Five little speckled frogs

"Five Little Speckled Frogs" is a nursery rhyme that originated in the United States.^[1] The song is meant to teach children subtraction by describing frogs jumping off a log into a pool, the number of frogs thus descending one by one throughout the song.

Lyrics

Five little speckled frogs,

Sat on a speckled log,

Eating the most delicious flies (yum, yum!)

One jumped into the pool,

Where it was nice and cool,

Then there are four green speckled frogs.

(The above verse repeats three more times, subtracting one from the number of frogs each time.)

One little speckled frog,

Sat on a speckled log,

Eating some most delicious flies (yum, yum!)

One jumped into the pool,

Where it was nice and cool,

Then there were no green and speckled frogs.

No little speckled frogs,

Sat on a speckled log,

Eating some most delicious flies (yum, yum!)

All of them are in the pool,

Where it was nice and cool,

They are happy green and speckled frogs.

They are happy green and speckled frogs,

They are happy green and speckled frogs!

Alternate versions of the song uses bugs, clinkers, or grubs instead of flies. Alternate versions can also use "green and" instead of "little". Versions also change the last frog's reference between "He", "They", and "One."

Hand motions

There are hand motions people can follow during the song.^[2]

• Line #1: By show of fingers hold up the number of frogs sitting on the log.
• Line #2: Draw in your hands close to your chest and curl your fingers downward, facing the floor as though you are a frog perched atop a log.
• Line #3: Mimic eating while you sing 'Eating some most delicious bugs', then rub your belly delightfully while singing 'yum, yum!'.
• Line #4: Hold one finger up to represent the frog who fell off the log.
• Line #5: Pretend to fall over.
• Line #6: By a show of fingers, hold up the number of frogs still remaining on the log while singing "Now there are four green speckled frogs". Upon singing "(glup, glup)", repeat the same movement as in the second line except look upward as though you were a frog underneath water.^[3]

References