Playground games

We used to play Please Mr Neptune, which went like this:

One person was Mr Neptune, who stood with his (or her, usually!) back to all the other players, standing in a line about 12 feet behind him. They would all chant "Please Mr Neptune, may we cross your golden water", to which Mr Neptune would reply, e.g. "only if you are wearing something green". Then all the players would try to cross the space and reach Mr Neptune before he turned round. When he turned round suddenly everyone had to freeze in position. Anyone caught still moving was out. He would then ask the remaining ones to prove they were wearing green. Anyone who wasn't, was out. The others would then continue from their position as Mr Neptune made another stipulation. And so it went on until only one was left, who became Mr Neptune for the next game.

Then there was Poor Jenny is a Weeping - all in a circle with one girl in the middle, apparently weeping. The chanters would ask her to "stand up and choose your loved one". She would pick someone from the circle, but I can't honestly remember what happened next. Does anyone else know?

We used to skip like oldgoat with a girl either end of a long rope, but everyone took it in turns to skip in then out. We used to skip to:

The big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
The ally-ally-oh, the ally-ally-oh
Oh, the big ship sails on the ally-ally-oh
On the last day of September.

The captain said it will never, never do
Never, never do, never, never do
The captain said it will never, never do
On the last day of September.

The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
The bottom of the sea, the bottom of the sea
The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea
On the last day of September.

and

All in together girls
never mind the weather girls
when I call your birthday
please jump OUT
January, February... etc

and

My mother said that I never could
Play with the gipsies in the wood
If I did she would say
You naughty girl to disobey.

(apologies, politically incorrect nowadays, but that is what we skipped to in the 1950s.)

Lots of handstands, two balls against the wall or juggling and the spinning game in NonnaW's post and cat's cradles

And in the winter sliding on the frozen puddles in the playground (wouldn't be allowed nowadays, health and safety!)

And whips and tops!!

Or was it Grandmother's footsteps? I quite forget!

Many of the above. Queenie, queenie, who's got the ball? Is she big or is she small? Etc. Conkers. Skipping with own rope plus a partner. Lots of handstands. The farmer's in the den etc. Happy days

I remember the icy slides down our sloping playground jalima. They were banned after the school cook slipped down and broke her leg.

So many lovely memories for me here, I've enjoyed reading all the posts.
Games used to be popular for a few weeks in our playground then we'd all move on to something else. We collected and swapped cards from bubble gum too.
On our estate we played a lot of hide and seek, rounders and roller skating, that was fun, we knew every crack in the pavement that made you fall. More well off children had skates with rubber wheels. Most of us had hand me down bikes and we went for long rides. We had so much freedom.
My DG's are always amazed at my skills with jacks and 2 balls and a hula hoop as I am at theirs with the iPad etc.

I sent a letter to my love and on the way I dropped it,
someone must have picked it up and put it in their pocket.
The person would then continue walking round the circle saying "it's not you " then drop the hanky behind someone saying "it's you" If it was behind you, you had to get up and run and try to get back to your place before the other person took your place.

How about What's the time Mr Wolf? I use to love that.

Oranges and Lemons says the bells of St Clemens
When will you pay me says the bells of the old Bailey
I do no know said the big bell of bow
Here comes a chopper to chop of your head
Chop chop chop caught you
(Or something like that I think I have missed some out. .)

We use to play 5 stones and marbles.

Great times.

exactly number

I cannot remember the words of the skipping game either The skipping game was called ^salt and pepper^" as the girls whiled the
ropes round really fast.

Now I remember playing "jacks" with brightly coloured bone shaped
hard plastic. . . er. . . jacks.

Came to the UK in 1958 where I found "jacks" was played with metal
things that look like today's drones.

Anyone play jacks? Has anyone a GC that has played with them?
OK I've gone off thread a little.

Anyone remember swapping beads. Girls would collect beads and put them in tins. There was a lot of bargaining - such as "I'll swap you two pearls for that ruby etc.,"

I had a lovely tin full with pretty beads, but I can't remember where they came from, mum's jewellery box maybe.

