Explore the “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” Lyrics

If you’re looking for a well-known but simple song to use when teaching your students about rhythm and rhyme, then it’s hard to look past “Row, Row, Row Your Boat!”

Row, row, row you boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don’t forget to scream! 

Nursery rhymes are great texts for introducing rhyme and rhythm to young students. They are repetitive and predictable, which can help students remember them. They are read and recited frequently in early childhood, making them an important part of our shared culture. And of course, they are fun, too!

This poster featuring the lyrics to the song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” has been designed to help you explore rhyme and rhythm with your youngest learners. It displays the complete rhyme in a child-friendly font, making it accessible for early readers to follow along. It also uses underlining to denote the rhyming pairs, e.g. stream/scream, fro/go.

Use “Row Row Your Boat” in Your Lessons

While this poster makes a great addition to your phonics lessons, you’ll be sure to find it useful for other curriculum-aligned activities too! Here are a few suggestions from our teacher team that you might like to try:

• Rhyming Word Bank – Choose one of the rhyming pairs from the poem, then see how many words students can brainstorm that rhyme with these words.
• Add Actions and Instruments – Have the students suggest some actions to accompany the song. Add in a few instruments and, voila! Instant musical performance!
• Narrative Writing – Use the song as a stimulus for a story. What happens after the people on the boat fall into the water? Have students finish the story.

Download These “Row Your Boat” Lyrics

Use the Download button to access the easy-print colour PDF.

Project the poster on your interactive whiteboard or print it for your classroom display board. If you intend to display the poster, we recommend enlarging it for enhanced readability.

Explore More Nursery Rhymes for Reception

Teach Starter has created a range of nursery rhyme resources perfect for use in early years classrooms! Click below to explore a sample of our offering.

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