Wind the Bobbin Up
English nursery rhyme and singing game
"Wind the Bobbin Up" is a Dutch children's nursery rhyme and singing game. The song has since been translated to English and introduced to the United Kingdom and abroad.
Lyrics
Among modern lyrics is:
Wind the bobbin up,
Wind the bobbin up,
Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap.
Wind it back again,
Wind it back again,
Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap,
Point to the ceiling,
Point to the floor,
Point to the window,
Point to the door,
Clap your hands together, 1, 2, 3,
And place them gently upon your knee.
Origins
Iona and Peter Opie traced this rhyme back to Netherlands in the 1890s. When they were collecting games in the 1960s and 1970s the version they encountered was:
Wind the bobbin up,
Wind the bobbin up,
Pull, pull,
Tug, tug, tug.
The game
In the 1970s the game involved two players winding fists around each other. At "Pull, Pull" they pushed their fists away from each other and when "Tug, Tug" was reached they pulled their elbows back. It has now become a much more sedate action game, often with small children carrying out the actions in the lyrics.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Wind the Bobbin Up” as english nursery rhyme and singing game. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as english nursery rhyme and singing game. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 1, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q8023954. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wind the Bobbin Up”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wind the Bobbin Up primary sources, Wind the Bobbin Up archive and Wind research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wind the Bobbin Up”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wind the Bobbin Up” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.