Fun games for school - Lucy Lockett

Of course, some would argue that there's too much play and not enough learning but these people usually don't know much about either education or children. Or both. 

Some of these were games left for me to do with students by their music teachers, who didn't know who was coming in for them. 

Lucy Lockett is an old English rhyme from back in the days when clothing didn't have pockets sewn into them, but were worn [yes, worn, and primarily by women] as a totally separate article of clothing under everything else, which you could slide your hand into by a seam opening.  Unless you were a young girl, like Lucy, in which case you were showing off your pocket because it was embroidered within an inch of it's life to show off your mad skills. 

So it makes sense that it would be easy for the strings tying that pocket to your body to come undone, the pocket falling off, and you having no idea what just happened.

You will need: 
a minimum of 6 players
space enough for them to move around. 
a small coin purse or an ID pouch [like the zippered sort that V. Bradley makes for your ID and other effects]


Also, if you're musically inclined, and know solfeg or can figure out moveable Do, here's the song, plus solfeg. If you're not musically inclined, here, at least, are the words. I freely admit there is like a problem with the music provided below, the solfeg, however, should be fine.  

This game can be played one of two ways.  
First, the children sit in a circle and pass a small coin purse around while singing; a single student sits in the center with their eyes closed, and when the others are done singing, it's their job to figure out who has the pocket. The guesser usually gets three guesses, and it usually doesn't take more than a second go round for the guesser to figure out where the pocket is. The child with the pouch and the guesser switch and the game continues. 

Second, it can be played rather like a game of Hot and Cold. One student chosen as the guesser, and the the teacher or person in charge sends them out of the room or has them cover their eyes, depending on your circumstances while the other students waiting to see where the change purse has been hidden by the teacher or person in charge. The guesser returns to the area of play, and the rest of the group sings 'Lucy' while the guesser looks for the pocket. Ideally, the singing should get louder the closer the guesser gets to the pocket, and softer the farther away the guesser is. This is a great way to practice using vocal dynamics with young students.