One entry, Peabody nursery rhymes with lyrics, is our own free tool. It is marked Ours and ranked against the same criteria as the others.
The Real Mother Goose on Project Gutenberg is our number one: a 1916 book of hundreds of rhymes, marked public domain in the USA, free to read or download. Peabody's own rhyme lists are second, because they print words only for public-domain songs and say so. Sites that print words without saying what is public domain rank lower.
| # | Name | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Real Mother Goose (Project Gutenberg) | Best for printing classic Mother Goose rhyme words | Free |
| 2 | Peabody nursery rhymes with lyrics Ours | Best for words you may print and send home | Free |
| 3 | The Baby's Opera (Project Gutenberg) | Best for rhymes with their old tunes and pictures | Free |
| 4 | Wikisource: Portal Nursery rhymes | Best for copying one rhyme's words quickly | Free |
| 5 | Games and Songs of American Children (Project Gutenberg) | Best for circle and singing-game words | Free |
| 6 | Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs (Internet Archive) | Best for rhymes with simple piano settings | Free |
| 7 | IMSLP (Petrucci Music Library) | Best for sheet music of old children's songs | Free plan, paid upgrades |
| 8 | Digital Public Library of America | Best for finding old songbooks across many libraries | Free |
| 9 | KIDiddles | Best for finding a song's words fast | Free |
| 10 | Mama Lisa's World | Best for rhymes in children's home languages | Free |
| 11 | Songs for Teaching | Best for theme-based song ideas | Price varies |
Project Gutenberg; illustrated by Blanche Fisher Wright
A full nursery rhyme book, dated 1916 on its title page, with the words of hundreds of rhymes. Gutenberg marks it public domain in the USA. You can read it free in the browser or download EPUB, Kindle, HTML or plain text.
Watch for US public-domain status only; old wording and a few dated rhymes need a teacher's read first.
Peabody
Peabody's lists of nursery rhymes, lullabies and clapping rhymes print the full words only for public-domain songs, and say who wrote each one where that is known. Songs still under copyright are listed without their words. The preschool theme planner takes every song from these lists.
Free, no sign-up and no ads
Watch for Words only: no recordings, sheet music or chords, and a few favorites appear without words because they are under copyright.
Walter Crane; Project Gutenberg
Walter Crane's illustrated book of old nursery rhymes and children's songs, filed by Gutenberg under music. Marked public domain in the USA. Free to read online or download in several formats.
Watch for Original publication date not stated on the Gutenberg page; music is in old notation.
Wikisource (Wikimedia volunteers)
Transcribed text of about 100 single rhymes plus 12 old collections, from Tommy Thumb's Song Book (1744) to The Real Mother Goose (1916). No ads; the page asks for donations. The footer says the text is under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license.
Watch for The portal page itself does not state public-domain status; check each work's own page.
William Wells Newell; Project Gutenberg
Newell's 19th-century collection of American children's singing games and rhymes, with words and how each game is played. Marked public domain in the USA. Free to read online or download.
Watch for Written for adults and scholars; teachers must pick out the preschool-friendly games.
Visit Games and Songs of American Children (Project Gutenberg) ↗
J. W. Elliott; scan from New York Public Library
A McLoughlin Bros. songbook from the 1870s with rhymes set to music by J. W. Elliott. Internet Archive marks it not in copyright for the US. Free to read in the browser or download as PDF, EPUB or text.
Watch for A page scan, not clean text; the OCR text has errors, so copying the words takes tidying.
Visit Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs (Internet Archive) ↗
International Music Score Library Project
A large library of public-domain sheet music with hundreds of thousands of scores. The site says it follows Canadian copyright law and has a DMCA policy for US matters. It sells memberships, but no prices or download limits appear on the main page.
The free part: Browsing and score pages; membership details not stated on the main page
Watch for Follows Canadian copyright rules, so some scores may not be public domain in the US; built for musicians.
DPLA
A search across US library collections. A search for nursery songs returns a few hundred items, with a filter for items marked free to re-use. Items open on the holding library's site.
Watch for Search tool only; the words sit on other sites and each item's rights must be checked.
KIDiddles.com
Says it has the words to 2,000 popular children's songs, plus audio, sheet music and activity sheets, all free. The homepage shows promo buttons for other sites. It does not mark which songs are public domain.
Watch for No public-domain marking, so you have to check each song yourself before printing it.
Lisa Yannucci
Songs and rhymes from around the world, printed in the original language with an English translation. Song pages carry labeled ads and store promotions. No public-domain status is given, and the footer says all rights reserved.
Watch for Ads on every page, and no public-domain marking.
Songs for Teaching
A large index of children's songs by topic. Many entries are labeled traditional, and some list a named adapter. Most link to a store selling downloads, CDs and songbooks. It never uses the phrase public domain.
Watch for Mixes traditional and copyrighted songs; some book links may be affiliate links and aren't labeled.
Visit Songs for Teaching ↗ Facts read on the maker’s page.
We weighed these, most important first. The order is our judgement against them, not a score or a vote, and a different teacher could reasonably order it differently. Our own tool sits where those criteria put it; we built it after studying the others, so read its entry with that in mind.
We took no money, free products or affiliate commissions for any place on this list, and no link here carries a tracking code. Every fact was read on the maker’s own page on October 30, 2026; prices carry that date because they change. See how we choose and the ad-free promise.
Last checked October 30, 2026. Something out of date or missing? Tell us and we will fix it; makers can send corrections, never money.