1-888-958-5045 (9am-5pm PST | Mon - Fri)
“Jesus Loves the Little Children” is a song that many of us are familiar with. Those of us who grew up in Sunday School may fondly remember singing it in church. And even though the song was penned more than 100 years ago, it remains an evergreen Sunday School favorite today. Here are the lyrics together with chords.
G
Jesus loves the little children
D
All the children of the world
G
Red and yellow, black and white
C G
They are precious in His sight
D G
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Lyrics by: Clare Herbert Woolston
Tune by: George Frederick Root
Many different versions of the song have emerged over the years. Popular variations to the lyrics are provided in the next section.
Here are our favorite videos of “Jesus Loves the Little Children”. Please note that some videos have slightly different lyrics from above.
This video features a split track, which is useful if you want to use it as an accompaniment for your children’s choir. The left channel plays only the instruments while the right channel plays only the vocals.
The lyrics differ slightly from the above. “Red and yellow” is replaced with “Red, brown, yellow” and there is 1 additional stanza that replaces “Jesus loves the little children” with “Jesus died for all the children”.
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Jesus died for all the children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus died for all the children of the world.
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Red, brown, yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Red, brown, yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight
Jesus loves the little children of the world
This is a medley of 3 popular Sunday School songs.
This is a medley of 2 songs. Note that the lyrics differ slightly. The line “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight” is replaced with “Every color, shape and size, they are precious in His eyes.”
This video features animation accompanying the song. The audio is the same as the one by Cedarmont Kids above but without the split track.
Note that the lyrics differ slightly. The line “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight” is replaced with “Every child in every land, Jesus holds them in His hand”. There are also 3 additional stanzas that replaces “Jesus loves the little children” with “Jesus died for all the children”, “Jesus rose for all the children” and “Jesus cares for all the children”.
Jesus loves the little children
All the children of the world
Every child in every land
Jesus holds them in His hand
Jesus loves the little children of the world
Jesus died for all the children…
Jesus rose for all the children…
Jesus cares for all the children…
The quality of this video may not be fantastic, but we love that it teaches sign language for this song.
This is a delightful video of a super talented family singing together. So wonderful to see the young boy joyfully drumming and the little baby girl trying to grab the mike to sing along.
The song “Jesus Loves the Little Children” actually originated as a civil war ballad:
Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The boys are marching
Cheer up, comrades, they will come
All beneath the starry flag
We shall breathe the air again
Of the free land in our own beloved home
“Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!” was written by George Frederick Root during the American Civil War (1861 to 1865). Root wrote the song to raise the morale of the civil war prisoners at that time. It was only later that Clare Herbert Woolston, a lyricist, writer and preacher, penned the lyrics of “Jesus Loves the Little Children” to the tune of “Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!”.
Some have suggested that the song “Jesus Loves the Little Children” was inspired by the Bible verse: Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14
Matthew 19:13-15 tells us that when people brought children to Jesus for him to place his hands on and to pray for, they were rebuked by Jesus’ disciples. In the disciples’ minds, children were a disruption and interference to Jesus’ ministry. They probably thought they were doing the right thing by trying to keep children away from Jesus. But Jesus obviously felt differently. He rebuked his disciples, called the children to him (Luke 18:16), took them in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them (Mark 10:16).
Since our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ took time to interact with, pray for, bless and minister to children, surely, we, as his disciples, must similarly “go and do likewise”.
We Need to Welcome Children
In Luke 9:47-48, Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me”. To love and welcome any child is to love and welcome Jesus. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus taught about caring for those in need. “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me… “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Surely this includes caring and loving the children in our midst.
We Need to Pray for Children and Teach Them about God
For those of us who are parents, we must remember that children are gifts from God (Psalm 127:3), entrusted to our care by our heavenly Father. As we enjoy these precious gifts from God, we must not forget that we are responsible for bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). We are not to take this lightly, but as an integral part of our daily lives (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).
We Need to Lead Children to Jesus
Just as adults need salvation through faith in Jesus, children also need to hear the good news so that they, too, can place their faith in Jesus. Many churches conduct evangelistic Vacation Bible School (VBS) as part of their outreach efforts, which is really great! Not only will kids have lots of fun during VBS, but they also get to hear the gospel. Evangelizing to kids need not be limited to the local community but should also be extended to overseas missions. Churches can consider sending teams to support overseas churches in their children’s ministry or to conduct various outreach programs. There are many creative ways to share the gospel with children. For example our unique Gospel Tracts and Halloween Tracts are great tools to explain salvation to a child.
“Jesus Loves the Little Children” may be a simple children’s song, inspired by a simple verse in the Bible. And learning and teaching this song to kids may be easy. But as Jesus’ disciples and representatives in this world, it is important that we show children in practical ways just how much Jesus loves them.
Click here for more child evangelism resources on God’s plan of salvation for kids.
