Head Shoulders Knees and Toes is a great song for kids, ideal to teach the parts of the body.
Children’s song, U.K.
“Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” is a children’s song sung to the tune of the traditional folk song “There is a Tavern in the Town”, which first appeared in the 1883 edition of William H. Hill’s Student Songs.
Kids love “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” because they can play with something they know well, the parts of the human body. Throughout this song, the four parts of the human body mentioned are gradually substituted by a sound (the sound of a percussion instrument, a clap or the any other body-generated sound).
On this page you will find a Sing-along Video, Lyrics and MP3 and MP4 files of the song for free download.
Table of Contents
- Song Info
- Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes Videos
- Free karaoke MP3 download
- MP4 Video File | Free Download
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Free Sheet Music
- Teaching idea and activities
Song Info
The song was written by Karl-Axel Elmquist (1929-2023), a pastor from Sweden, with original lyrics in Swedish. The melody was based on the folk song “There is a Tavern in the Town”, which in turn first appeared in the 1883 edition of William H. Hill’s Student Songs.
“Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” was conceived by Elmquist as a “teasing song” about the father of gymnastics in Sweden, Per Henrik Ling. It was written in the 50’s and was first sung in the city Jönköping, Sweden.
The song became popular all over the world via the scout movement and was translated to different languages. Karl-Axel, who lived in the USA for some time, also wrote other songs, which didn’t become as well-known as this one.
Thank you to Helena Elmquist for the 2023 information update.
Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes Videos
Sing-Along Video with lyrics
Karaoke Video with lyrics
Lyrics
1. Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
2. —-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
—-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
3. —-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes
—-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, ———, knees and toes
Knees and toes
4. —-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes
—-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes
And eyes and ears and mouth and nose
—-, ———, —– and toes
—– and toes
5. —-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-
—-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-
And eyes and ears
And mouth and nose
—-, ———, —– — —-
—– — —-
6. Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
And eyes and ears,
And mouth and nose
Head, shoulders, knees and toes
Knees and toes
Original lyrics in Swedish
Huvud axlar knä och tår
Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår
Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår
Ögon, öron, kinden klappen får,
Huvud, axlar, knän och tår, knän och tår.
Free karaoke MP3 download
Slow version – 110 bpm
To download your free instrumental mp3 of this song, click or tap on the following button, then choose “Save link as…”
Fast version – 130 bpm
To download your free instrumental mp3 of this song, click or tap on the following button, then choose “Save link as…”
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MP4 Video File | Free Download
To watch the karaoke video of this song on your mobile device, click on the following link to download the video file (mp4 format).
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes | Free mp4 Video File Download
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes Free Sheet Music
Click on the button to watch a piano tutorial video and download a PDF file with piano sheet music to this song for free.
Click on the button for a printable PDF file with Guitar Chords, Tabs and Sheet Music for this song for free.
Teaching idea and activities
As the text goes on, a word corresponding to a part of the body is replaced by a rest. Finally, the motif of the rests looks like this:
Four children with different percussion instruments or other sounds (hands, foots, fingers, or objects like table, chair, etc.) play in place for every part of the body.
They start with one sound and four words that they sing, and gradually they just play five sounds at the corresponding verse.
A similar activity can be realized for the “Bingo Song”.
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