I’ve reimagined Long Legged Sailor for use in hybrid and distance learning music classrooms. I’ve been doing this with a lot of my older posts lately, in the hopes that you’ll find new ways to make your old repertoire work. You can find my original post about Long Legged Sailor HERE.
Modified Clapping Game (2nd-6th)
I love a good clapping game, and this is one of my favorites. Traditionally this game requires partners, but an easy modification makes it so that students can play it without. Here’s how:
- “Have” – pat your legs with both hands
- “you” – clap own hands together
- “ever” – pat right leg with right hand
- “ever” – clap own hands together
- “ever” – pat left leg with left hand
- “in your” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “life” – pat right leg with right hand
- “seen a” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “sailor” – pat left leg with left hand
- “with a” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “wife” – pat legs with both hands
Modified Clapping Game (K-1st)
Here’s another way to modify the game to make it even simpler for your youngest students:
- “Have” – pat your legs with both hands
- “you” – clap own hands together
- “ever” – pat your legs with both hands
- “ever” – clap own hands together
- “ever” – pat your legs with both hands
- “in your” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “life” – pat your legs with both hands
- “seen a” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “sailor” – pat your legs with both hands
- “with a” – clap own hands together
- “long” – spread hands wide apart
- “legged” – clap own hands together
- “wife” – pat your legs with both hands
There are additional verses to the song. They’re easy to include once students have learned the first verse. In the second verse, students sing “short-legged wife”. For this motion, they can hold their hands closer together or rotate them to be sandwiched on top of each other for an added challenge.
Clapping Game Tutorial Download
It’s helpful to have visuals for your students as they’re learning the motions. So, I created four pages with visuals for each of the game’s motions. You can download the PDF HERE.
