A category of rhymes usually recited by children when jumping rope. Many of them end by counting the number of jumps, as in:

"Cinderella, dressed in yella
Ran upstairs to kiss her fella
Made a mistake, kissed a snake,
How many doctors will it take?
1, 2, 3, 4..." (count until jumper trips)

Jump rope rhyme:

A sailor went to sea sea sea
To see what he could see see see
But all that he could see see see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea

Many jump-rope rhymes double as hand clapping games, and viz-versa, but some rhymes are specific to one or the other.

Hand-clapping game. All the children stand in a circle where everyone's palm-up right hand rests on the palm-up left hand of the person next to them. Then the right hand comes over and hits the right hand of the person to their left, throughout the rhyme until the word "dong." Whoever is "it" on "dong" is out for the rest of the round.

Down by the banks of the hanky-panky where the bullfrogs jump from bank to banky
With an a-e-i-o-u-pick-a-dilly-with-a-ding-dong.
Another clapping game, known as early as 1st or 2nd grade:

Miss Suzy had a steamboat
The steamboat had a bell
The steamboat went to heaven
Miss Suzy went to hell--o operater
Please give me number 9,
and if you disconnect me, I'll kick you from
behind the 'fridgerator, there was a piece of glass
Miss Suzy sat upon it, and broke her little ask
me no more questions, I'll tell you no more lies
The boys are in the bathroom, zipping up their
Flies are in the city, the bees are in the park
Miss Suzy and her boyfriend are kissing in the
D-A-R-K, D-A-R-K, dark!

Spanish Dancer

My dad taught me and my siblings and the neighbor kid this rhyme when we were still small enough to think of jump rope as fun, rather than a grueling exercise in futility.

Not last night but the night before
twenty four robbers came knocking at my door.
As I ran out, they ran in, I asked them what they wanted
and this is what they said:
"Spanish dancer turn around"
(here you turned around while still jumping)
"Spanish dancer touch the ground"
(now you quickly touched the ground with your hand while still jumping)
"Spanish dancer show your shoe"
(now you hop one footed)
"Spanish dancer that will do"
(quickly jump out of the rope without messing it up and someone else runs in).

There's also another variation with teddy bears that I learned at school some time after, but it skipped the part with the robbers, and frankly that was the most fun part to chant.


When Pebbles Was A...

This was a rhyme that could either be a clap-game rhyme or a rope rhyme and, now that I look back on it, was maybe a little inappropriate for a bunch of third graders.

When Pebbles was a baby
a baby
a baby
When Pebbles was a baby
she used to go like this:
Waah wahh!
(If you were playing the clap game, you'd all stop here and make the crybaby motions, but if it was jump rope, you'd just keep going unless you wanted to show off).

When Pebbles was a five year old
a five year old
a five year old
When Pebbles was a five year old
She used to go like this:

(Here the rhyme varied person to person. The most common version I heard was "gimme a cookie!" but there were others too).

When Pebbles was a teenager
a teenager
a teenager
When Pebbles was a teenager
She used to go like this:
Ooh, ah! I lost my bra!
I think I left it in my boyfriend's car!

(I didn't even know what a bra was.)

Those were the only really set lines. After that, it was up to you what the hell Pebbles did. Sometimes kids did one where pebbles was a mom, or a grandma, and then when she died and went to heaven (or hell if you were that one weird kid who liked hell). You basically got to make anything up and provided it sorta fit the song, it was good.


I woke up Sunday Morning

This is actually one taught to me by my little cousin when I jump roped with her. it was more a song than a chant, but she insisted we sing it ever ghat dang time we jump roped together.

I woke up Sunday morning
and looked up on the wall
the Skeeters and the bed Bugs
were having a game of ball.
The score was six to nothing,
the Skeeters were ahead,
a BedBug hit a home run
and knocked me out of bed.
Fly paper fly paper
eewie ewwie goo!
Fly paper fly paper
always sticks to you!

I woke up Monday morning
and looked upon the wall,
the Cooties and the Bed Bugs
were having a game of ball.
The score was six to nothing,
The bed Bugs were ahead.
A Cootie hit a homerun and
knocked me out of bed!

Eeener meener and a miney moe
catch a wibble wobble by its toe
if he holler hollers
let him go
Eeenier meenier and a miney moe

I fell into the sewers
and that is how I died
they didn't call it murder
they called it sewercide!

Eeener meener and a miney moe
catch a wibble wobble by its toe
if he holler hollers
let him go
Eeenier meenier and a miney moe

(and then you just keep repeating the song until someone dicks up and falls.)


Miss Sue

This one was also a clap rhyme, but we weren't that creative when it came to jump rope rhymes, and why bother making new ones when you can reuse perfectly good old rhymes?

Miss Sue from Alabama
Her real name is Suzanna,
sitting in a rocking chair
eating berry crackers
watching the clock go tick-tock
tick-tock banana rock
A-B-C-D-E-F-G
wash the spiders off of me
Mooshka mooshka
I want my mommy
mooshka mooshka
I know karate
mooshka mooshka
Oops! I'm sorry!
(And here you would either intentionally try to trip the jumper or hit the person next to you, depending on the game)
Mooshka mooshka

FREEZE!
(Which you would either have to leave the jump rope and let someone else in, or -- if you were clapping-- you'd have to freeze and the first person to move was Out.)

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