More
circle games B
Bassez down
Big bunch of roses
Bird in a cage / Kagome, kagome
Birthday song game
Bluebird, bluebird, thru my
window
Boom makaleli
Bounce high, bounce low
Buenos días
Built my lady a fine brick
house
Butterfly and bumble bee
Button you must wander
Also see:
Last updated: 9/5/2022
10:03 AM
These
songs are nursery rhymes and other traditional songs compiled, illustrated and
music arranged by Dany Rosevear.
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To listen to music from these
songs click on 🔊
To watch the
author sing a song click on the title at:
© Dany Rosevear 2013 All rights reserved
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Bassez down 🔊
A
West Indian calypso circle dance. The title is probably Creole for ‘Dance low
down’. Just wish I had been aware of this one when I taught in Handsworth, Birmingham in the late 1960s as most of my class of young children were of Jamaican origin. It has a call and response section in the middle. Children stand in a circle while one child walks
round the inside as everyone sings. On the words ‘Bassez in the morning’ that
child picks another to come into the middle and the first child returns to
the circle. The child in the centre does a motion and those in the circle
copies it as they sing the song again. Change the name of that child if you
wish instead of ‘Miss Mary’. The game continues as before. |
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Bassez, mama, bassez down, Bassez in the morning, bassez down. Bassez, mama, bassez down, Bassez in the morning, bassez down. Bassez down, Missie Mary, bassez down. Bassez down, Missie Mary, bassez down. Bassez down, Missie Mary, bassez down. Bassez in the morning, bassez down. |
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Big bunch of roses 🔊
A
circle passing game for Valentine’s Day and other times. A
folk game song collected by John W Work from ‘Music in our town’ book 2,
published by Silver Burdett in 1956. There is no other acknowledgement of its
source. I
would love to know what a ‘lardstand’ is! Children sit in a circle and pass stems of paper
roses, bean bags or a mixture of both to the beat of the music. It is a good
idea if you clap the beat before trying to pass. |
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Big
bunch, a little bunch, Big
bunch of roses; Big
bunch, a little bunch, Big
bunch of roses. Here
stands my wagon team, Here
stands my lardstand, Here
stands my valentine, Here
stands my darling. |
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Bird in a cage / Kagome, kagome 🔊
A circle
guessing game from Japan; the meaning of the words are obscure but you can
find out more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagome_Kagome. I first came across it in
‘Teachers handbooks Language resources’ published by Scholastics in 1987
which credited it to ‘Folk songs from the East’ compiled by Janet Tobbitt
published by A&C Black 1959. One player is chosen to sit in the centre of the
circle with their eyes covered; the other children join hands and walk gently
round them. On ‘all fall down’ those in the ring sit down and when the song
stops, the child in the centre tries to name the person sitting directly
behind them. If successful the child identified sits in the centre and the
game begins again. |
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Kagome, kagome, Poor little bird in a
bamboo cage. What time will they set
you free? Midnight or at dawn of
day? Crane and old turtle must
all fall down. Who is that behind you,
can you say? かごめかごめ 籠の中の鳥は Kagome kagome / Kago no naka
no tori wa いついつ出やる 夜明けの晩に Itsu itsu deyaru / Yoake no
ban ni 鶴と亀が滑った Tsuru to kame ga subetta. 後ろの正面だあれ Ushiro no shoumen dare. |
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Birthday song 🔊
This song is
from South Africa and sung by Shimon Ash in 1961 on Folkways records at: http://www.folkways.si.edu/shimon-ash/songs-of-south-africa-sung-in-afrikaans/world/music/album/smithsonian Children in a circle stand up when their birthday
month is called out. Second time they sit at the same month. Lots of fun! |
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January, February, March,
April, May, June, July, January, February, March,
April, May, June, July. August, September,
October, November, December, August, September,
October, November, December. |
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Bluebird, bluebird, thru my window 🔊
This less well known version
of the classic singing game comes from the ‘Handy play party book’ published
by the Cooperative Recreation Service in 1968. It is suggested that girls are
‘bluebirds’ and boys ‘buzzards’. It is very
similar to ‘In
and out the dusty bluebells’ that I played as a child in the 1950s. Adapted and
arranged by Dany Rosevear. Players hold hands high in a circle to make ‘windows’.
