Cinder-eeeeela, dressed in yeeeeela'

Here are a couple that I remember:

Not last night
Not last night, but the night before
24 Robbers came knocking at my door
As I ran out (Run out of the jump rope)
They ran in (Run back in the jump rope and start jumping again)
I asked them what they wanted and this is what they said:
Spanish dancer turn around (turn ½ turn each time you jump)
Spanish dancer touch the ground (touch ground once when you are jumping)
Spanish dancer give a high kick (kick in the air once)
Spanish dancer get out before you miss (get out of the jump rope)

Gypsy, Gypsy please tell me
What my fortune's going to be
Rich-man, Poor-man, Beggar-man, Thief.
Doc-tor, Law-yer, In-di-an Chief.
Tink-er, Tail-or, Cow-boy, Sail-or.

Continue repeating until jumper misses and that is who you will marry.



Jump roping and other playground games haven't been banned at schools, kids just don't know how to play the games anymore. Unfortunately they spend too much time in front of the tv and video games.

At the school I teach at, we have made a point of teaching some of the old playground games such as jump rope, four square, hop scotch etc. It has been great for social skills, kids don't get bored and it keeps the 'wanderers' focussed and out of trouble for the most part. Fortunately we have a very committed PE teacher who uses class time and her own free time to teach the rules and skills, and the playground teachers carry this through.

I have found the best places to find a good jump rope these days are at sporting good stores. These are jump ropes that are designed for exercise and are durable.

Good luck...and keep playing outside!

We didn't jump rope individually, it was a group activity. NOT for boys though, they stayed far away.

Probably because our jumping rhymes involved letters of the alphabet that started the boys names.

I'm sure it'll come to me, but I can't remember any specific ones right now.

Let's see, I remember when you were little, each girl had to take a turn through the robes, increasing her jumps each time until she missed, then she was "out"

If you got up to 10 jumps at a turn, then you had to jump "hot pepper" for like 20 jumps, to try to get you to miss.

When you got older, that was too easy, so you played the games, but jumping in backward, meaning the rope turning the other way.

Then of course there was double-dutch.

If you weren't very good at jump rope, or were just not that interested that day, you could call "steady ender" meaning you wouldn't take a turn jumping, and would just be a turner.

Besides jumping, we also would practice jumping higher and higher over over a rope being lifted up and up. That got to be a drag though, because when you were older there was always some girl who was into track, and knew how to jump the way they did on high jumps.

hmm...we all know this one...

boom and kicky sittin' in a tree.
k..i..s..s..i..n..g...

first comes love, then comes marriage,
then comes boomerang with a baby carriage.

THANK GOD you posted those! All I could remember was the "24 robbers came knockin' at my door" part and it was driving me NUTS!

Do you also remember putting a ball into a long stocking and swinging it over and under a leg (against a wall) and doing a rhyme about Mrs. somebody or other and her problems?

We also had Chinese Skip with some Chinese chants (Sup ee kow, hung guy yow...) - well, we grew up in Vancouver, so...

Also the game with the chained elastics and you had to jump and twist a lower leg around them?

Also, who remembers jacks? I can't believe how nimble we were then. sigh.

http://www.aacs.wnyric.org/donius/jump_rope/rhymes.html


I loved jump rope in school, especially double dutch. Anyone watch the national jump rope competitions?

If you want to get into some serious jump roping:

http://www.skookum.org/jumpropes/index.html

Everlast makes the best jump rope around. With a pair of snap ring pliers, you can open up the handles and shorten the rope.

This is for the ball and stocking one:

Hello, hello, hello sir
How are you today sir
Can you come out today sir
No sir
Why sir
Because I have to ____ sir
(and it goes on forever...)


Double-dutch skipping song:

(this is only part of it)

Went around the corner
slammed on the brakes
Policeman caught me
threw me in jail
All I had was ginger ale


Another one for the ball in the stocking:

Miss Annie had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell
Miss Annie went to Heaven
the steamboat went to
Hell-o
Operator,
give me number nine.
If you disconnect me
I'll kick your fat
Behind
the 'frigerator
there was a piece of glass.
Mary sat upon it
and broke her big fat
As-k
me no more questions
I'll tell you no more lies.
Tell that to your mother
the day before she dies.

There was "higher and lower", something about raising the rope and making running jumps, landing in gravel. I wasn't bad at that. Seems a natural for a no-no now. (Ah, I see Mame covered that one.)