Oh and collecting and swapping scraps, anyone remember them? Little paper cut outs that came in sets of various sizes - fairies, flowers etc, I loved the cherub ones best. Loving this thread!

Jalima - 'My mother said ...' I've never come across that rhyme except sung to me by my granny from Shropshire. I didn't know it was a skipping rhyme and wonder where it was used.

The game I loved after school was kick the can, who remembers that? We also played grandma's footsteps and what's the time Mr Wolf? across our cul de sac.

Ajenela The missing bits after the Bells of Old Bailey are
When I grow Rich say the Bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be? say the Bells of Stepney

And the second line was I owe you five farthings said the bells of St. Martins.

And before the chopper line. Here comes a candle to light you to bed.

And our last line was Chip,Chop, the last mans dead. Then that person was out and joined the line behind while the song restarted.

Think I've finished now!

I used to collect paper dolls. I also made many myself. I can remember one in particular after all these years - she was called Grace and I coloured her hair red.

I kept them all in a big chocolate box (my bachelor uncle was always giving me big boxes of chocs) but I must have been a strange child because I kept all the pieces of paper from where I had cut the dolls out.

The chocs have taken their toll on my poor teeth some 60 years later and my uncle has long gone.

We played a game called Filmstars. One child would stand at one end and all the kids at the other end. And the child at the top end would have to say a filmstars' initials. And first child to guess right would take a step toward the child at the end. First one to reach child wins. This was in the late 50's and names like Deborrah Kerr and Debbie Reynolds I remember. But didn't know these filmstars at all and only found out later who they were.

Two balls against a wall, swinging from bike shed with my best friend and touching feet. Boys used to always play football.

Granny Queenie, I'm from Falkirk, and we called the game beds, and used a peever, usually an old shoe polish tin full of earth. We also played chasing games, and the chaser was "het ". When they tagged someone else, they said 'you're het'.

We played chasing games and the chaser was called "it" - and used to say your're "it" to tagged person.

I remember that there seemed to be an unwritten cut off day, one day you'd be playing marbles the next it was jacks for a couple of weeks then suddenly change to American skipping (long length of elastic held round the ankles of 2 girls while others did complicated movement weaving elastic round ankles - not very well explained I know). Never did understand who set the rules for changeover of games.

Two balls against the wall was a particular favourite in my primary school, I loved it, was never without a couple of balls and they had to have just the right 'bounce' factor. The girls' playground had high walls on three sides so there was plenty of room for every one.

We loved skipping games too, I wonder if there were seasons for ball games and skipping? How did we know what game was 'in' on a particular day?

I was trying to recall a game called 'In and out those dusty bluebells' which was played in a circle and involved stopping, turning and patting the shoulders of the person in front while singing 'pitter, pitter patter on my shoulders, I am the master'. Does anyone remember it?

In our street we played peever, but called it 'beds', using a weighted shoe polish tin. Roller skating was another of my passions, I used to wear down the wheels into triangles.

Girls and boys together played Hide & Seek and Kick the Can. For the life of me I cant remember what we did in rainy weather.

Was obviously thinking along the same lines as you Nonna

All of the above ...
Anyone play Donkey? You threw a ball high on a wall then jumped with legs apart and the ball bounced in between, then caught by the girl behind and you went to the back of the line.

When I was very little (5?), I was Queen on an upturned waste bin every playtime. The same boy was always King and he always picked me as his Queen. I remember just sitting while he waltzed around and ordered his subjects about.

By 7/8 we'd mostly divided into girl games - skipping, hopscotch etc - and boy games - shooting and fighting. Occasionally we all came together to play tag and I do remember that whiplash game where you all held hands and ran around with the last ones being flung around all over the place. Great fun ?

Farmers in his den, Pepper Pepper Poison, Tag, Skipping , Elastic, Two Ball, oh the fun, all without technology!