Playground favourites
Doctor
Dingle, Doctor Jingle
Down
by the river
Knees up Mary Muffet
Sally go round the sun
We
are going to Kentucky
When
Susie was a baby
Last updated: 19/08/2015 13:44
The songs below are part of ‘Away we
go’ Round and about
compiled, adapted, translated and illustrated by Dany Rosevear
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To listen to music from these
songs click on title at O
To
watch the author sing a song click on the title at:
© Dany Rosevear 2008 All rights reserved
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you must give the original author credit
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Your
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Doctor Dingle, Doctor Jingle O Move in time and you’ll feel so fine! The more vigorously the better.
Try counting in different languages. As well as below this song can be played cumulatively adding a new
action each time.
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Down by the river O From the early years of the last century this song has been chanted as
a skipping rope game where the named child joins the skipper. It has also
been popular as a playground game where sweethearts have been invited into
the circle with a ‘will you marry me?’ As an alternative to the simple game below, each time the song is sung
a new named child enters the circle where they form a small inner circle.
This grows until the outer circle is left with a single child who then enters
the newly formed ring for the game to start again.
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Knees up Mary Muffet O This traditional playground ring game is a variation of ‘Knees up
Mother Brown’ sung to the tune of ‘My old man’s a dustman’. Listen to a snippet from Kathy Reid Naiman’s
delightful album: http://www.amazon.de/Knees-Up-Mary-Muffet/dp/B003DRNPRM See the web site: http://www.jackiesilberg.com/ where it is used as a nappy changing song.
Substitute a child’s name for Mary Muffet and add
‘Toes up / fingers up / arms up. You will find this a great site with good ideas for promoting child
development. Begin the game in a large circle side by side with a partner.
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Sally go round the sun O Once a playground favourite and now sung in nurseries around the
world, this game has the charm of perpetual motion. Versions include ‘around
the churchyard / mulberry bush / hickory stick / omnibus / rainbow’ ending
with ‘Whee! / Hi! / Oh! / Hoop la! / Bump! / Boo!’ Once children are familiar with this simple game allocate a number round the circle. Each time ‘afternoon’ is sung the numbered child turns outwards. When all have turned out take it in turns to return to facing the centre of the circle. The child who turns could be named each time the game is played eg ‘Brendan / Charlie / Erin go round the sun’. Watch at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5VAnR0eBfU&feature=related
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We are going to Kentucky O Traditionally this is a game played by girls with a ‘senorita’ in the
middle. For a more co-ed approach try ‘my sister Rita’ or ‘my brother Rico
with flowers in his hand’, depending who is in the middle. Alternatively, if
you don’t mind hoots of laughter, substitute ‘senorita’ with a child’s name
and a food of choice in their hair; Daniel with pizza in his hair, Samantha
with meatballs in her hair and so on. Watch at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1se1GhzBXs&feature=related
.
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When Susie was a baby O Also known as “When Lucy/Pebbles (of Flintstones fame) was a baby”, in
this song Susie moves through the stepping stones of life. As an alternative ending sing the following: “When Susie was in the
sky”, she cries in astonishment, “Oh it’s beautiful!” flaps her wings and spins
round. Find more words, some quite risqué, “Ooh ah,
lost my bra, found my knickers in my boyfriend’s car!” by following the
wonderful Mudcat’s online discussion forum at: http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=109480 There are also many versions on YouTube such
as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d51I4VVwQXY
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