The Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Spider catching a ride on Snuffy.

Grover playing the game with Emily.

The Lecture Lady displays a picture of the spider in question.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider page from Simple Science Experiments with Elmo and Friends: Water and Earth.

Mitzy the Spider in the Sesame Street Live Show Let's Dance

"The Itsy Bitsy Spider," also known as "The Eensy Weensy Spider" is a popular nursery rhyme that describes the adventures of a spider as it ascends, descends and reascends the downspout or "waterspout" of a gutter system (or, alternatively, the spout of a teapot). It is usually accompanied by a sequence of gestures that mimic the words of the song. The most commonly referenced first published version was in 1962.

Adaptations

• Mother Goose tells the Goslings her own version of the nursery rhyme in a Mother Goose Stories episode, "Eensy Weensy".

• Elmo meets the spider in a 2011 storybook, The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

• A story version of the tale is included in Stories to Share.

Recordings

• Ernie and Bert sing the song in a medley for the album Sesame Street Sing-Along!

• The song is performed by Oscar the Grouch in the Sesame Street Live show When I Grow Up.

• Count von Count performs the song on the album Kids' Favorite Songs.

• Shadow sings the song to Bear in the first season Bear in the Big Blue House episode "Water, Water Everywhere".

• The Lecture Lady performs the song in "Elmo's World: Singing". (First: Episode 3851)

• Ruthie dresses as a spider to perform the song. (First: Episode 3910)

• The song appears on the Kids' Favorite Songs 2 video.

• Oscar performs the song in When Elmo Grows Up, a revised version of the 1993 Sesame Street Live tour.

• Cookie Monster and Mitzy The Spider performing the song in Let's Dance!.

• A spider (played by Kevin Clash) sings the song in What's the Name of That Song?, when Super Grover is flying around listening to all the different songs being sung.

References

• In Episode 2067 of Sesame Street, Susan sings the song with the kids.

• Placido Flamingo sang an original opera about the "Eensy Weensy Spider" (played by Bob) expressing his feelings. (First: Episode 2587)

• The spider himself (performed by Peter Linz) appeared in episode 3118 of Sesame Street, where he takes a vacation but gets blown off the ship, and appears on Sesame Street on his journey home.

• Abby Cadabby lists the song as her favorite, in her profile on the (now defunct) social network TotSpot.

• Sally Hagen sings part of the song to entertain Bobut in the Aliens in the Family episode, "Meet the Brodys."

• A reggae version is heard during the phone call between Little Miss Muffet and Stanley the spider in Sesame Street Episode 3670.

• Herry Monster learns the song in a "Monsters in Day Care" sketch. (First: Episode 3786)

• Grover sings and plays the game with Emily in the book Grover Takes Care of Baby.

• Simple Science Experiments with Elmo and Friends: Water and Earth features a page entitled "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

• The spider (performed by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) figures prominently in the plot of Episode 4226, where Elmo, Telly, and Rosita find the spider not in a water spout but under the Sesame Street sign, having made a web to hatch her egg.

• On Sesame Park and on Sesame Park Snippets (Episode 35), Louis directs a movie of "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", which eventually is changed to "The Itsy Bitsy Piggy".