One girl would be 'on' and against the wall, if it was wolfesque, or in the middle betwixt two walls if it was more Bulldoggy.
The rest of the players would be in a line against the opposite wall and chant. I might need some of my childhood buddies to leap in here and correct me because my memory is hazy.
" Mary, Mary, may we cross your golden river?"
Now, I have NO idea why she was called Mary or why the river was golden.
Mary would then declare something like
"Only if you are wearing somethinggggggggggggggggggggg blue/insert other colours/variations here."
I think then if you were wearing something blue etc jyou'd take a step forward. Say "May I?"
And then 'Mary' would give the nod, and all the blue wearing cherubs would make a dash for the other wall trying not to get caught. If caught, you'd join Mary in the chant.
Ahhh the good old days when we could, with absolutely ZERO consideration given to Health and Safety, do hand stands against the walls, to the songs
Let's go for a little walk, UNDER ( cue to do the handstand ) the moon of love. Or
Those magnificent men in their flying machines, they go UP ( cue handstand ) they go down ( back down etc ) . We could get maybe eight girls doing synchronised handstands on the hall wall! Again, boys didn't join in. When we got to Junior 4 ( today's Y6 ) we'd play the heady game of kiss, slap or torture. Where if it was boys get the girls, and you were caught, you'd squeal kiss, slap or torture and depending on which boy had caught you, the choice was made! When it was girls get the boys, they'd often opt for the violent option. I was cracking at Chinese burns ( the torture element ) . We would also sometimes play marbles, in. The. Drains. Marbles. In. The. Drains people.
These days - CHOKING HAZARDS, GERMS AND BACTERIA HAZARD ENSURE DRAINS ARE COVERED AT ALL TIMES.
Anyhooo, that trip down memory lane wasn't at all what I was going to blog about! I was going to share some gardening/craft room pics because that's how I spent my my first May Bank Holiday ! But to put you on....
Here's my hanging basket finally brought out of my kitchen!
The basket is a gorgeous blue colour!
I've run out of time now, I've to go to work to see how many children are in or have been kept off in protest at the SATS!
Lots of love from
Rachel *nostalgic* Radiostar xxx
'Farmer, farmer. may we cross your golden fields, on the way to school. It's half past eight and we'll be late and that's against the rules'
ReplyDeleteAnd we played marbles on the dustbin lids, turned upside down :-)
Ahh golden fields make sense! Not the golden river I used to chant about X
DeleteOoooh the thought of playground games makes me shudder Rachel. I was the child usually found sitting on the dining room steps with my nose in a book until the playground gestapo took it off me and shoved me out to play elastics or hopscotch.
ReplyDeleteLove your hanging basket. DD has done one for me this year full of petunias and it will look lovely when it flowers. Meanwhile I keep bashing my head on it when I go into our food store to fetch something and I forsee lots of screaming when the buzzy things start buzzing round it so I may have to move it-x-
Oop sore head!! And even though you know it's there you'll keep banging it until you move it!
DeleteI remember a variation on Mr Wolfie too, using letters of the alphabet. The person UP on a wall called out a letter and if you had it in your name you took a step forward. I was so lucky - had a surname with 10 letters. We also did something when someone UP called watering cans and you could move as far forward as you could spit!!
ReplyDeleteOff Ground Touch involved climbing on anything handy - coal heap, brick walls etc
If I was a mum I'd be protesting too or probably Home Education *says sorry in tiny voice* to first class TA!
I'm laughing at the Watering cans game!! How gross children are!
DeleteSchool was lovely and quiet today so don't be sorry!
I did fall down a drain once when I was little - well it was one of those big manhole things. The cover had been left off by some workmen, I was walking from my house to a friends just a couple of doors away, got nosey (no workmen anywhere near uncovered manhole), peered in the manhole, fell in and knocked myself unconscious. Was found some time later when one of the workman, who along with the other workmen had been roped in to the search for a small girl who had gone missing between her house and her friends a couple of doors away, decided that he ought to put the cover on the manhole they had left open in case someone fell in. I still have the scars - physical that is, on my eyebrow where I cut myself as I fell and knocked myself out. No mental scars I barely remember it but my parents used to love talking about it - odd really as you think they would be a little more circumspect in wanting to tell a story where their then 5 year old daughter was down a manhole for some hours.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, what a ramble, it was just your mention of drains that took me down amnesia lane for a moment there!
