Childhood games
Saturday 20th September 2003 10:02 pm
This song has been bugging me for ages and I finally remembered to look it up. I remember singing it at Brownies - I knew all the words once.
On top of old smokey, All covered in cheese. I lost my poor meat ball, When somebody sneezed
It rolled off the table, And onto the floor, And then my poor meatball, Rolled out of the door.
It rolled down the garden, And under a bush. And then my poor meat ball, Was nothing but mush.
And then in the springtime, My meatball tree grew, And then there were meatballs. For me and for you.
If you have spaghetti, All covered in cheese, Hold onto your meatball, 'Cos someone might sneeze.
We were talking about games we played when we were kids so I was trying to remember them with the help of the internet. It doesn't help that there are so many variations, but these are the ones I remember.
What's the time Mr Wolf? There was a wall in the middle school playground perfect for this game. One person is the wolf and stands facing the wall. Other people ask 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' Mr Wolf answers and everyone takes one step forward for each hour. Once Mr Wolf answers 'dinner time' then everyone runs away and Mr Wolf tries to catch them.
Hot Chocolate One person tells a story and the third time they say 'hot chocolate' everyone has to run away before they are caught by the person telling the story. We always seemed to get the first two hot chocolates in quite quickly, then there were quite a few 'hot coffee's and other things that could start 'hot ch'.
Wink Murder One person is the detective and stands in the middle of the circle. One person is picked as the murderer, but only they know who it is. They then kill people by winking at them. The trick is to not always wink at people when the detective's back is turned, otherwise they'll work out who it is. The fun is in trying to work out who it is yourself and dying, which of course, was always long and drawn out.
Duck, Duck, Goose I vaguely remember this one. Everyone sits in a circle and one person goes round tapping people and saying 'duck'. One person they say 'goose' to instead and that person has to chase the original around the circle before they get back to their place.
Murder in the Dark One person is the detective and goes out of the room. One person is the murderer - but only they know who the murderer is. They then pick someone to kill who screams when they die. The detective then comes racing back in and questions all the living people to work out whodunnit. We tended to play it in the daytime, so it was more Murder in the Light. We also had variations where the murderer could commit suicide and also where the detective could question the dead person.
Shipwreck One person shouts out commands and everyone has to do them - if you don't do them right you're out. The commands I can remember are: Port/Starboard - Run to the left or right side of the room Bow/Stern - Run to the front or back of the room Climb the rigging - Pretend to be climbing a rope ladder Bombs above - Lie on the floor Bombs below - Jump (these are the ones that got mixed up the most, along with port/starboard and bow/stern) Captain's coming - Stand in a line and salute Cook's coming - Stand in a line and pretend to be holding a bowl and stirring the contents Crocodile's coming - I think someone was the crocodile and you had to not be caught (and 'killed') by them, but I can't swear to it.
Rice pudding I think that's the name. I remember standing in lines and running but nothing other than that. I keep getting recipes when I search for it though
No idea of the title You all pass a pair of scissors round and say 'crossed' or 'uncrossed'. Those who know will tell you whether you're wrong or right. The trick is to sit in a circle on chairs - the crossed and uncrossed refers to your legs.
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