A SAILOR WENT TO SEA
“A Sailor Went to Sea” is a traditional children’s nursery rhyme, clapping game, and skipping rhyme. It was initially called ‘My Father Went to Sea’, before becoming more widely known as ‘A Sailor Went to Sea’.
The first verse of A Sailor Went To Sea goes as:
A sailor went to sea, sea, sea
To see what he could see, see, see.
But all that he could see, see, see
Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.
Game:
While saying “sea”, aquatic waves are mimed with the hand; while saying “see”, the hand is brought to the eye to mime a “seeing” gesture.
Instead of the last line (“Was the bottom of the deep blue sea, sea, sea.”) sea animals can be listed, adding one in every verse. E.g.: “Was a seahorse swimming, and a turtle swimming, and an octopus swimming in the sea, sea, sea”.
Further verses typically replace “sea/see” with other words, such as “chop”, “knee”, “bed”, “pick” or “toes”, with appropriate gestural substitutions.