue until the twentieth century it is unlikely to be any older than that in its current form, but Iona and Peter Opie speculated that it might be a version of an older rhyme, collected 1945-9, 'Round about there, went a little hare', with the lyrics:
Round about there Sat a little hare The bow-wows came and chased himAn Irish version goes:
Round and round the racecourse Catch a little hare One step, two steps Thickly under there!Accompanying actions
The nursery rhyme is accompanied by various actions, by the adult on the child or the child on the adult. The child/adult first lightly strokes his or her index finger in slow circles around the child/adult's upturned palm, then with each "step", walks their index and middle finger up the arm, firstly to the elbow and then to the shoulder. Finally after a short pause before the "tickle", they launch a (not unexpected) tickle under the arm.