I do remember playing British Bulldog and What's the time Mr Wolf. x
Oh my stars!! I think they made a film about that! The grids we played on would only be dangerous to a Borrower!
DeleteThere was something called "Mother, may I..." when I was little. I think it was a little like "red light, green light", or "what time is it, Mr. Wolf". You asked permission to take certain kinds of steps (giant step, baby step, scissor step...). There was always a cheater in the mix somewhere. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteOhhh now you've twigged something in me with the scissor steps baby steps thing!
DeleteI played that with my class only we called it 'Please Mr Crocodile.
ReplyDeletePlease Mr Crocodile,
May we cross the water
To see your ugly daughter
Floating in the water
Like a cup and saucer
And the response
Yes, if - and then it might be 'if your name begins with . . .' or 'ends with . . .' or has a . . (letter)
Or maybe eye colour . . .
But never 'if you're wearing . . .' because of the school uniform!
And then there were shrieks of mirth as they tried to run across.
A very popular game.
J x
They don't seem to have the same bank of games to play today unless we teach them. They play tig a lot but they call it 'virus'
DeleteI remember that Mary Mary game although I wouldn't have remembered it if it wasn't for your memory being shared here! I like your hanging basket!
ReplyDeleteI had no intention of writing about that but it popped into my head!
DeleteAh, school yard games. My game of choice was footy, hence scars on knees and broken front teeth. I also held the record for tree climbing, both volume and speed.
ReplyDeleteClearly a true tomboy Pam! X
DeleteDid anyone see a maypole on May day? They seem to have completely disappeared! xx
ReplyDeleteWe have a full sized one at Night Owls. I'm going to get it out tonight! The children love it. I spend approximately 98% of the time untangling the ribbons!!
DeleteI remember all those games Rachel although running anywhere was never my thing so I'd always opt for elastics, skipping or handstands. H&S is a funny thing isn't it. Every playground has these wooden climbing/balancing frame things now don't they. Only in winter they can get really slippy but the children are still allowed to play on them. In Year 1 Thomas slipped off, landed with thud on his chest across a beam and we ended up in A&E.
ReplyDeleteI haven't fully followed the SATS thing and from what little I've read I thought it was just Year 2 children who were being kept off, but apparently not. Children are over tested in my opinion but as they've been brought up to be 'results machines' I'm not sure how affected by it all the majority of them are or whether it's just the norm for them.
I love the hanging basket but I love the stonework on your house even more. xx
We cone our adventure playground off in slippy weather and I'm really sorry to hear of poor Thomas' accident :-(
DeleteChildren ARE over tested. We all sat the 11 plus and that was it. Everything else was teacher assessment and yes we probably were given some type of test but not one that affected a school league table. The SATS are there in order for the government to keep tabs on crap teaching and schools in order to close them down and reopen them as academies. My little group have come n massively yet because they will score as 'not at Y6 standard' they'll bring down our School's score, thus triggering Ofstead probably. That's kinda the basic overview.
My stonework is my pride and joy! But Rs real, not like Jack n Vera's stone cladding on corrie!!
DeleteSchool yard games - what did I play - a tennis ball in a leg from an pair of tights and swinging it from side to side and up over head and between the knees against the wall. 2 ball against the wall, handstands, skipping with a long washing line, elastic, marbles, tig, hoola hoops. I don't remember playing with the boys I had enough with 3 brothers. Pauline - I dance around the May pole,when in primary school, at the spring fair. It always got in a tangle. Never see one now.
ReplyDeleteCarolx
I'll take a phot of our for you for the next blog! It's a modern one but still does the job! Never ever played with the eladtics.
Delete