What To Do
‘The big ship sails on the alley alley O, The alley alley O, the alley alley O. The big ship sails on the alley alley O, On the last day of September.’
At least five players stand in a line, holding hands.
Another player stands facing a wall, with her hands high against the wall to make an arch. The head of the line leads everyone through the arch. When the last player passes through the arch, the player making the arch turns around facing away from the wall with her arms crossed and held up. The line now comes back round and they go through with the first person in the line making a new arch. When the last player passes through the arch she turns and crosses her arms, holding hands with the previous arch.
The verse is repeated until all players have crossed arms and are holding hands with the first and last players joining to make a circle.
The rhyme then continues with:
‘The captain said this will never, never do…’
(players shake their heads gravely)
‘The big ship sank to the bottom of the sea…’
(players slowly squat and rise)
‘We all dip our head in the deep blue sea…’
(players bend their heads down as low as pos- sible)
