Little Miss Muffet The Classic Spider Rhyme, With Lyrics and a Free Printable

🎵 Little Miss Muffet Lyrics

The full traditional rhyme — one short verse, with a spider who only wants to sit down.

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her,
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

🧀 About This Rhyme: Curds, Whey and Tuffets

Two old-fashioned words do all the work in this rhyme. Curds and whey are what milk separates into: the soft white lumps are the curds, and the thin watery liquid left behind is the whey. Together they look and taste a little like cottage cheese, and they were an everyday food when this rhyme was new — Miss Muffet is simply eating her lunch.

A tuffet is a small, low stool — or a little grassy mound to sit on. So the whole scene is a picnic: a girl sitting outside with her bowl, when a spider comes along and sits down beside her. The spider does nothing worse than arrive, which is exactly why small children find it funny — the fright is all surprise, and the rhyme is over before anyone is really scared.

That tiny story shape — a calm start, a surprise, and a quick ending — makes this a good first story rhyme. Children can retell it in order after just a few hearings: where she sat, what she ate, who came along, and what happened next.

🖨️ How to Use This Rhyme

1. Sing it like a story. Use a calm voice for the first two lines, then slow right down for “Along came a spider” — the pause before the ending is where the giggles build.
2. Act the surprise. Wiggle your fingers down like spider legs on “along came a spider,” and jump up together on the last line. Toddlers ask for this part again and again.
3. Print the lyrics sheet. Put it on the fridge or a nursery wall. Big, clear type means children can follow the words with a finger while you sing.
4. Let them tell it back. After a few rounds, pause before “frightened Miss Muffet away” and let your child finish the rhyme — that is early reading confidence.