Five Little Monkeys


"Five Little Monkeys" is an English language folk song and fingerplay. 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.
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.

Lyrics

A commonly used version uses these words and gestures:
An additional part is:
An alternate version sometimes seen is:
Alternatively:

Origin

There is no known origin of the song, due to it being a modern nursery rhyme.
But, the song has similar lyrics and tune to the first verse of the folk song "Shortnin' Bread."

Also see