Notes

*This rhyme can be repeated many times. Each time, use a different part of the face in the last line. Hide that part of your face with your hands and keep it covered while you repeat the next verse. After the first verse play the clapping game by pressing together your elbows. On the last repetition, you end the verse with "Boom".

Another version:

Bo-bo ski watten tatten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty wotten totten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Boom!

A longer version:

Bo-bo ski watten tatten,
Ah-ah-ah, boom boom boom
Itty bitty watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Bo bo ski watten tatten
Freeze
Please
American Cheese
Please don't show your eyes** to me.

**See asterix * above.

*****
Morgan H. sent this version:

Bo bo ski Waten Taten
Nay nay I am boom boom
Skitty witty at tat
na na Skiata na na Skiata boom
Obo shin oten toten
nay nay I am boom boom boom
itty bitty otten toten
obo shin otten toten
obo shin otten toten boom

There is more but that's what I remember!

*****
Brittany Cleveland wrote:

"I grew up in Texas and played this as a kid. I had been trying to find it for awhile, but it has been really difficult to find information on. We sang a slightly different version and it was a group clapping song, where several kids would sit in a circle with hands overlapping and slap the hand next to on top of theirs until the song ended and the person whose hand was slapped last was 'out' and the circle got smaller. The version we sang went like this:

Bo bo ski watten totten,
Eh-eh-eh-eh ah boom ah,
If you want a watten totten,
1-2-3-4-5!

I just thought I would share it with you!"

*****

Prescott Anderson wrote: "I have another version of the 'Bobo Ski Waten Taten' song that I learned in elementary. I attended elementary school in Austin, Texas.

It was a hand clap game where we sat in a circle. We had our hands palms up on our knees, legs crossed, and hands would overlap so that on every beat someone would take their hand to slap the next person's.

Bobo Ski Waten Taten, ey ey, say boys are rotten
Bobo Ski Waten Taten, ey ey, say boys are rotten
(Gets faster) Bobo Ski Waten Taten, Bobo Ski Waten Taten,
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
(Pause for a beat)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
8!
(On eight the next person had to move their hand before they got slapped or they would be out. The rounds would continue until one person won the game.)

I hope this helps or that you enjoyed reading it!"

*****
Lakota wrote: "Girls in NH (my sister) used to sing it this way...

"Bobo, she aughten gotten."

Basically a game of "Monkey See, Monkey Do")

"Nay nay, I am your leader!"

I'm pretty sure they would then play a version of "follow the leader" mixed with "Simon Says" by using different words that rhymed. Their rhymes got faster and faster until someone messed up the hand clap pattern."
*****

Cathy Warner wrote, "I learned Bo Bo Ski as a small child in the early 50's. It was a cheer they used at high school football games. My mother cheered it in the late 40's in lower Delaware."

*****

Heather Kidd wrote, "I saw your lyrics to this hand clap game and thought I would share what I learned as a child. My lyrics came from going to camp and the children I played with when I was growing up in Oklahoma City.

'BoBo Ski Otten Totten eh eh, eh eh
BoBo Ski Otten Totten eh eh, eh eh
Itty bitty Watton Totten, BoBo Ski Otten Totten
BoBo Ski Otten Totten Boom! Boom! Boom!'

Thanks for publishing your page. It brought back lots of childhood memories. 😊 "

Comments

I can't find the origins of "Bobo Ski Waten Taten". According to this page, "This handclap is popular on the east coast, particularly in the New York City and Long Island areas."

If anyone knows anything about the origin of this rhyme, or if it has any meaning at all,
please email me. Thanks in advance! -Mama Lisa

Download

Many thanks to Marisa for chanting Bo Bo Ski Waton Taton for us!

Thanks and Acknowledgements

Thanks to Marisa from New York for contributing this song! Thanks to Morgan H., Brittany Cleveland, Lakota, Heather Kidd and Prescott Anderson for sending their versions! Thanks to Cathy Warner for commenting on this rhyme.

Thank you very much!