A nursery rhyme is a traditional song or poem taught to young children, originally in the nursery. Learning such a verse assists in the development of vocabulary, and several examples deal with rudimentary counting skills. It also encourages children to enjoy music. In addition, specific actions, motions, or dances are often associated with particular songs.

Many cultures (though not all; see below) feature children's songs and verses that are passed down by oral tradition from one generation to the next (either from parent to child or from older children to younger children). In the English language, the term nursery rhyme generally refers to those of European origin, and the best known examples are English and originated in or since the 17th century. Their origins were possibly a form of oral political cartoon from an era when dissenting speech could get the speaker imprisoned. Nursery rhymes, however, are often violent in nature; for example, in "Jack and Jill", Jack fell down and "broke his crown" i.e., injuring his head so that it bled.

Some nursery rhymes, however, are substantially older. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" exists in written records as far back as the Middle Ages. Some well-known nursery rhymes originated in the United States, such as "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

Little Miss Muffet is a nursery rhyme. It first appeared in print in 1805, in a book titled Songs for the Nursery.

Like many such rhymes, its origins are unclear. Some claim it was written by Dr. Thomas Muffet, a 16th century English entomologist, for his stepdaughters; others claim it refers to Mary, Queen of Scots, who was said to have been frightened by John Knox, a Scottish religious reformer in the 16th century. The latter explanation is doubted by most literary scholars, who note that stories linking folk tales or songs to political events are often urban legends.

A legendary king of Celtic Britain, about all that can be said about Old King Cole with any certainty is that:

: Old King Cole was a merry old soul     And a merry old soul was he;He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl     And he called for his fiddlers three.

: Every fiddler he had a fiddle,     And a very fine fiddle had he;Oh theres none so rare, as can compare     With King Cole and his fiddlers three.''

So runs a traditional nursery rhyme the earliest mention of which appeared in 1708-9. Opie, I & P, op. cit. p. 134. Cole, or more properly Coel (pronounced like the English word coil), is a Brythonic (Cumbric) name possibly derived from the Roman Caelius, and there are several candidates for a historical basis to the rhyme amongst both the legendary and historical kings of the Romano-British and sub-Roman period.