Children's Ball Bouncing Rhymes

CHILDREN BALL BOUNCING RHYMES

This page contains selected examples and comments about children's ball bouncing rhymes. This page doesn't include examples of children's games that are played with a ball. The focus on this page is the rhymes (chants, songs) that accompany the activity of bouncing one or more rubber balls.

Click http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=82053&messages=34 for a page on dialogue chants such as "Knock Knock/Who's There", "You remind me of a man/What man" and "Where's my money/ In Your Pocket". These chants could be said while bouncing a ball, but appear to usually be said without any accompanying activity.

Miss Azizi Powell, Founder / Editor
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Last update; February 17, 2013

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Many jump rope rhymes are also used as ball bouncing rhymes. I've decided not to double post rhymes, Therefore, some examples of rhymes chanted while bouncing one or more balls may be found on Cocojams's handclap, jump rope, and elastic rhymes pages. Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes to find selected examples of handclap, jump rope, and elastic rhymes whose names begin with Numbers to L. Click http://www.cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes-2 for selected examples of hand clap, jump rope, and elastic rhymes whose names begin with a letter from M-Z.

You'll notice that Cocojams playground rhyme pages contain multiple versions of certain rhymes. I'm interested in posting multiple versions of rhymes as a way of documenting the way that the words of a particular rhyme may change in different geographical locations or among different populations within the same city, state, or nation. Posting multiple examples of the same rhyme also documents the way that the words of a rhyme may change over time.

INTERNET SOURCES OF RHYMES THAT ARE FEATURED ON THIS PAGE
Some of the rhymes featured on this page are from my childhood memories, and/or from my collection efforts (mostly among African Americans in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1990s to date).

Many of the rhymes on this page were sent in by Cocojams visitors. See the information below about where & how to send rhyme examples for possible posting on this site.

A mumber of rhymes featured on this page are reposted from other websites. Cocojams includes rhyme examples from other websites to help ensure that these examples are preserved and to help demonstrate how the words and performance activities of specific rhyme examples may vary over time and within certain populations. Hyperlinks to the source website are always posted on this page. If I am asked to remove examples featured here from any source, I will do so.

A few rhymes on this page are from certain hard to find books. In each of those cases, I have included the title and publisher of those books and the editors' name/s. I've included those examples to help increase readers' familiarity with those examples and with those books. Again, if I am asked to remove examples featured here from any source, I will do so.

My thanks to all of the websites from which rhymes are reposted. Special thanks to http://www.mudcat.org/threads.cfm.

SENDING IN EXAMPLES OF RHYMES
Please send examples of ball bouncing rhymes to cocojams17@yahoo.com for possible posting on this page.

Examples are posted for their creative, folkloric value.

Your email address is never posted or shared.

Or if you are on facebook, visit me at cocojams jambalayah, and befriend me, or send me a private message!

Please be aware that by sharing your examples or comments with me, you are giving me permission to include it in a book or in any other off-line publication.

Although it is not required, please include information about how this rhyme is performed. Also, for the sake of folkloric research, please include the following demographical information: where you learned the rhyme (please include the city & state if within the USA, and the nation, if outside the USA); when you learned this rhyme (year or decade such as 2008, the 1990s, or the mid 1970s); and who performed this rhyme (age, gender, race/ethnicity).

Thanks to all those who have sent in examples for possible posting on Cocojams! Special thanks to all those who remember to include performance information and demographical information (particularly location, and when the rhyme was performed) along with the text of the rhyme itself.

COMMENTS ABOUT THE FEATURED RHYMES
Examples of rhymes & cheers are almost always posted the way that readers send them to this website. Some of these examples have typos and other accidental spelling errors or have text messaging, slang, or otherwise purposely misspelled words & phrases. Many of these examples are written without any capitalization at the beginning of a line or punctuation mark at the end of line. Posting examples written this way may result in difficulty understanding the examples. However, I believe that it is important to keep the examples' original form for authenticity's sake and as a means of showcasing the examples' "flavor".

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SELECTED EXAMPLES

A, B
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham-a Lincoln,
Never was a crook,
Because his nose
Was always in a book.
How many books did he read?
1, 2, 3, etc.
Children's Counting-Out Rhymes, Fingerplays,
Jump-rope and Bounce-Ball Chants and Other Rhythms:
A Comprehensive English-Language Reference ; http://www.delamar.org/gbchildex.htm ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

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A MY NAME IS
A my name is Alice
My husband's name is Al
We live in Atlantic City
Where they sell Apples

B my name is Barbara
My husband's name is Bob
We live in Boston
Where they sell Beans

C my name is Charlotte
My husband's name is Charles
We live in Charleston
Where they sell cars.

D my name is Debbie
My husband's name is Don
We live in Dublin
Where they sell Dogs

[Continue with this pattern throughout the alphabet until you miss or can't think of an example for that letter]
-Azizi P. ; Atlantic City New Jersey, 1950s; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

Editor: This is an individual ball bouncing rhyme. With each example using that letter, the ball is bounced under your leg.

