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Hickory Dickory Dock

Sufficient

Recommended age Unlock

Co-watching from age 2

Stimulating

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Hickory Dickory Dock

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This program is stimulating. It actively demands attention and can feel intense. For the recommended age, this may be on the more intense side. The pacing is fast. Images follow each other quickly, leaving little time to pause and take in what is happening. The sound is intense and continuously present. The visuals are well-balanced, with a clear overall view.

The video follows one simple thread from beginning to end: an animal goes up the clock, the clock strikes a number, the animal goes down. There is only ever one thing to follow at once, and each verse adds just a little that is new, a fresh animal and the next number, which is easy for a toddler to hold onto. The order is predictable and counts up from one to five before the surprise elephant, so a child always has a sense of what comes next. The one soft spot is that the link between an animal climbing and the clock striking is more of a rhyme pattern than a real cause and effect, so the underlying logic stays loose.

The emotional tone stays gentle and warm, carried by a soft singing voice and friendly, calm-faced animals. There is only one small bump, the surprise arrival of the elephant, where the narrator sings 'An elephant?!' and 'Oh no!', and even that plays as a light joke rather than something frightening. Right after, the familiar 'Hickory dickory dock' line and the quiet ending bring things back to calm. Nothing here is mean-spirited or mocking, so a young child is kept in a safe, predictable emotional space.

This pillar scores low because the video does not show any thinking, trying, or problem-solving. The animals simply appear and climb the clock; nothing is worked out, no goal is chased, and no choices are made. Because it is a song built on repetition, there is no moment where a character meets a difficulty and steps through how to handle it. For a child who could learn from seeing independent problem-solving modelled, there is essentially nothing to draw on here.

The language fits a two-year-old well: short, clear lines like 'The mouse went up the clock' and 'The clock struck one' use concrete, familiar words and a simple rhythm that is easy to follow and to join in with. Words are used correctly and consistently, each animal is clearly named, and counting runs from one to five. The main limitation is that a fair share of the words are rhythmic refrains, 'Hickory dickory dock' and 'tick tock', which sound pleasant and mark the beat but carry little meaning on their own. Even so, the meaningful lines do real descriptive work and suit the age.

This pillar is held down because the action lives almost entirely in make-believe: real animals like a mouse, a cat and an elephant climbing a tall grandfather clock is not something a child sees or does in daily life. There are no everyday tasks shown with clear steps to copy, and there are no family or friendship situations that mirror real relationships. What does carry over is the learning woven in, naming common animals and counting from one to five, which a parent can easily practise off-screen. Those pieces give it some real-world value, but the fantastical setup and the absence of recognisable social or practical situations keep it modest.

More information

This is a sung nursery rhyme built around a single grandfather clock, with a series of animals taking turns climbing up and back down. There are no human characters at any point, so the video offers no picture of people, families, cultures or everyday life to draw on. The cast does vary in animal terms (a mouse, a snake, a squirrel, a cat, a monkey and an elephant), and each one is treated in exactly the same way, with no animal cast as smarter, sillier or more important than the others. Because people are absent and the content is abstract, there is little for representation to build on, though nothing here pushes a narrow or stereotyped view either.

This nursery rhyme song keeps almost everything recognizable: a tall grandfather clock and a parade of real animals, a mouse, a snake, a squirrel, a cat, a monkey, and finally an elephant. The one imaginative leap is the idea of animals climbing the clock as it strikes each hour, and that idea stays simple and consistent the whole way through. There is no villain and no good-versus-evil story; the single surprise is the elephant who is too big for the clock, played for gentle comedy. For a 2-year-old this light mix of the familiar and the playful is a comfortable match.

This is a calm, well-produced nursery rhyme that plays mostly for the child in the room and offers an adult little to hold onto. The song repeats one refrain while a series of animals climbs the clock, so the plot stays thin apart from the closing surprise when an elephant is too big and the pattern breaks. The gentle voice, soft palette, and clean clock animation make it easy to have on in the background. For a co-viewing parent the appeal is comfort and polish rather than story or humor.

Themes

Animals

Each verse features a different animal, a mouse, snake, squirrel, cat, monkey, and finally an elephant, climbing the clock.

Numbers

Central

The clock strikes a rising number each verse, sung as 'The clock struck one' up to 'five'.

