What To Do
One person is chosen to be a group leader. The players stand in a circle, holding hands. The dance follows the instructions given in the lyrics of the song, which may be prompted by the leader.
You put your right hand in, Your right hand out, In, out, in, out, Shake it all about. You do the Hokey Cokey and you turn around, That’s what it’s all about…
As the specific body parts are named, the players do the appropriate actions. At the end of each verse the players sing the chorus:
Woah the hokey cokey, Woah the hokey cokey, Woah the hokey cokey, Knees bent arms stretch ra ra ra.
For the chorus all participants stand in the circle. Holding hands, on each ‘woah’ they all raise their joined hands in the air and run in toward the centre of the circle and on ‘the hokey cokey’ they all run backwards out again. On the last line they bend their knees then stretch their arms, as indicated, and for ‘ra ra ra!’ they either clap in time or raise arms above their heads and push upwards in time to the music. More often than not, each subsequent verse and chorus is a little faster and louder.
The next sequence begins with a new named body part and so it continues – left hand, right foot, left foot, whole self.
Rules
Be gentle with one another and make sure nobody gets hurt.
VARIATIONS: If you have a large group playing this game and you find it becoming quite boisterous during the chorus, an calmer way of playing, which is almost as much fun, is for the players to raise both their hands up to the side of their head and wiggle their fingers when they sing the chorus.
