My daughter is in first grade, and is getting to the age where handclapping games and jumproping are prime recess entertainment. I used to know scads of these rhymes, having once been a first grade girl myself, but my mind being the sieve that it is, I’ve forgotten most of them.
(for jumprope) Cinderella, dressed in yellow,
Went upstairs to kiss her fellow,
Made a mistake and kissed a snake,
how many doctors did it take…
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (ad infinitum until the jumper stumbles)
(for handclapping) Miss Molly had a steamboat, the steamboat had a bell,
Miss Molly went to heaven, the steamboat went to…
HELL-o operator, please give me number 9,
And if you disconnect me I’ll kick you in behind
The 'frigerator, there was a piece of glass,
Miss Molly sat upon it, and hurt her little…
ASk me no more questions, I’ll tell you no more lies,
The cows are in the meadow, making chocolate pies.
Yum yum!
My boyfriend’s name is Jello
He comes from Cincinello
With a pimple on his nose
And three fat toes
And that’s the way my story goes
(Not an authentic street-rhyme – it’s from a fantasy story by Avram Davidson.)
Five Four Three Twenty-One
Four Three Twenty-One
Three Twenty-One
Twenty-One
One…one…one…one…one…one
That was the funnest jump chant ever.
And this hand-clapping chant:
Eeny-meany ooh ahh tumbline
Alichachi Liberace I love you
Take a peach, take a plum
Take a piece of bubble gum
No peach, no plum
Just a piece of bubble gum
I like coffee, I like tea
I like the boys and the boys like me. . .
Bell bells, cockle shells
Evie, Ivy, Over*
My dog’s name is Rover.
He died last October…
January, February, March, etc.
*You’d swing the rope back and forth like a pendulum for these first two lines, and then, on “over,” start flipping it all the way around in a circle overhead.
I also remember doing a hand-clapping song to the old “Do you know exactly how to eat an Oreo?” jingle.
Bluebells, cockle shells
Evie, Ivy, Over*
My dog’s name is Rover.
He died last October…
January, February, March, etc.
*You’d swing the rope back and forth like a pendulum for these first two lines, and then, on “over,” start flipping it all the way around in a circle overhead.
I also remember doing a hand-clapping song to the old “Do you know exactly how to eat an Oreo?” jingle.
While two people turned double-dutch, a line of girls would take turns jumping in at one side and jumping out on the other and then rejoining the end of the line again.
“Keep the kettle boiling
miss a beat you’re out”
The rhyme (actually, that’s not really a rhyme is it?) was repeated until someone missed a beat and then they had to turn the rope until someone else missed.
I sure wish I could remember some of the hand-clapping rhymes we had. If memory serves, we had to whisper some of them so our parents couldn’t hear us using that kind of language.
There was also the “put in your dukes” method of choosing who got to go first in a game. Not sure of the spelling here.
“Occa bocca dona crocka
occa bocca deuce
cinderella umberella
out goes you”
I remember some “Eenie-meenie-miney-mo” type things that were used for choosing someone out of a group, or eliminating people out of a group…
My mother and your mother were hanging up clothes
My mother punched your mother right in the nose
What color was the blood?
And then whoever was landed on had to pick up a color.
There was also something about a dirty dishrag turned double side triple side inside OUT. But I can’t remember how that went.
It was mostly the girls in the neighborhood who lead such things and the boys only got to hear 'em if it was a big game of hide & seek or tag with all the boys and girls.
My wife played a game with a ball in a stocking, bounced against a wall and between the legs.
The rhyme went something like this:
Hello Hello Hello sir
meet me at the grocer
no sir why sir
because I have a cold sir
where’d you get the cold sir?
from the North Pole sir
what were you doing there sir
catching polar bear sir
how many did you catch sir
1 sir, 2 sir…until you messed up with the ball and it was the next person’s turn
I never learned how to do it, but there used to be a clapping game that went along with “Rock Around the Clock.” IIRC, several girls could do it at once, standing in a circle.
I seem to recall that some of the rhymes we used in counting out or clapping were also used in Double Dutch.
Engine, engine number nine
Going down Chicago Line
If the train falls off the track
Do you want your money back?
…
Ooo, she thinks she’s fine
Walking down that fine line
My, she thinks she’s bad
Strapping on her Maxi pad
…
Old Abe Lincoln was a good ol’ man
Jumped out the window with his dick in his hand
He said, “Excuse me, ladies, I’m doing my duty.
Won’t you pull down your pants and give me some booty.”
My sister and her friends used to do this hand-clapping song so often that it still haunts me over 20 years later:
Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
all dressed in black black black
with silver buttons buttons buttons
all down her back back back
She asked her mother mother mother
for fifty cents cents cents
to see the elephants phants phants
jump over the fence fence fence
They jumped so high high high
they reached the sky sky sky
and didn’t come back back back
'til the fourth of july ly ly ly
I remember the one Marlitharn posted as using Molly also, though I’ve heard it with Suzie as well.
I remember some sort of game where we all stood in a circle and sang:
Dr. Knickerbocker, Knickerbocker Number 9
He sure got sick off a bottle of wine!
Now let’s get the rhythm of the hands
Now you got the rhythm of the hands
Now let’s get the rhythm of the feet
Now you got the rhythm of the feet
Now let’s get the rhythm of the number 5!
This was followed by counting by 5’s to 100 and the person who got 100 would be out.
Down by the ocean, down by the sea
Johnny broke a bottle and blamed it on me
I told Ma and Ma told Pa
And Johnny got a lickin’ with a
Ha Ha Ha
How many lickin’s did he receive
Close your eyes and you shall see
1, 2, 3 (and so on until the jumper misses.)
Another jump rope song:
Not last night but the night before
14 robbers
Came knocking at my door
Um, I can’t remember the rest right now
As I ran oouuuuuut (jumper runs out of the game) they ran in
Hit me on the head with a rolling pin
Aske 'em what they wanted, this is what they said
Spanish dancers do the splits(jumper does the splits)
Spanish dancers give a high kick (jumper gives a high kick)
Spanish dancers touch the ground (yeah, you guessed it)
Spanish dancers turn all around (right again!)
Spanish dancers get out of this town
I did that one except I said it with Miss Susie and the very end in which we sang
ASk me no more questions, I’ll tell you no more lies,
The boys are in the bathroom, zipping up their
FLYIES are in the meadow, bees are park
Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing in the D-A-R-K D-A-R-K DARK DARK DARK!