Games hand: 10 Classic hand-clapping games to teach your kid

10 Classic hand-clapping games to teach your kid

Photo: iStockPhoto

In a culture where it’s normal to pack your kid’s backpack with earphones and an iPad, it may seem like forever ago that hand-clapping games ruled the schoolyard.

But if you’re an old-fashioned soul wanting to pass down the skill of hand-eye coordination to your kid, look no further! Here are some classic hand-clapping games that will surely get them hooked.

1. Patty Cake

“Patty cake, patty cake, baker’s man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can.” Patty Cake is the most classic and simple clapping game out there. Played with two people, hands are clapped in the standard criss-cross motion. Then you roll your dough, pat it and mark it with a B (for baby). It’s a game that can be played with the youngest of tots.

2. Miss Mary Mack

Learn how to play:

4.

Sevens

Much like the cup game, Sevens puts your rhythmic skills to the test. There are a few rhythm patterns within this game. Once you’ve started, the following player must match your rhythm as you move onto the next one. The tricky part is keeping in sync with the others in the game.

5. Rockin’ Robin

An ode to Bobby Day’s 1958 hit song by the same name, Rockin’ Robin can be played with two to four people. The rules of the game vary in accordance with the number of people that join in. However, it’s best played with four people so you can clap over and under (as demonstrated in the video).

6. Tick-Tack-Toe

There are no real rules to this game; it’s simply a bunch of hand movements done for fun! (This one totally reminds us of that scene in The Parent Trap when Annie (Lindsay Lohan) is saying goodbye to her butler, Martin. )

7. Concentration 64

Without repeating or hesitating, players must think of a name or word that relates to a chosen category. There’s no real meaning to the number 64 within the game, but it might be a good challenge to see if you can list off 64 words without breaking concentration.

8. Slide

This game is all about keeping count while keeping your cool. Slide can get pretty intense as your claps increase in number. Try this game with your kid and see how far you get!

9. Say, Say Oh Playmate

Let this song take you back to those sunny days with sidewalk chalk, ice cream and your schoolyard bff. Its innocent lyrics encompass the essence of childhood friendship and it’s an easy clapping rhythm to learn, too. (Note: This one is also known as “Cee Cee My Playmate,” and there are versions where the lyrics aren’t quite so innocent.)

10. Stella Ella Ola

The precise lyrics to Stella Ella Ola are hotly debated (“clap clap clap” or “quack quack quack,” for example). What we do know for sure is that it’s a fun and easy game that can be played in a large group.

Here are some suggested lyrics (that will almost certainly conflict at least slightly with your memory), courtesy of the YouTube video above:

Stella Ella Ola clap clap clap
singing es Tiga Tiga, Tiga Tiga Shack Shack
Es Tiga Tiga, Baloa Baloa, Baloa Lo-a-Lo
1 2 3 4 5

This article was originally published on Sep 08, 2020

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29 Classic Hand Clapping Games for Kids (+Videos and Printable Lyrics)

Looking for those hand clapping games you used to play as a child? This list has them all! These hand-clapping rhymes and songs are fun for kids of all ages, from simple rhymes like Pat-A-Cake to more advanced rhymes and clapping techniques.  

These hand clap games are perfect to teach your children, students, or camp attendees. And the best part is, once you teach them, they can entertain themselves for hours – and teach their friends too!

I included videos to make learning quick and easy…and you can grab the free printable with the lyrics to all the hand-clapping songs too!

The act of singing a song and clapping your hands may not seem like it would do much, but there is actually quite of bit of evidence that hand clapping, singing and following a particular rhythm or beat actually has tremendous benefits.

And these benefits are not just for children. In the same study that showed the cognitive advantages that hand clap rhymes gave to children they saw similar results in adults.

I have experienced them as a child, a mother and a school teacher and there is just something about clapping games that transcend time, age, gender (I promise you…boys like them too) and cultures.

