Row, Row, Row Your Boat Sing it as a round — lyrics and a free printable

🎵 Row, Row, Row Your Boat Lyrics

Four lines are the whole rhyme — which is exactly why it works so well as a round and as a rowing game. Learn this one verse and you know the song in full.

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

🚣 Sing It Together — Row, Then Round

Start as a rowing game: sit on the floor facing your child, hold hands, and rock gently back and forth in time with the song, as if you are rowing the boat together. Toddlers who cannot manage the words yet can still row — and rocking in rhythm is the whole game at that age.

When the verse is solid, try it as a round: one singer starts, and the next singer starts from the beginning just as the first reaches “gently down the stream.” The two voices chase each other down the stream. It falls apart into giggles the first few times — that is part of the tradition too.

🖨️ How to Use This Rhyme

1. Row first, sing second. Sit facing your child, hold hands and rock while you sing — the movement carries the song.
2. Slow the stream down. Sing it very slowly, then faster, and let your child choose the speed of the boat.
3. Print the lyrics sheet. Four short lines in big print — a first song sheet a young child can genuinely follow.
4. Try the round. Once your child knows the verse, start the round: you begin, and they start one line behind you.