traditional; PLAY music adaptation by A. Kelly-Saxenmeyer

Once you and your child become familiar with this cumulative hand story in class, try adding it to your story time routine at home. Encourage older children to follow along with the movements by keeping your tempo slow and easy, and by engaging them in the story. Keeping the lyrics consistent will increase your child’s enjoyment of the story, but for an occasional variation, change one of the characters. Have fun making it something that doesn’t belong; use a dinosaur instead of a dog, or a robot instead of a woman.

LYRICS

VERSE 1:

This is the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the cat that worried the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the dog that chased the cat that worried the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the boy who walked the dog that chased the cat that worried the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

This is the woman who opened the door to welcome the boy who walked the dog that chased the cat that worried the rat that ate the cheese that lay in the house that Jack built.

REPEAT

The house that Jack built