Ordinary Movings
A Ball Tossing Game
"I am now 65 yrs of age, and remember playing 'Ordinary Movings' against the slate wall at our house when I was 7-10. We used an India rubber ball instead of the red white and blue one. Not the best idea, as we broke quite a few slates over the years which my Dad relentlessly replaced. :-) " -Pat
Note: Game Instructions below the lyrics.
Ordinary Movings
Game
Ordinary Movings (1)
Laughings (2)
Talkings (3)
One Hand (4)
The other hand (5)
One foot
The other foot. (6)
Claps at the front
Claps at the back
Front and back
Back and front. (7)
A tweedle (8)
A twaddle (9)
A curtsie
A bow
A right salute
A left salute
A double salute (10)
Away she goes. (11)
Notes
"We whiled away the summer with that game and all the skipping and tree climbing, and soft-ball games on the street. So many delicious memories." -Pat
Game Instructions
(1) We would toss the ball at the house from a distance of about 5 feet. As we tossed it and caught it we would sing 'ordinary movings' (then toss again).
(2) Sing 'laughings' (couldn't laugh).
(3) Then, not aloud say 'talkings' (toss again).
(4) Sing, 'one hand' (using one hand toss and catch).
(5) Sing, 'the other hand'.
(6) Standing 1st on one foot, then the other foot sing, 'one foot', 'the other foot'.
(7) Then, doing the appropriate moves sing, 'claps at the front', 'claps at the back', 'then front and back', then 'back and front'.
(8) Then, holding one hand in front of the other, twirl them over each other frontwards and sing, 'a tweedle'.
(9) Then backwards sing, 'a twaddle'.
(10) Then doing the appropriate moves as we tossed sing, 'a curtsie', 'a bow', then 'a right salute', 'a left salute', 'a double salute'.
(11) And then we would twirl all the way around after tossing and we had to catch the ball singing, 'away she goes'.
Comments
You can join a conversation about Ordinary Movings (and the game Yoki and the Kaiser) on Mama Lisa's World Blog.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Thanks to Pat Tuck for sharing this ball tossing chant!