Verse 1. One or more children skip in and out of the
‘windows’ On the last phrase the ‘bluebird’ stops in front of a chosen
partner. Verse 2. Bluebird taps partner on the shoulder. Verse 3. Partners
skip around the centre then the old bluebird retires to the circle while the
ones left are ready to start the game again. |
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Bluebird,
bluebird, thru my window, Bluebird, bluebird, thru my window, Bluebird, bluebird, thru my window, Bluebird I love you. Tippy, tappy on my shoulder, Tippy, tappy on my shoulder, Tippy, tappy on my shoulder, Bluebird I love you. Let’s take a walk with a goose and a gander, Let’s take a walk with a goose and a gander, Let’s take a walk with a goose and a gander, Bluebird I love you. |
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A circle game. I originally assumed this song had African origins but a look at the
Kodaly site: http://kodaly.hnu.edu/song.cfm?id=755 tells me it was collected from Tabernacle
Village, St. Kitts in the West Indies, 1974. So it is possible ‘makeleli’ has
African roots! Children walk in a circle holding
hands. One child walks in the centre in the opposite direction. On ‘Down,
down’ this child invites a named child to come into the circle and follow the
leader in a crouched position. Each time the game is played a new child is
chosen until everyone is waddling in a ring behind the leader.
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Bounce high, bounce low 🔊
A ball
bouncing circle game to help children pass the ball steadily to the beat. Children stand in a circle. They pass a large soft ball from one to
another round the ring by dropping, bouncing and catching. The ball bounces
on the word ‘bounce’ and the first syllable of the child who is about to
catch it at the end of the song. Continue round the circle. |
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Bounce high, bounce low, Bounce the ball to Shiloh. Bounce high, bounce low, Bounce the ball to Isaac. Bounce high, bounce low, Bounce the ball to Emilia. |
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Buenos días 🔊
A Spanish greeting song played as a
circle game. This simple form of was a big favourite with the younger children
I taught for the surprise ending when each original pair is eventually
re-united such as in ‘Bow, wow, wow whose dog art thou’? from my original
collection of singing games:. www.singinggamesforchildren.com/A
Cluster 2.1 HSAAWG/HSAAWG 1-5 creatures w.htm Divide the class into two or three groups (maximum
six pairs). Pairs face each other in a group circle, back to back with other
couples. 1. Shake each other’s right hand. 2. Shake left hand with the right still clasped. 3.
Make a half turn and jump on ‘va’ to face a new partner. Repeat this sequence round the circle each time meeting
and greeting a new partner with a smile – it comes naturally! |
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Buenos días, ¿Cómo estás? O, muy bien, gracias. ¿Y cómo le va? Good morning, And how are you? I’m very well, thank you. And how about you? |
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This game can be found in Ruth Crawford Seegers ‘American folk songs
for children’ It was also noted as coming from Western Nebraska in 1888 see: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/some-play-party-games-of-the-middle-west--piper.aspx . Children stand in a circle in groups
of three. Two children hold hands and the third stands in the middle. The
pair circles round the one in the middle. On the third line that child moves
under their hands and on to the next pair (house) in the circle and the game
continues.
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Bumble bee and butterfly 🔊
Celebrate the
end of Autumn for cold winter is on its way. I found the
first two lines of this song in a wonderful collection by Teacher Oliver. Set to music
and arranged by Dany Rosevear. A steady
drumbeat would accompany this song well. Children stand in a circle holding hands. The four
insects act out their roles in the centre as those in the circle walk round.
Before ‘round and round’ the insects choose four from the outer circle and
skip round holding hands. Continue the game with the new creatures in the
centre. |
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Bumble bee and butterfly,
spider and the beetle, Come round and dance with
us In winds before the
winter, in winds before the winter. Round and round and round
we go, Round and round and round
we go, Cold winter is a-calling. |
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Many games around the world involve passing an object round the
circle. The game below is fairly simple though the children need to be
devious as they try to fool the child in the centre. There are other versions of this game including one that involves the
identification of a child’s voice at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIxoZkJQdHE. Children sit in a circle with one a
child in the centre. This child closes eyes as one child in the circle is
given a button to hold. During the song the button is passed round the circle
while those without the button pretend to pass it on. At the end the child in
the centre attempts to guess who has the button. They are allowed three or
four guesses.
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