Double dutch was out of my league.

As an adult, I used to jumprope for exercise on our back deck, following my husband at trying that. Not bad exercise...

We also played jacks at recess.

We had swings, at least at my school in Evanston. Serious tall sturdy swings.

We played baseball and basketball, but more after school than at recess, unless Sister Mel took the whole class out and was the pitcher.

This one comes with a little dance. Inner circle and outer circle. Pairs are formed between one person in the inner circle and one in the outer -both facing the center and holding hands above their shoulders.

As we walk to the left (two steps left)
As we walk to the right (two steps right)
As we walk, as we walk (four steps left)
As we walk all night
With a heel and a toe (tap the ground first with a heel and then with a toe)
And a half turn around (inner circle person looks back at her partner)
With a heel and a toe (heel toe)
And a new friend found. (outer circle person spins his partner, passes her to th person on the left and obtains a new partner from the person on the right).

...oops that's not a jumping rhyme, is it....

we jumped the elastic strings... and all the rhymes were in slovak. i remember there were many complicated procedures to this... it was so much fun. we used to do it for hours. today i would be out of breath in under three minutes.

Jumping rope is a major activity at sozlet's school but she's never really been into it. It's definitely a girl thing, and she kind of turns up her nose at girl-only things (she's been trying to integrate kickball, with limited success).

She thought of this rhyme though:

Bubblegum bubblegum in a dish
How many pieces do you wish?

(1, 2, 3, etc.)

Mable, Mable
Set the table
Don't forget the
Salt
Vinegar
Mustard
Pepper
Red Hot Pepper Sauce....and start counting as the rope turns faster and faster.

WW II vintage:

I'm a little Dutch girl, dressed in blue
Here are the things that I can do:
Salute to the captain, curtsey to the queen
Turn my back on a dirty submarine

I can do the Hootchy Kootchy
I can do the split
I can do a German dance
Just a little bit.


My sister and I had the most elegant jump ropes on the block. My mother would buy a length of "good" clothesline and cut a piece about 40-50 feet long.

Then the rope had to be twisted which took two people, turning and turning and turning the rope from opposite ends.

When the rope started to kink, a third person held the middle and the twisters moved together so the rope would twist around each other.

The doubled rope was stable, even in the wind.

Also:

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn around.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, touch the ground.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, shine your shoe.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, that will do.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, go upstairs.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say your prayers.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, turn out the light.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, say good night.

These are great! Thank you all. I remembered some of them right off the bat and some of them are new to me.

I'll have to hit the sporting goods store to look for an Everlast rope.

I wonder why jump rope is considered a girl thing. That seems kind of strange. I can get jacks as a girl thing because it requires all those fine little movements and concentration but jump rope seems like something boys would really like. Mo enjoyed our little foray into jumping. Maybe because it isn't popular at his school it doesn't have a "girl" stigma.

We bought Mo a Wii and have hidden it away until Christmas in hopes it might help us through a long, wet, winter. I was looking at games to buy and noticed one coming out called "Playground" that includes a lot of the old playground games. I thought it was funny that they made a video game of playground games. I suppose they had us in mind with our long, wet, winters.....

Oriental Trading has many choices. I think the Jazzy Jump Rope is the one you were looking for. I ordered several for the Clubhouse for Kids Night Out and they are nice and sturdy.

Oh...I just remembered how WE sang the Cinderella song....


Cinder-ella,
Dressed in yell-a
Went down town to meet her fell-a

On the way her girdle busted,
How many people were disgusted?

1..2..3..etc.

Ah, I remember jacks and jump rope. And the teddy bear song. I was never coordinated enough for double dutch but it wasn't done much at my school. I recall I ended up better at jumping backwards rather than forwards, dunno why.

Hmmmm, did many white girls jump double-dutch?

This is about the only one I remember-- and we mostly did it as a clapping game, but it's a jump rope rhyme too:

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 elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump the fence, fence fence
They jumped so high, high, high
They touched the sky, sky, sky
And didn't come back, back, back
Till the fourth of July, July, July

Oh, and, although I don't know if Mo cares about finding out how many babies he'll have :

Fudge, fudge, call the judge,
_____'s gonna have a baby,
Wrap it up in tissue paper,
Send it down the elevator,
Boy, girl, twins, triplets,
Boy, girl, twins, triplets, (continue until jumper misses).