-Standing in line
-Riding in the backseat of the car
-Waiting for a performance or movie to start in a theater

These simple songs and rhymes also help to teach rhythm, counting, rhyming and hand-eye coordination.

They are also great ice breakers for events with kids because they get people working together right away.

I don’t think any parent, teacher or camp counselor can ever have too many hand clapping games in their repertoire – so if you want a simple, free and fun game to play keep reading!

Pat-A-Cake

Grandma Grandma Sick in Bed

Grandma Grandma, Sick in Bed

Down down baby, down by the roller coaster 

Sweet, sweet baby, I’ll never let you go, 

Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pops, Shimmy shimmy pow! 

Shimmy, shimmy cocoa pops, Shimmy shimmy pow! 

Grandma  grandma, sick in bed, Called the doctor and the doctor said; 

Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong! 

Let’s get the rhythm of the head – ding dong! 

Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap! 

Let’s get the rhythm of the hands – clap, clap! 

Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp!

 Let’s get the rhythm of the feet – stomp, stomp!

 Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog 

Let’s get the rhythm of the – hot dog! 

Put it all together and what do you get? 

Ding dong, clap clap, stomp stomp, hot dog! Put it all backward and what do you get? Hot dog, stomp stomp, clap clap, ding dong!

Creating this list was so much fun! It brought back so many memories from childhood.

It also reminded me how important the “simple things” are to our kids. You don’t need over the top events and activities to have fun with your children.

If you are looking for more ways to connect and have fun as a family be sure to check out these posts too:

Most hand clapping games are played with a partner. You either sit or stand facing each other. You then clap a particular rhythm or pattern with your partner as you sing a song. Many hand clap games end when the song ends, but there are others that keep going until one of the players makes a mistake. Each clapping game has different rules and directions, but those are the basic steps for most of them.

While there are records of particular hand clap games including Pat-A-Cake being played in Europe as early as the 1600’s my guess is that hand clapping games have been around a lot longer than that. You can also be sure that other cultures and tribes around the world who are known for their rhythmic clapping and dancing also participated in hand clapping games for thousands of years.

Sometimes the two are used interchangeably and sometimes they’re the same – but not always. Clapping games focus on fine motor skills like hand-eye coordination and bilateral coordination. While there is often a rhyme that accompanies the movements and sometimes even a song, the focus is on the clapping. With singing games, while there may be hand movements to accompany it, the focus is on the song.

Yes, clapping is a skill, not something we are naturally born knowing how to do. Clapping requires fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. That’s why playing these hand clapping games can be so great for kids and why we often teach babies and toddlers Pat-A-Cake. Though it’s fun, it’s actually a way to improve their fine motor skills!

There you have it! The best list of hand clap games from the 80’s, 90’s and even earlier.

So when is handplay a violation and when is it not?

Stories

Everyone will understand.

Until August 2019, the criterion for punishing handball was very simple and at the same time vague: the referees assessed whether the player deliberately touched the ball with his hand or not. The new version from IFAB (the organization that formulates the rules of the game of football) was supposed to simplify everything, but in the end it made it a little more complicated.

A few weeks after the introduction of the new rules, a big question arose about them. The Premier League referees did not count the goal of City striker Gabriel Jesus against Tottenham Hotspur due to the ball hit him from the hand of Aymeric Laporte.

It looked like this.

“I don’t understand how it was possible to remove the hand in that situation,” complained Laporte’s teammate Kevin de Bruyne. – After the game, I was told that if the ball hit the defender’s hand in the same way, then this would not be considered a violation. And in the case of an attacking player, it counts. I don’t understand it, I don’t understand it at all. This issue still needs to be discussed.”

De Bruyne is right – now the rules are interpreted differently for attacking players and defenders.

How is it?

Here are three points where handball is considered a foul:

1. If a player scores or makes an assist. There are no exceptions here. The referee must always blow his whistle – even if the attacking player unintentionally played a handball, even if he had no chance to dodge. For example, after a ricochet. This is just the case of Laporte. Once again: this point does not work if we are talking about defending players (the next two points apply to everyone).

