Grandmother, Grandmother, Jump Out of Bed
Out walking the dog today with my son I came across this plant. I think it might be a Greater Bindweed plant but I would not swear to it. You often see them in hedgerows with their distinctive trumpet shaped white flowers.
I picked one and said the rhyme, “Grandmother, Grandmother, jump out of bed” and then squeezed the green base. The flower pops out as if it is on a spring. My son looked at me as if I was mad. He then became rather fascinated and wondered why the flower jumped out when I said the rhyme. This led to a lot of experimentation with the flowers, saying the rhyme, not saying the rhyme and seeing if they jumped. He really enjoyed it and it was a lot of fun.
I have memories of my mum showing me how to do this when we were on country walks when I as a child. She told me that her mother had taught her. I hope my son will be popping these flowers with his children in the years to come. However it did make me wonder, are we the only family that does this or is there an origin for this tradition? Are there more lines to the poem or is “Grandmother Grandmother, jump out of bed” all there is to it? I would really love to know if anyone else does this or knows the origins of the rhyme. If you do know please tell me!
We used to say that rhyme too – no idea where it came from but we’d go looking for the flowers whenever we went for walks as a family.
I’ve lived in the countryside all my life and never heard of this. I can’t wait to find some bindweed & try it out.
We say Granny granny pop out of the bed !
I am so glad other people do this and its not just me. Its great fun but I would love to know the origins 🙂
I used to do it too!!! Just found some of these flowers this year and showed my husband and daughter they thought it was great too!!!
I was just reading a book called ‘Tom’s Midnight Garden’ by Phillippa Pearce. It was first published in 1958, and in it a boy named Tom meets a girl from the late 1800s. The girl, Hatty, teaches Tom how to ‘nip off the top out of the grass-head [of wild barley] and then replace it; and, then, holding the grass in one fist, she would knock against it with the other,’ while repeating the phrase above. At the word jump she knocks hard enough to make the top spring out of the grass.
How interesting, I remember reading the book years ago but not that part
This is the one my mother taught me with the wild grass, we used to say Grandfather, grandfather jump out of bed, then we flicked the replaced grass out of the top of the stem with our other hand, to see how far ‘he’ could jump. I showed this to my granddkids yesterday, they were fascinated by this, so I had to google to see if it was ‘known’. Some variations on it, but glad I coud find something.
I think a lot of the traditions are dying out so it is always good to find something to confirm you didn’t make it up.
I ve just come across your post. I too say this and, presumably, learnt it as a child. I thought it was quite a common thing but apparently not. Anyway I ve passed it on to my granddaughter but because we re in wales we say Nainie Nainie jump out of bed
I thought it was pretty common as well, my parents and grandparents always said it. Love the Welsh version
Just heard on radio 4 this afternoon. 4pm 19.7.22
Goodness, this brings back so many good memories. They used to grow in the bushes along the road where we lived, and I can remember my mummy teaching me the rhyme. I remember saying grandfather, grandfather, pop out of bed.
I found a picture of my niece wearing a jumper that my mummy knitted for her, and my youngest daughter was doing her best to find out what the program was called. In the end, I scanned the picture, and sent it to my niece to find the answer.
It was called Victoria Plum, and her hat reminded me of the poem, and I wanted to know what the flower was called. I remembered the poem, and put it in the Google search engine, and I came across this Website.
I am going to put a shortcut to this Website on my phone, as I think that I’m going to enjoy discovering what this Website is about, as I’m very intrigued.
I mentioned these to my husband and he thought I was talking rubbish. I was delighted to have memories of my grandparents reading your comments.Unfortunately, I used to say the rhyme and pop them with my children, now between 42and32 and they have forgotten it. Shame to see these harmless games disappear
I agree, kids just seem attached to phones these days and a lot of these games are vanishing
My Gran used to say grandmother grandmother sit up in bed n make it in her palm laying diwn, sir up, then she’d put it upside doen trumoetvfscing her palm grandmother grandmother sit on your head, then she’d say grandmother jump out 9f bed
I love this variation, not heard of this before.
My mum and gran used to say, granny bonnet, granny bonnet jump out of bed!
There was another line to it I cannot remember.
I was looking for evidence of the poem the other day but only found 2 sites that give reference to it in some form or another!
When I was little we always said :-
Granny popped out of bed
She fell on the old man’s head
Her husband said “0w you stupid old cow “
And kicked her back into the bed
That made me laugh! Nice twist to the rhyme
We played this game in the rural area where I grew up. We used to say ‘Grandmother pop out of bed’.
I also remember children telling each other not to pick dandelions because ‘they make you wet the bed’.
And the frantic search for dock leaves when we got stung by the ubiquitous nettles in out local area.
I remember both of those as well! Luckily the dock leaves seem to grow near nettles
The rhyme continues “the house is on fire and the children are dead”. It’s not nice! Im a Londoner and was taking to a friend from Pennsylvania about this where they have a very similar version. We therefore deduce it’s George III era but don’t know the back story.
Now you mention that it brings it back. I wonder what the rest of the rhyme says.