Clocks and time

Central

A grandfather clock is the central object in almost every scene, with repeated 'tick tock' refrains.

Music

The whole video is a sung nursery rhyme version of 'Hickory Dickory Dock'.

Activities

Singing

The entire video is a sung performance of the nursery rhyme.

Counting

The song counts from one to five as the clock strikes in each verse.

Animal recognition

Each animal is named as it appears: 'A snake', 'A squirrel', 'A cat'.

Emotions

Calm

The soft singing and gentle tick-tock keep most verses quiet and relaxed.

Joy

The bouncy rhyme and repeated 'tick tock' give the song a light, playful feel.

Surprise

The narrator sings 'An elephant?!' and 'Oh no!' when the oversized elephant appears at the end.

Behaviour

Climbing

Each animal climbs up the grandfather clock and then climbs back down.

This is a sung version of the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock' from Super Simple Songs. In each verse a different animal, first a mouse, then a snake, squirrel, cat, and monkey, climbs a tall grandfather clock, the clock strikes the next number from one to five, and the animal climbs back down, with 'tick tock' refrains in between. The final verse brings a surprise when a large elephant arrives at the clock and the narrator sings 'Oh no!'. The video ends with a closing card showing the Super Simple Songs website and an animal-songs collection.

Season 1

6 episodes

Super Simple Songs

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Five Little Monkeys

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Five cartoon monkeys jump on a red bed. In each verse one monkey falls off and bumps its head, mama calls the doctor, and the doctor answers, 'No more monkeys jumping on the bed.' The song counts down from five monkeys to one and then closes with the monkeys back on the bed. It is a single sung nursery rhyme set against a plain white background.

Super Simple Songs

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

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A round owl sits in a moonlit forest and then glides through a night sky filled with twinkling stars, drifting clouds, and a crescent moon. Throughout, the nursery rhyme 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' is sung, and a large smiling star floats beside the owl as it gazes upward. The song repeats its verse and the owl returns to the forest. The video closes on a black screen showing a website address.

Super Simple Songs

Super Simple Songs

Hickory Dickory Dock

recommended age co-watching from 2

This is a sung version of the nursery rhyme 'Hickory Dickory Dock' from Super Simple Songs. In each verse a different animal, first a mouse, then a snake, squirrel, cat, and monkey, climbs a tall grandfather clock, the clock strikes the next number from one to five, and the animal climbs back down, with 'tick tock' refrains in between. The final verse brings a surprise when a large elephant arrives at the clock and the narrator sings 'Oh no!'. The video ends with a closing card showing the Super Simple Songs website and an animal-songs collection.

Super Simple Songs

Super Simple Songs

Row Row Row Your Boat

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This is a sung version of the nursery rhyme 'Row, row, row your boat,' made by Super Simple Songs. Animal characters, including a squirrel and a rabbit, paddle small wooden boats down a winding stream that passes through forest and autumn scenery. The same verse repeats several times and is sung as a round near the end, shown with a split screen of two boats. The video closes with a card showing the Super Simple Learning website and thumbnails for two other songs.

Super Simple Songs

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Bingo

recommended age co-watching from 2

This is the classic 'BINGO' nursery rhyme from Super Simple Songs, set on a cartoon farm with a farmer and his white dog, Bingo. The song spells out the dog's name and, in each new verse, swaps a letter for an action: clap, pat your legs, pat your tummy, pat your head, and finally jump. A group of children demonstrates each movement so children watching can join in. It closes by returning to the full B-I-N-G-O spelling and a final dog bark.

Super Simple Songs

Super Simple Songs

S-A-N-T-A (Christmas Version Of B-I-N-G-O)

recommended age co-watching from 2

A cartoon Santa Claus and three elves sing and dance through a Christmas version of the BINGO song. The verses describe Santa with a red hat, a white beard, and a twinkle in his eye, then spell his name as 'S-A-N-T-A', dropping one letter each round and replacing it with a hum. Bright red and green backgrounds alternate behind the characters as they dance. The video ends on a close-up of Santa with the 'BINGO' logo and the SuperSimpleLearning.com web address.

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From this series Super Simple Songs

By age 2 years

By platform YouTube

By theme Animals Music

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