For several years we, at the Primary
School in Cocomaro di Cona, (Ferrara Province, Italy), have been conducting
research into counting-out rhymes, the rhymes children use
to decide who starts first
in a collective activity or group game.
We like counting-out rhymes for many reasons: they are original, imaginative,
entertaining and musical. We like
them because they sound good when recited. We love their simple, primitive
rhythms which belong to us just as our heartbeats and our breath. They make us
smile because of their often strange rhymes that help our memory and encourage
us to make new versions.
Counting-out rhymes arise our curiosity for the solemnity of the gestures that
accompany the words and because they can justify the use of bad words, nonsense
and provide us with the chance to be ironic or satirical, and poke fun at those
who are bigger or more powerful (e.g. look at the series of rhymes on kings, heads, soldiers and teachers!).
We find these rhymes fascinating because
they are like magical formulae, spells and
witchcraft.
They are totally involving - both
for those who recite them and for
those taking part in the game because they seek out find expression in a strange
language that is a cross between the spoken and sung word;
while the rhyme is being recited everyone pays attention in
dumbfound silence because they all feel part of a special, collective
ritual.
Also, counting-out rhymes never age because it is children who keep them alive
-adapting, transforming, changing, reinventing and sharing them. They are a
service to the group or gang. Indeed
it is the group that organizes itself in line with shared, democratic rules so
as to prevent acts of unfairness and bullying when deciding
who starts the game.
These days children have fewer
chances to play in a group: unfortunately street and village games in the road
are a thing of the past and many children are sadly forced to play at home often
all alone. What is more, mass
produced toys leave little room for the give and take of traditional children’s
games.
Counting-out rhymes represent an
objective parameter criterion of choice, especially in group games based on physical activity and parts of the
body such as hiding, chasing, capturing.
As for the purposes of our research, it
is our aim to claim we are
scientific researchers; we do not have the competence or the tools, let alone
the time required. However
we do believe that counting-out rhymes are a part of our heritage that
should not be lost. In our small way, we shall continue to do our
best by gathering, cataloguing and safeguarding counting-out rhymes - and
of course by using them in our
games.
Counting-out
rhymes: home
