# One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" is an English counting rhyme in print since 1805 (and recalled in America from the 1780s), pairing each pair of numbers with a small rhyming action all the way to twenty.

## At a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Sung in | English |
| Words by | Traditional |
| First known | 1805 (recalled in America from c. 1780) |
| Best for ages | 2–7 |
| Mood | playful, traditional, counting |
| Page | https://littlesongbook.com/songs/one-two-buckle-my-shoe/ |

## Lyrics

### Verse 1 (en)

One, two, buckle my shoe,
Three, four, open the door,
Five, six, pick up sticks,
Seven, eight, lay them straight,
Nine, ten, a good fat hen,
Eleven, twelve, dig and delve,
Thirteen, fourteen, maids a-courting,
Fifteen, sixteen, maids in the kitchen,
Seventeen, eighteen, maids a-waiting,
Nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty.

## How to sing it

1. Hold up fingers for each number as you count in pairs — one-two, three-four.
2. Mime the rhyming action each time — buckle a shoe, open a door, pick up and lay sticks straight.
3. Slow down at the end so "nineteen, twenty, my plate's empty" lands as the finish.

## Common questions

**What kind of rhyme is this?**

A counting rhyme. It runs the numbers from one to twenty two at a time, and pairs each pair with a small rhyming action — buckle my shoe, open the door, pick up sticks — so children rehearse counting while doing or picturing each step.

**How old is "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"?**

It was first printed in Britain in 1805, in "Songs for the Nursery". A collector also recorded an older American memory of it, from around 1780 in Massachusetts, so it was clearly in spoken use before it reached print.

**Do the words mean anything?**

Not really — they are chosen to rhyme with the numbers and to give small, homely pictures of daily life: shoes and doors, sticks and hens, maids in the kitchen. The point is the count, not the story.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia — One, Two, Buckle My Shoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One,_Two,_Buckle_My_Shoe)
- https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1247934