Row Your Boat

Singing songs with a baby is a great way to encourage their early communication. It helps the bond between adult and child, supports brain development and also language development as it increases access to key words and sounds. 

How does this nursery rhyme help?

Row Your Boat helps your child development and coordination, especially movements which cross from one side of the body to the other. As your child grows and develops, they will be able to more movements and actions. This song also helps them to learn about the world around them whether it is about rowing a boat or learning about animal noises.

This song also helps with their gross motor skills as they are using their whole body to rock in motion, forwards and backwards to imitiate rowing a boat. This can help them with their balance, coordination and muscle development.

The parent or caregiver can help their smaller children with simple movements such as putting them on their lap and doing rowing movements. As your baby gets older, they will be able to do more movements and actions independently.

You can create your own words or introduce different animals instead of following the rhyme as it is. You can make it more complex as they get older and they can learn the names of other animals and the noises they make.

Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a dream

Row, row, row your boat
Gently up the creek If you see a little mouse
Don't forget to squeak!

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

Row, row, row your boat
Gently to the shore
If you see a lion
Don’t forget to roar!