Miss Mary
Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother,
mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephants, elephants, elephants (or
hippos or cows)
Jump the fence, fence, fence.
They jumped so high, high,
high
They reached the sky, sky, sky
And didn’t (or never) come back, back, back
Till the 4th of July -ly -ly.
She asked her mother,
mother, mother
For 5 cents more, more, more
To see the elephants, elephants, elephants
Jump the door, door, door.
They jumped
to the flow, flow, flow
They stubbed their toe, toe, toe
And that was the end, end, end
Of the elephant show, show, show.
Directions for Play:
For children just learning this game start out
slow and with a simple clapping pattern.
Clap your hands together,
Bring your right arm across your body and clap
the left hand of your partner.
Clap your hands together,
Bring your left arm across your body and clap
the right hand of your partner.
Repeat this patter as you recite the poem.
For an added challenge:
To challenge children who are mastering the version
above try to generate more challenging clapping patterns.
Cross arms and place hands on your shoulders,
Uncross and clap hands onto your legs,
Clap hands together (1x)
Double clap (3x) with your partner
Note: the double clap should happen each time you are repeating
words 3x. Ex. “Mack, Mack, Mack”
Repeat this pattern as you recite the poem.