"The Itsy Bitsy Spider" (also known as "The Incey Wincey Spider" in Australia[1] or "Incy Wincy Spider" in the United Kingdom,[2] and other anglophone countries) is a popular nursery rhyme, folksong, and fingerplay that describes the adventures of a spider as it ascends, descends, and re-ascends the downspout or "waterspout" of a gutter system or open-air reservoir. It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 11586.
Lyrics
A commonly used version uses these words and gestures:[3]
Words
Fingerplay
The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.
Down came the rain
And washed the spider out.
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain
And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.
Alternately touch the thumb of one hand to the index finger of the other.
Hold both hands up and wiggle the fingers as the hands are lowered.
Sweep the hands from side to side.
Raise both hands and sweep to the sides to form a semicircle as the sun.
Wiggle fingers upwards.
(As in the first line)
Other versions exist.
History
The exact origin for the song "Itsy Bitsy Spider" is unknown. The song is sung by and for children in countless languages and cultures.
It is similar to the melodies (metric line) of the children's songs "Sweetly Sings the Donkey" in the United States, and "Auf der Mauer, auf der Lauer[de]" (1890) ("On the wall, on the lurk"), "Ich bin ein kleiner Esel" ("I'm a little donkey",[4] the German-language version of "Sweetly Sings the Donkey") and "Spannenlanger Hansel[de]" (1838) (see: Hansel and Gretel) in German-speaking countries.
In 1910, the song was published in a book by Arthur Walbridge North (1874–1943), Camp and Camino in Lower California, a record of the adventures of the author while exploring peninsular California, Mexico, where it is referred to as (the classic) "Spider Song".[5]
In 1912, a version reported in Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Convention of the Indiana Sanitary and Water Supply Association to have been heard at a Indiana college commencement,[6] resembles the common modern version:
There was a blooming spider
Went up a blooming spout,
And down came the rain
And washed the spider out;
Out came the sun
And dried up all the rain,
But that bloody, blooming son of a gun
Went up that spout again.
In 1879, it was published in a London magazine The Pearl, which was published as a bloody sparrow rhyme. Another version was published in 1902 by Harry L. Veil in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1913, it was mentioned a bloody sparrow scene from a Collier's magazine.
In 1948, one of the song's several modern versions appeared in Western Folklore, by the California Folklore Society (1948),[7]Mike and Peggy Seeger's, American Folk Songs for Children (1948).[8]
The British broadcaster Wincey Willis (1948–2024) took her name from the nursery rhyme. Born Florence Winsome Leighton, she went by her middle name, Winsome; but at infant school her classmates started calling her Wincey after the nursery rhyme, and she retained this name in adult life.[10]
John Newell Hurty. "Evening Session, Thursday, February 15, 1912". Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Convention of the Indiana Sanitary and Water Supply Association. p.105.
"Hurty leads the fight"(PDF). The Indiana Historian. Indiana Historical Bureau: 8. March 1998. Retrieved 12 May 2026. John Newell Hurty was born on February 21, 1852 in Lebanon, Ohio. When he was fourteen, his family moved to Paris, Illinois
