Five Currant Buns
The classic countdown counting song set in a baker's shop
Listen
Arrangement: Ian J. Watts / Mike Wilbury · Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks
Lyrics
Five currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and he took it away.
Four currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with cherries on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
Three currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and he took it away.
Two currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with cherries on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought a currant bun and took it away.
One currant bun in a baker's shop.
Big and round with a cherry on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought the currant bun and he took it away.
No currant buns in a baker's shop.
But don't worry…the bakers' got some more!
One hundred currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with cherries on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought the currant bun and took it away.
Ninty Nine currant buns in a baker's shop.
Big and round with cherries on the top,
Along came a boy with a penny one day,
Bought the currant bun and took it away.
Traditional lyrics — public domain. Arrangement © Singalongasong Band / ClassicRocks.
History & Background
History & Origin
"Five Currant Buns" is a traditional counting-down song that has been a mainstay of early years education for generations. Its structure is elegantly simple: five buns are displayed, children with pennies buy them one by one, and the number diminishes from five to none. It is subtraction made delicious.
Counting-down songs are among the most effective mathematical tools in the early years toolkit precisely because they embed number concepts in narrative and physical action. Children can hold up five fingers, fold them down one by one, and feel in their bodies what it means for a number to decrease. The narrative — the baker's shop, the cherry on top, the satisfying transaction with a penny — provides context that makes the abstraction concrete.
The currant bun itself is a specifically British confection: a small, round enriched bread roll studded with dried currants, topped in this rhyme with a cherry. Currant buns have been sold in British bakeries since at least the eighteenth century, and are closely related to hot cross buns. Their round, cheerful appearance makes them natural stars of a children's song.
The song belongs to a family of counting-down pieces that includes "Five Fat Sausages," "Five Little Ducks," and "Five Little Monkeys" — all using the same basic structure of five items being removed one by one. The repetition of this pattern across multiple songs reinforces the counting concept from multiple angles, and the variety of settings keeps the learning fresh.
Our recording gives the baker's shop a lively, fun atmosphere that makes the counting feel like play.