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BOUNCE AND CATCH
Bounce and catch
Reach for the stars
Here come Jupiter
There goes Mars.
-Simon J. Bronner:American Children's Folklore ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

C, D
CLAIMSIES, CLAPSIES
Claimsies, Clapsies
Rollie pollie
Crossies
Frontsies, backsies
Telephone answer
Stamp your foot
Wave goodbye
Highsies, tootsies
This hand
The other hand
Wave goodbye
- Simon J Bronner, American Children's Folklore page 69; http://books.google.com/books?id=sHfVZFl4JTIC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=ball+b... [hereafter given as "Simon J Bronner:American Children's Folklore" ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

E, F

G, H
HELLO, HELLO HELLO SIR
Hello hello hello sir,
How are you today sir?
Fine sir? No sir,
I think I caught a cold sir.
Where did you catch the cold, sir?
At the North Pole, sir.
What were you doing there, sir?
Catching polar bears, sir.
How many did you get sir?
One sir, two sir, three sir
And that's enough for me, sir!
- Margaret Fraser; 15th Dartmouth Brownies; http://guidezone.e-guiding.com/jmbounce.htm ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

I, J

K, L
LITTLE GEORGIE WASHINGTON
Little Georgie Washington,
Never told a lie.
Went into the kitchen,
And ate a cherry pie.
How many cherries were in the pie?
1, 2, 3, etc.
- Children's Counting-Out Rhymes, Fingerplays,
Jump-rope and Bounce-Ball Chants and Other Rhythms:
A Comprehensive English-Language Reference ; http://www.delamar.org/gbchildex.htm ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

M, N
MY MOTHER GAVE ME FIFTY CENTS
this is one I remember my mother gave me fifty cents to see the elephant jump the fence he jumped so high he reached the sky and never came back til the fourth of july you bounced the ball and put your leg over on the words cent,fence and on the words high,sky,you made the bounce as high as you could and still catch the ball without missing a beat
-Guest, http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=56361; Folklore: Skipping Rhymes & Playground Games; November 27, 2011

Editor: Examples of the very closely related handclap (and jump rope) rhyme "Miss Mary Mack" are found on Cocojams' Handclap, Jump Rope, and Elastic Rhyme page.

O, P
OLIVER TWIST
Oliver Twist
You can't do this
So what's the use
Of trying
Touch your toe
Touch your knee
Clap your hands
And away we go.
-Simon J. Bronner:American Children's Folklore ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

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ONE TWO THREE A'LEARY

Editor: Eamples of this rhyme are posted here regardless of the spelling of "o'leary"

ONE TWO THREE A'LEARY (Version #1- #6)
Chicago, early 1940s: [Version #1]

One, two, three a'leary,
Four, five, six a'leary,
Seven, eight, nine a'leary,
Ten a'leary, USA! (Patriotic WWII times, those)

U.S. Midwest, 1940s: [Version #2]

One, two, three a'leary,
Four, five, six a'leary,
Seven, eight, nine a'leary,
Ten a'leary, POSTMAN! (unexplained, until we heard Dominic Behan sing, in London, 1958:

Open the door and let me in sir, [Version #3]
I am wet unto the skin, sir.
Open the door and let me in, sir,
All to post me letter.
One, two three a'lairy,
Four, five, six a'lairy,
Seven, eight, nine a'lairy,
Ten a'lairy, POSTMAN! (Dublin, ca. 1930s)

Vermont, early 1960s: [Version #4]

One, two, three o'leary,
My first name is Mary.
If you think it necessary,
Look it up in the dictionary.

Boston, early 1960s: [Version #5]

One, two, three o'lairy,
My first name is Mary.
Don't you think that I'd look cute
In my father's union suit? (That's how we heard it, Barry, from a woman who would be a bit older than your sisters could have been.)

And, finally, Jeannie Robertson, in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1958, sang for us: [Version #6]

One, two, three a'leery,
I saw Wallace Beery,
Sittin' on his bumble-eery,
Kissin' Shirley Temple.
-Sandy Paton ; http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=11034&messages=49 ; Jazz Lyric '1 2 3 O'Lairy' - Count Basie 1940 ; May 19, 1999

Editor: "O'leary" (o'leery) means "legs crossed". Click that Mudcat link for other examples of & information about this rhyme.

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ONE TWO THREE A KURTZIE (Version #7 of One Two Three A' Leery)
I'm looking for verses for bounciong an indian rubber ball,
you bounced the ball up and down and said

one two three a kurtzie,
one two three a kurtzie and on

then= it was
one two three a lari=e=o
and then on.
-Guest; Folklore: http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=56361 ;Skipping Rhymes & Playground Games; October 11, 2011

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ONE TWO THREE ALARY
One two three alary
I spy Mrs Scary
Sitting on a dictionary
Just like a green canary.
-http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/chantsstreetrhymes.pdf "reposted on December 1, 2011

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ORDINARY SECRETARY
Ordinary Secretary
No moving
No talking
No laughing
One hand, the other hand
One foot, the other foot
Front claps, back claps
Front and back
Back and front
Tweedle, twaddle
Courtsey, salute-sy
Cross your heart
And away she goes
-Simon J. Bronner:American Children's Folklore ; reposted on Cocojams on December 1, 2011

Editor: Bronner categorized this as a ball bouncing rhyme. However, it "sounds" to me more movements done while jumping rope-one or more persons in the middle of one long rope or two long ropes ( "double dutch"). Also, this example's "no moving,no talking, no laughing" reminds me of "Concentration 64". Examples of that rhyme can be found on http://www.cocojams.com/content/handclap-jump-rope-and-elastics-rhymes

Q, R

S, T
TWEEDLE DEE TWEEDLE DUM
This was a game played by throwing against a wall and catching.

Ordinary, no moving, no laughing, no talking, one hand, the other hand ,clap in the front, clap in the back, back to front, front to back,(each is clapping in that direction while throwing the ball at the wall) Tweedle dee, tweedle dum, All around the circle(a pirouette) .

When you have completed this "ordinary" without a mistake, you restart doing the whole rhyme "no moving" then no " laughing" etc.

This was played in Ontario Canada in the 1950's
-Woolven Nancy, June 27, 2012

U, V

W, X

Y, Z

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Thanks for visiting this page.

Please send examples of ball bouncing rhymes to cocojams17@yahoo.com for possible posting on this page.

Examples are posted for their creative, folkloric value.

Your email address is never posted or shared.

Or if you are on facebook, visit me at cocojams jambalayah, and befriend me, or send me a private message!