This Old Man aka Knick-Knack Paddy Whack

"This old man he played one. He played knick knack on my thumb. With a knick knack paddy whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home!"

This Old Man is a very popular nursery rhyme.
It's fun to sing or chant, focuses on rhyming and counting and has been used as the basis for many picture books.

Below is the video version of the book Knick Knack Paddy Whack by Christiane Engel.






Knick-Knack Paddy Whack aka This Old Man Activities:

Make a Song Rebus for This Old Man. Check this one at Enchanted Learning

 Rhyming Words: Point out the rhyming words in the song. Notice the difference in the rhymes used in the traditional version of the song and the rhymes used in the video version. Have the children make up their own number rhymes.

Expand the Rhyme: Make up rhymes up to the number 20 and beyond.

Make up a Story and Act it out: Why is the Old Man playing one...etc? What happens when he is finished?

Read a Different version of the song: Get a copy of  This Jazz Man by Karen Ehrhardt. Ehrhardt's "old man" really swings the song. Here's an example:

"This jazz man, he plays one,
He plays rhythm with his thumb,
With a snap! snap! snazzy-snap!
Give the man a hand,
This jazz man scats with the band."

The lyrics below are just one version of This Old Man:

This old man, he played one
He played knick-knack on my thumb
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played two
He played knick-knack on my shoe
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played three
He played knick-knack on my knee
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played four
He played knick-knack on my door
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played five
He played knick-knack on my hive
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played six
He played knick-knack on my sticks
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played seven
He played knick-knack up in heaven
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played eight
He played knick-knack on my gate
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played nine
He played knick-knack on my spine
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home

This old man, he played ten
He played knick-knack once again
With a knick-knack patty-whack, give a dog a bone
This old man came rolling home