2. The ball hits an arm that is above the shoulder.

3. The football player increases the area of ​​the body with his hand, making it unnaturally large.

The third point is incomprehensible, but Da Vinci’s drawing will explain everything.

Here’s how IFAB CTO David Elliray explains it.

“The body has a certain silhouette. If the arms are extended outside of this silhouette, then it makes the body unnaturally large to block the path of the ball.

Sounds abstract again. So far, the best way to explain this nuance is with the boss of the Italian judges, Nicola Rizzoli. He took Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man and explained everything in it. Here is a short guide.

As a result, the rules really became more complicated, but the criteria became clearer. So that you do not forget the nuances, here is a reminder that you can return to at controversial moments. Even Kevin De Bruyne will understand.

Related materials

When handball is foul and when it is not.

We dismantled the controversial interpretations and the new rule, and also made a memo for you (+ video moments)

Artem Terentyev studied the most difficult rule in football.

The hand game rules have been changed: accidental contact in attack is not a reason to immediately whistle a foul. But subjectivity remains

On March 5, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced a rule adjustment: from July 1, accidentally touching the ball with your hand, which immediately leads to the fact that your teammate either scores a goal or gets an opportunity to score, is not considered a violation .

It is curious that the day before in the Fulham-Tottenham Premier League match, in a similar episode, the referee canceled a goal: the Spurs player carried the ball out of his penalty area, hit Lemina from Fulham in the hand (and she was pressed to the body), Maggie picked up the ball and scored. After reviewing the VAR, the referee did not count the goal. According to the current rules, any handball at the end of the attacking phase (random or not) is a violation.

It got to the point of absurdity: when, for example, a football player who fell in a duel accidentally touched the ball minimally with his hand, and a teammate scored a goal a second later, the referee had to whistle a foul. So it was, say, in the game between Tottenham and Sheffield.

Pierluigi Collina / Photo: © Neal Simpson — EMPICS / Contributor / PA Images / Gettyimages.ru

The IFAB explained that the change in interpretation had nothing to do with Fulham’s last match — the discussion on finalizing the rules went on for several months. At the same time, Collina, head of the referees in Europe, explained: the concept of “unnatural position of the hand” still remains partly subjective and the responsibility rests with the chief referee.

The word “immediately” must also be taken into account in this rule. If the touch with the hand was accidental, it was in a natural position and then the ball went some distance (or several passes were made), then such a moment was not considered a violation before. A vivid example is from the game CSKA – Spartak.

Oblyakov touched the ball after throwing out, then there were several passes, and only then Ejuke scored a goal. After VAR, the referee logically confirmed the goal.

Watch on YouTube

Of course, if the attacking player’s hand is in an unnatural position (more on this term below), then even an accidental touch under the new rules will be a foul.

Officially, the amendments will come into force on July 1, but leagues are allowed to implement them now. But it is unlikely that anyone will change the rules during the season, this is a big risk of running into a scandal, confusing judges and fans. As it became known to Match TV, the RFU also does not plan to make changes until the end of the championship.

A complete set of hand rules. Below there will be an analysis of controversial issues

An important clarification: further in the text, the concept of “hands” will mean, among other things, that part of the shoulder, which, according to the rules, is forbidden to play. More about this already in the analysis of the moments.

To begin with, a squeeze from the IFAB rules for the 2020/21 season. The item that will be canceled from July 1 is indicated in the addenda.

As mentioned above, the concept of “a hand that unnaturally increases the area of ​​​​the body” is largely subjective and is determined by the judge. Depending on what the player is currently doing in space, the interpretation may change somewhat. There are, of course, general recommendations, but the dynamics of the episode play an important role.

