Rhyming couplets for kids
Rhyming couplets are pairs of neighbouring lines whose endings rhyme. They can describe a scene, introduce a character or tell a tiny story. Explore traditional rhymes with documented sources alongside twenty playful examples written originally in English for Racó de Contes.
Traditional examples and the twenty original couplets appear in separate sections. Extracts from longer nursery rhymes are clearly labelled.
What is a rhyming couplet?
It is a pair of consecutive verse lines with rhyming endings. Start with two words that share an ending sound, then build a line around each word. These short poems use a flexible rhythm rather than one fixed metrical pattern.
10 traditional rhyming couplets and nursery-rhyme extracts
These rhymes were already in print in the 1916 collection The Real Mother Goose. They belong to the traditional Mother Goose repertoire; Blanche Fisher Wright illustrated the book and is not being credited as the author of the verses. Complete two-line rhymes and extracts from longer nursery rhymes are identified separately. The reading notes are original.
Daffodils
Complete two-line rhyme in the 1916 collection.
Daffy-down-dilly has come to town
In a yellow petticoat and a green gown.
Town and gown rhyme. The daffodil is imagined as a visitor wearing yellow and green clothes.
March winds
Complete two-line rhyme in the collection.
March winds and April showers
Bring forth May flowers.
Showers and flowers rhyme. The verse connects spring rain with the flowers that follow.
Christmas
Complete two-line rhyme in the collection.
Christmas comes but once a year,
And when it comes it brings good cheer.
Year and cheer rhyme. Good cheer is an old-fashioned expression for a happy, festive mood.
Teeth and gums
Complete two-line traditional riddle.
Thirty white horses upon a red hill,
Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still.
Hill and still rhyme. The white horses are teeth and the red hill represents the gums.
See, see
Complete two-line rhyme in the collection.
See, see! What shall I see?
A horse’s head where his tail should be.
See and be rhyme. The verse plays with an impossible, topsy-turvy picture.
A well
Complete two-line traditional riddle.
As round as an apple, as deep as a cup,
And all the king’s horses can’t fill it up.
Cup and up rhyme. Its title gives the answer: a well. You can hide the title and invite children to guess.
Humpty Dumpty
Opening couplet from a longer nursery rhyme.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
Wall and fall rhyme. This is an extract; the next two lines describe the attempt to put Humpty Dumpty together again.
To market
Opening couplet from a longer nursery rhyme.
To market, to market, to buy a fat pig.
Home again, home again, jiggety jig.
Pig and jig rhyme. The repeating phrases give this market journey a playful rhythm.
Rain, rain, go away
First two lines of the three-line version in this collection.
Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day;
Away and day rhyme. This version continues with a line about little Johnny wanting to play.
Come out to play
Opening couplet from a longer nursery rhyme.
Girls and boys, come out to play,
The moon doth shine as bright as day;
Play and day rhyme. Doth is an old form of does, so doth shine means shines.
Original animal and nature rhyming couplets
The moon
The moon puts on a silver hat
and lights the whiskers of my cat.
The bee
A buzzing bee flew past my knee
and landed on a flowering tree.
The frog
A little frog jumped off a log
and splashed beside a sleepy dog.
The kite
My paper kite climbed out of sight
and danced among the clouds so bright.
The snail
A little snail went down the trail
with silver stars along its tail.
The bear
A tiny bear sat on a chair
and brushed the tangles from its hair.
The fox
A little fox collected rocks
and kept them in a cardboard box.
The sheep
The woolly sheep began to creep
across the field to fall asleep.
The rain
The raindrops tapped against the pane
while little trains raced down the lane.
The seed
I planted one small garden seed
and pulled away a curling weed.
Original rhyming couplets about books, school and everyday life
The tree
A robin sang a song for me
from high inside the apple tree.
The sun
The morning sun has just begun
to warm the paths where children run.
The book
I found a book beside the brook
and sat beneath a tree to look.
The pencil
My pencil drew a winding line
that turned into a climbing vine.
The school bell
The school bell rang, and off we went
to build a little blanket tent.
The boat
A paper boat began to float
with one small button for its coat.
The dragon
A little dragon spread its wings
and flew above the garden swings.
The mouse
A tiny mouse built up a house
and shared it with another mouse.
The friend
A broken toy is hard to mend;
I fix it with a helping friend.
Good night
The stars have made a blanket bright;
I close my book and say good night.
How to write your own rhyming couplets
- Choose a simple subject: an animal, an object or something that happened today.
- Find two words with matching ending sounds, such as light and night.
- Write a line that ends with the first word.
- Add a second line that develops the idea and ends with the other word.
- Read both lines aloud and adjust any words that make the rhythm awkward.
A group rhyming workshop
Write pairs of rhyming words on cards and let each child choose one. Read the finished couplets together and add illustrations. Changing the character or ending is a useful way to explore a fresh idea.
Listen to the sound
Rhyme depends on sound, not just spelling. Say the words aloud and avoid simply repeating the same word at both line endings. Begin with an idea that makes sense, then work on its sound.
Couplets, tongue twisters and proverbs
A rhyming couplet plays with two verse lines, a tongue twister challenges a sequence of sounds, and a proverb expresses a familiar idea. Together they offer different ways to explore reading, speaking and creative writing.
The twenty poems in the original-couplet sections were created for this collection. The examples above belong to children’s oral tradition.