Pat-a-Cake
Pat-a-Cake
Clapping Game for Babies
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Baker's man,
Bake me a cake
As fast as you can.
Roll it and pat it,
And mark it with a "B"*,
And put it in the oven
For baby* and me.
Notes
*You can alternatively use the baby's first initial and name.
Here's the version on the 2nd mp3 recording:
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man!
So I do, master, as fast as I can:
Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with T,
Put it in the oven for Tommy and me.
Here's a variation of this rhyme from A History of Nursery Rhymes (1899) by Percy B. Green:
Pat a cake, pat a cake, baker's man.
Yes, I will, master, as fast as I can.
Prick it and prick it, and mark it with B,
And toss it in the oven for baby and me.
Here's yet another variation from The Real Mother Goose (1916):
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
Baker's man!
So I do, master,
As fast as I can.
Pat it, and prick it,
And mark it with T,
Put it in the oven
For Tommy and me.
Here's the version from The Little Mother Goose (1912), illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith:
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man!
Make me a cake as fast as you can:
Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with T,
And there will be enough for Baby and me.
Here's the version from Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1815, Glascow - earliest edition was in 1744):
Patty cake, patty cake,
Baker's man,
That I will master
As fast as I can;
Pricket, and Pricket,
And mark it with a T,
And there will be enough
For Tommy and thee.
You can read the version of Pat-a-cake that's on the 2nd mp3 in the Notes below...
2nd MP3: Recited by Ruth Golding.
3rd MP3: Performed by 17 talented university student musicians at California State University-Stanislaus in 2007. The musical score the recording is based on comes from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911) arranged by Alfred Moffat.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
The first illustration is from The National Nursery Book and the second is from The Real Mother Goose (1916), illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright. The 3rd illustration is by H. Willebeck Le Mair from Our Old Nursery Rhymes (1911), arranged by Alfred Moffat. The 4th illustration can be found in The Sleeping Beauty Picture Book, illustrated by Walter Crane.
Thanks so much!
