London Bridge

Thanks to Marian Beswick-Arthur, who posted this singing game to the Guiding Mailing List!

The Song:

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.
London bridge is falling down, my fair lady.

The Game:

Two girls stand facing each other making an arch with their arms. The rest of the girls walk through the arch while singing the song After the word "lady" is sung, the arch girls sing:

Here is a candle to light you to bed
Here is a chopper to chop of your head

Then arch comes down and catches a girl. The girl who is caught in the arch is asked to pick one of the arch girls to stand behind. Repeat until all the girls are standing behind the arches. Then the two sides have a tug of war to finish the game.

Historic Notes: The reference to the candle and chopper originates from the many wives of King Henry 8th. Many of these old schoolyard games and nursery rhymes were made up by the common folk to voice their displeasure or to make fun of the royals and other leading persons in the UK. The word "chopper" is a commonly used British word for "axe".

Jane Maddin posted this version of the song and game to the Guiding Mailing List:

The Song:

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady-o.

Build it up with sticks and stones, sticks and stones, sticks and stones,
Build it up with sticks and stones, my fair lady-o.

The Game:

Two girls are the bridge - they hold hands, facing each other and with their arms up, so that they form an arch. The other girls skip through the arch while they sing. When the girls reach the end of the first verse, "my fair ladyo" - the arch girls drop their hands and trap someone inside. That person is out and sits behind one of the bridge supports as the game continues. The second verse is sung, but "my fair lady-o" doesn't make the bridge fall. The first verse is repeated - and the second person to be trapped, takes the first trapped person and they become another bridge. So during the next repetition of the first verse, there will be two girls trapped, and they can made another bridge.