It’s safe to say that raising arms above or at shoulder level is a big risk that often leads to the interpretation of the episode as a violation of the rules. And a relatively safe position of the hands is the deviation of the hands from the body by no more than 15 degrees (20-30 cm). Between these two situations (at the level / above the shoulders and pressed to the body), a lot is determined by the interpretation of the arbiter – the episode and the player’s actions.

Further analysis of controversial issues and clarification of interpretations. Let’s take a closer look at similar episodes with Moses and Rybchinsky.

First, with simpler examples: Lutsenko, jumping under the ball, hits it with his hand (elbow, to be more precise). The hand is seriously set aside, the body area is unnaturally increased – everything is obvious, this is a foul.

Open video

The ball after Fernandez’s shot hits the Akhmat defender. Again: the arm is straightened, located horizontally, the body area is unnaturally increased – foul.

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Cayo raises his arms high in the game against Zenit and touches the ball in the penalty area after a cross from the flank – this is a penalty for the same reasons as in the previous example.

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An insulting moment for Kverkvelia: Rotor’s defender, not seeing the ball, hits it with his elbow – also in the fight against an opponent. But the referee considered that the hand still unnaturally increased the area of ​​the body, this is the key here.

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Kazartsev’s blunder (this was later admitted by the head of the refereeing corps Ashot Khachaturyants): the referee did not assign a penalty after a hand in Rotor’s penalty area. The defender apparently unnaturally increased the area of ​​​​the body (like a hockey goalkeeper).

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Touching the ball with the hand after hitting both from the opponent and from your own player. Plus moments when a footballer hits himself in the hand (not a rebound)

A more difficult moment: Vlašić in a recent match hit Semenov in the hand from a very close distance, the Akhmat defender did not have the opportunity to remove his hand. It would seem that someone could apply the following rule from the above here:

– No offense if the ball touches the hand (which does not make the body unnaturally larger) directly from the head or body (including the foot) of an opposing player who is close.

No. Semyonov’s hand was clearly set aside, as if it increased the area of ​​the body, and there are reasons to say that it increased unnaturally. And in this situation (when players from different teams participate in the episode), the proximity of the opponent and the inability to avoid contact with the ball no longer matter.

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If players of the same team participate in the episode (for example, a defender gets into the hand of another defender after a clearance), or even one player (touches the ball with his hand due to a technical defect), then the interpretation becomes more complicated. Let’s study the second case first:

a) If a player takes out / just handles the ball and hits his own hand – this is not a penalty, but a technical defect. Even if the hand is in an unnatural position.

Here are examples from recent matches: a Rotor player plays with his hand after handling the ball in his penalty area. But according to the current rules, this is not a penalty.

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Here, Umyarov, in the game with Krasnodar, plays with his hand in the penalty area before an assist. But, firstly, the hand practically does not increase the area of ​​the body, and secondly, such episodes are considered a technical defect, and not a violation. When the ball enters the hand from one’s body while trying, what is important, to play the ball – to receive, hit, process.

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b) If the player hits the ball in the hand of his teammate, there are two options: if, in the opinion of the referee, it was time to remove his hand and avoid contact, then this is a penalty; if the arbiter thinks otherwise, then the game continues, there is no violation.

For example, a Khimki player in his penalty area, kicking the ball, hit a teammate in the hand. The referee rightly considered that the football player did not have time to remove his hand, although it increased the area of ​​the body. Another clarification: the phrase in the rules “a player who is close” is not about the distance, but about the ability to avoid contact of the ball with the hand.

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And a very interesting moment from the Zenit-Krasnodar game: Wendel, trying to take a pass from the flank in his penalty area with his chest, touches the ball with the first touch of his hand.

This is handball and penalties. But if the ball first hit the chest, as the Zenit player planned, and then bounced into the hand, then this would already be a technical defect. There would be no penalty.

