Lyrics
Little Bunny Foo Foo, Hopping through the forest, Scooping up the field mice, And bopping 'em on the head.
#And down came the good fairy and she said: "Little Bunny Foo Foo, I don't want to see you Scooping up the field mice And bopping 'em on the head. I'll give you three chances, And if you don't behave I'll turn you into a goon!"
#The next day same as before, except: two chances... Then: one chance...
#Last verse: "Little Bunny Foo Foo, I gave you three chances, POOF! Now you're a goon!"
#Little Bunny Foo Foo at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Sung in
- English
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- modern; documented from the 1960s–70s (USA)
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- playful, traditional
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
How to sing it
- Hop one hand along like the bunny, and "bop" your other fist gently on each "bopping 'em on the head".
- Wag a finger as the good fairy, counting down the three chances on your fingers.
- On the last "POOF!", throw your hands up to turn the bunny into a goon.
Meaning and origin
This is really a little morality play with actions. Bunny Foo Foo hops through the forest doing something he shouldn’t — scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head — and a good fairy keeps swooping down to warn him off, offering three chances. He wastes every one, so at last she makes good on her threat and turns him, POOF, into a “goon”. The classic ending delivers the groan-worthy pun the whole thing is built toward: hare today, goon tomorrow.
For all its playground familiarity, it is a modern song. It is distinctly American and documented only from around the 1960s and 70s — there is no ancient pedigree, despite a much-repeated online claim that it turns up in Chaucer or Shakespeare, which was a deliberate hoax posted in 1997. Its melody, on the other hand, is genuinely old: the verses are chanted to the tune of the French-Canadian song “Alouette”. Between the hopping, the bopping, the finger-wagging fairy and the final transformation, it gives children a small, satisfying lesson — that bullying the smaller creatures does not, in the end, go unpunished.
Common questions
- What happens in "Little Bunny Foo Foo"?
- A misbehaving rabbit hops through the forest, scooping up field mice and "bopping 'em on the head". A good fairy appears and warns him to stop, giving three chances; he ignores every one, so on the last she turns him into a "goon". It is a comic little cautionary tale — with the well-known moral, "hare today, goon tomorrow".
- What tune is "Little Bunny Foo Foo" sung to?
- To the melody of the French-Canadian song "Alouette" — the same tune shape heard in "Down by the Station". It is spoken-sung, with the verses acted out.
- How old is "Little Bunny Foo Foo", and is it really centuries old?
- No. Despite a well-known internet claim that it appears in Chaucer or Shakespeare, that was a deliberate hoax from 1997. The song is modern American, documented from about the 1960s–70s.
