Jump-rope rhyme

[twirlgrrl]

I suppose there are regional variations to everything like this. Here is the rhyme we used to chant while jumping rope at the little two-room school I went to from first through eighth grade.

Not last night but the night before
24 robbers came a-knockin' at my door
As I ran out (run out of the rope)
They... ran... in (jump back in)
And they hit me on the head with a rolling pin
And this is what they said to me

Old lady, old lady, turn around (turn around while jumping)
Old lady, old lady, touch the ground (touch the ground between jumps)
Old lady, old lady, show your show (hold one foot out while jumping)
Old lady, old lady, that will do!

Then I'd run out of the rope and the next girl in line would run in to start the rhyme again.

We were suburban kids in a tiny religious school, a maximum of 30 kids in first through eighth. We didn't know from double dutch or any complicated rhymes or rhythms. This was hard enough for us, at least in the first classroom. I don't think I jumped rope anymore after I moved up to the second classroom in fifth grade.

What do you remember chanting, singing or playing in grade school?

ETA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapping_game Wikipedia rocks, thanks flymetothemoon!

Comments

[ninjalie.livejournal.com]

How about:

Cindarella dressed in yella went downstairs to kiss her fella,
Made a mistake, kissed a snake, how many doctors did it take?

1 2 3...and we would keep counting till you messed up.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! I remember that one too!

[kathykat.livejournal.com]

I also know the Cinderella one, although in the one I know she went upstairs (*wink*-*wink*)

which brings to mind...
Mickey Mouse
built a house
how many bricks
did he use?
1...2...3...
(another team choosing rhyme, same as Cinderella)

and...
Ching Ching China man sittin on a fence
tried to make a dollar out of 99 cents
gotta miss
miss
miss like this
(jump rope rhyme)

and...
down down baby
down down the roller coaster
sweet sweet baby
never gonna let you go
mother's in the kitchen baking break
father's in the living room halfway dead
(two person hand clapping rhyme)

and...
Miss Mary Mack Mack Mack
all dressed in black black black
she asked her mother mother mother
for fifty cents cents cents
to see the elephant elephant elephant
jump the fence fence fence

he jumped so high high high
he touched the sky sky sky
and he never came back back back
til the 4th of July
(prolly jump rope, but we just sang it)

Also...
my dog died last nite
what color was his blood?
(then you name a color and point to people as you count them off with each letter of the color name - team choosing)

and the ever famous:
Miss Susie had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell
Miss Susie went to heaven
the steamboat went to
Hello operator please give me number nine
and if you disconnect me
I'll kick you in the
behind the refrigerator
there was a piece of glass
Miss Susie sat upon it and cut her little
ask me no more questions
I'll tell you no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom zipping up their
flies are in the meadow,
the bees are in the park
Miss Susie and her boyfriend are kissing in the
dark is like a movie
a movie's like a show
a show is like a tv screen
and that is all I know
(we just sang this one too, but I know of it also as a jump rope one as well)

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Awesome. I'm commenting more on *your* LJ since you stole this thread from me. :P

[kathykat.livejournal.com]

hey man, at least i credited!!!

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

I know, and I'm glad you stole it, I was just giving you a hard time because you have the uber-cool flymetothemoon commenting on it over there and I'm jealous because I'm not efriends with her yet. ;-)

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

we did miss susie, and we did miss mary makk - although we didn't do those as jump rope things. our miss susie had slightly different words. i remember a post in someone's lj where we all told our versions of miss susie, but i don't think that was here, right?

for jump rope i knew

teddy bear teddy bear, turn around!
teddy bear teddy bear, toukh the ground!
teddy bear teddy bear, tie your shoe!
teddy bear teddy bear, how old are you?
are you 1, are you 2, are you 3....
(see how long you kan jump rope)

i knew a klapping game (patty kake but more komplikated)...

do you know exaktly how to eat an oreo?
well to do it
you unskrew it
very fast! (get faster)
kuz the kid'll
eat the middle
of an oreo first
and save the khokolate kookie outside
for last!
bop bop!
ding ding!
(another noise twise that i don't know how to type)

i think the last three lines with the sound effekts were kreated by my best friend and i, bekause we found that otherwise the words would stop before the klapping part.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow! I don't know that oreo one! Wish I could hear the sound effects.

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

the first two you just imagine kids singing those words. the third one is like if you inhaled air against a klosed throat.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to hear you do the whole thing someday because I can't get a sense of the timing from reading the words.

I keep looking at craigslist home swaps for NY because we'd really like to come out. I have some dear friends in your neighborhood that I'll be visiting. I'll keep you posted.

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

ooh that would be so great!!!!

i saw an ad for inexpensive plane tikkets today and looked to see if there were any to SF, fantasizing that i'd kome visit you and janisfan. not that i kould do that any time soon, no matter how kheap, but it's nise to dream!

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes it is, and that would be so fun! Blue's getting his own bedroom here soon, so that'll be the guest room for people like you when you can make it out. :-)

I just remembered this one as flymetothemoon put it on kathykat's post

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Say, say, oh playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rain barrel (or rainbow)
Into my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more, more, more, shut the door

So sorry, playmate
I cannot play with you
My dolly has the flu
Oh boo hoo hoo hoo hoo
Can't slide down my rain barrel
Into my cellar door
But we'll be jolly friends
Forever more
(clapping game)

Re: I just remembered this one as flymetothemoon put it on kathykat's post

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

oh yeah we did that!

but all of these ones exsept the teddy bear i knew as klapping games not jump rope.