Childhood 101 is sponsoring a fun new link up called “We Play”. What a fun way to get creative ideas for your child.
We love music here, and we really love active games as Tornado Boy needs to get those sillies out. I have a CD called “Adventures in Storyville” by the Minstrels of Mayhem. This is a fun kid’s album that contains the Irish folk song called “Rattlin’ Bog”. This song and its accompanying moves are often taught at summer camps. This is a progressive song (think 12 days of Christmas) and during each round of the song, a new item is added to the song. Each new item also brings along a new hand or body motion for it. The longer the song goes on, typically the faster it is sung. The song will definitely challenge the child’s memory and physical dexterity.
I searched around for quite a while the past couple of days trying to find a decent video rendition of it. I only had marginal success with that. Many of the YouTube videos are from Irish Pubs and don’t show the hand motions. I found one home video from an old Minstrels of Mayhem show here. The quality is sort of poor and it’s too jumpy to really be able to follow the motions, but now you know exactly what we’re listening to when we play this game.
The video above is rather long, but it gives a much slower explanation of the motions (these vary widely across versions) that you can do along with the song. This shows how you can sing the song yourself which will allow you to control the pace of the game.
Here are some possible signs to do along with the song:
Hole: put your fingers together in front of you in an open circle
Tree: two hands trace parallel lines starting at the level of your head and heading downwards
Branch: hold one arm out as a branch
Twig: hold up your pinkie finger
Nest: cup your hands
Bird: one hand pointed forward at your face as a beak, the other sticking out behind as a tail
Wing: flap one arm
Feather: trace the path a feather would take as it falls through the air
There are many different versions of this song available, including several available through iTunes. You can also listen to a few versions on Lala. AVOID the version by Authority Zero – it is NOT child friendly. The version by Red Grammer is at a good pace for children. The lyrics vary quite a bit across versions, so you may have to make up your own motions to go along with the song, but it’s a lot of fun. Won’t you dance and play along with us?
Discover more fun ways to play at Childhood 101.
Fun song – I can totally see TB wiggling to it. I am glad you are joining We Play
At 26 months old, Immy love singing and dancing, in fact sometimes I feel that she and I spend the whole day dancing from one play activity to the next. Action songs are great and I didn’t know this one so I shall have to check it out. Thank you for linking up
Okay, I just figured it out how to do it. Problem solved, I’d say I’m so smart, but it did take me several weeks to figure it out, so not so smart.
Fun! Action songs they love. I always forget the order.
.-= Melitsa´s last blog ..Raising Playful Tots show #23 Positive Parenting with Sue Atkins =-.
Oh love a good (and tricky) action song! Thanks for sharing!