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When the ball bounces off a football player into his hand. This is no longer a technical marriage, but a violation

A vivid example is the match of the 21st round “Rubin” – “Zenith”. After serving from the flank, the ball hits Kuzyaev’s body, and then bounces into his hand. This is a penalty because there was a rebound (Kuzyaev did not try to handle the ball or make a game action with it).

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Exactly the same moment in the game “Dynamo” – “Spartak” (ricochet and then hand). Skopintsev reflexively tried to stop the cross, and did not play the ball as planned and prepared. That’s why it’s a penalty.

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It makes no sense to be surprised at the rule, you just have to accept this difference: 1) a rebound (an accidental rebound from the body, leg, head, etc. – after a pass / cross / hit by an opponent) and a subsequent hand that unnaturally increases the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe body is penalty; 2) an attempt to play the ball (not just rush under a canopy/lumbago/hit, but intentionally, planned to handle the ball, hit the ball, etc.) and the subsequent hand, which unnaturally increases the body area, is a technical defect and not a violation.

A similar moment in interpretation (to the episodes with Kuzyaev and Skopintsev) was in the Tambov-Dynamo game in the 13th round: after a Dynamo strike, the ball hits the body of the opponent’s defender, and then into the hand. The movement was reflexive, the hand was slightly removed from the body, increasing the area. The defender of “Tambov” was simply trying to interrupt the flight of the ball, there was no intentional and prepared game with a permitted part of the body.

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And a much more controversial moment in the game between Krasnodar and Chelsea. Also a blow (but from a closer distance), a rebound and a hand. The judge considered that she unnaturally increased the area of ​​​​the body, although the location was close to the body. Apparently not close enough.

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Well, a wildly difficult case in the Sochi-Spartak match: Larsson hits Tsallagov in the hosts’ penalty box with the ball. In dynamics, it seemed that this was an obvious game with a set-back hand (again, the body area was unnaturally increased) and a penalty.

But there are already doubts on VAR and from the replay from behind the gate. It can be seen that at first the ball hits the defender’s ribs, but what happened next is not so clear. In any case: if the ball hits the outstretched hand from the ribs, it’s a penalty (because it’s a ricochet, and not an attempt to deliberately play the ball), if it goes beyond the front from the ribs, then it’s logical that there is no penalty. That’s what the referee thought.

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Touching the ball on the shoulder – moments of Moses and Rybchinsky.

We explain in detail

In the rules for the 20/21 season, IFAB showed in the picture what is considered a hand when playing football. But it turned out to be too schematic and a little misleading.

Photo: © IFAB

Visually, it seems that the allowed part of the shoulder (the underarm zone, as it is also called) extends approximately to the end of the T-shirt sleeve. But this is different from what instructions are given to the arbitrators.

Here is a simplified example of how to determine this allowed zone: imagine that you have a thermometer under your arm, draw a horizontal line from it to your arm – you will get a part of the shoulder, the border of which will be located 5 centimeters higher than the sleeve of a standard T-shirt.

Next. Even if the ball touches the forbidden zone by a centimeter (in the opinion of the arbitrator; it is, of course, impossible to calculate this mathematically exactly), then this is a handball. Especially if the player makes an oncoming movement towards the ball, as was the case with Moses, where the Spartak player directed his hand under the serve. Plus, according to the repetition that is available, it seems that the ball was below the axillary zone (that straight line from the conditional thermometer).

Once again: not below the sleeve area of ​​a standard T-shirt, but below the underarm area. In this case, this is a violation. Naturally, this rule was introduced for VAR, in dynamics it is impossible for a person to determine this. The calculation is that the judges at the video screen will promptly correct the chief if he overlooks such a moment.

The game was not shown on Match TV, but on the RFU YouTube channel there is this fragment (dated March 4) in slow motion.

There was a very similar moment in the meeting between CSKA and Ural in the 18th round. Also a serve from a corner, however, the touch of the ball was a little lower on the arm – so it’s easier to make a decision. It is clear that without VAR, such a moment would hardly have been noticed – such episodes are now called “television penalties”.