Dramatized Rhythm Plays Mother Goose and Traditional — Story, Setting & Ideas

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Authors: Richards, John N. Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2007 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: Schools -- Exercises and recreations; Exercise music Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 14,484

Reading time 63 min

Text sections 5

Dramatized Rhythm Plays Mother Goose and Traditional — Story, Setting & Ideas can be approached with a clearer sense of reading commitment from its source measurements: 14,484 words, 1 hr 3 min estimated reading time, and 5 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 12.4 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “Schools -- Exercises and recreations,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #22035

A 1922 physical education manual by John N. Richards, using Mother Goose rhymes to structure classroom rhythm plays for early primary grades, with detailed movement instructions for each line of verse.

Editorial Edition Score 4.6/5

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File: pg22035

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DRAMATIZED RHYTHM PLAYS

Mother Goose and Traditional

by JOHN N. RICHARDS, B.P.E. Assistant Supervisor of Physical Education Newark, N.J.

New York A. S. BARNES AND COMPANY 1931

_This book is fully protected by copyright and nothing that appears in it may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner, either wholly or in part, for any use whatever, without special written permission of the copyright owner._

+Printed in the United States of America+

The following rhythmic plays compiled by Mr. John N. Richards of the Newark Department of Physical Education have been devised to meet the needs in the transition of Physical Education activities between the kindergarten and the first few years of the primary school.

The physiologist tells us that the nervous organism of early childhood is injured by the strain of strict, immobile attention required in formal gymnastics. Therefore it is wise to hold the child's interest and attention by means of dramatized nursery plays. These make little strain on mental application and the child is able to dramatize in motion the words and music which are planned to develop his motor co-ordination. In this way the child is gradually and interestingly led from the freedom of expression, characteristic of babyhood to the more specialized formal activities of the third and fourth years in the school.

Mr. Richards' contribution merits widespread usage because he has clearly and definitely described his rhythm plays so that the classroom teacher can easily make use of them without having to draw on her imagination or having to guess at the written explanation.

The book should be useful and welcomed too, not only by the classroom teacher but also by the specialist and supervisor of Physical Education.

Randall D. Warden Director of Physical Education, Newark, N.J., Public Schools

The young people of to-day are most fortunate in their opportunities and advantages. The home, the school, the shop, social life and play offer increasing fields for service. The ever increasing number of problems which must be faced, in this reconstruction period of our nation's life, demands leaders of broad intellect, clear vision and sound judgment. Coupled with these qualifications there must be developed a moral earnestness which will make for better citizenship.

The trend of society movement is undoubtedly toward congested city life. There is lamentable lack of playgrounds and properly equipped gymnasiums. The school buildings are crowded to capacity and there is a rush and hurry of life which challenges the attention of all educators who are interested in the physical well-being of children.

The priceless assets of our communities are the boys and girls who are growing into manhood and womanhood. We should spare neither expense nor energy in fitting them physically, mentally and spiritually for the great problems which will all too soon be theirs.

Exercise habits and a spirit of fair play must be a part of their training from the early school days. There is no better way of inculcating these lessons than through story plays and games during their first school years.

The material contained in this book is practical. The exercise movements have been set to music which is popular both in the schools and in the homes. It is carefully graded and should prove to be of great assistance to the teachers in the lower grades. It tends to bridge over the gap between the Kindergarten and the Primary Grade activities.

There is need for a manual of this type in our Physical Training literature and it is hoped that this material will be used generally throughout the schools of our country.

F. W. Maroney, M.D. Director of Physical Education and Medical Inspection Atlantic City, N.J., Public Schools

The author wishes to express his thanks to F. W. Maroney, M.D., formerly Director of Physical Education of the State of New Jersey and now Director of Physical Education and Medical Inspection of the Public Schools of Atlantic City, N.J., for the Introduction.

To Mr. Randall D. Warden, Director of Physical Education, Public Schools, Newark, N.J., for the Preface.

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John N. Richards's Dramatized Rhythm Plays Mother Goose and Traditional (1922) is a physical education manual that translates nursery rhymes into structured movement sequences for early primary classrooms. The book assigns specific bodily actions—jumps, bends, vaults, and hand gestures—to each line of familiar verses like “Sing a Song of Sixpence” and “See Saw, Marjory Daw.” Unlike generic activity guides, Richards provides precise instructions for formations, cues, and transitions, often specifying which foot to move or how to hold imaginary props. The preface, written by Newark’s Director of Physical Education Randall D. Warden, frames the work as a bridge between kindergarten freedom and the formal gymnastics of later grades, emphasizing motor coordination without mental strain.

Movement as Literal Translation

Richards treats each line of a nursery rhyme as a discrete unit of action. For “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” the line “The King was in the counting house” prompts a quarter-turn jump and sitting down; “Counting out his money” requires the child to “hold imaginary coins in palm of left hand and count with the right hand.” This word-by-word choreography leaves little room for improvisation. The same approach appears in “See Saw, Marjory Daw,” where the center pupil bends trunk to the right and left while outer pupils “act as riders on board, bending and stretching knees.” The movements are not symbolic or expressive in a theatrical sense; they are literal, physical translations of the text, designed to be executed in unison.

Classroom Architecture as Stage

The descriptions reveal a classroom arranged in rows of desks with defined aisles and seat areas. Richards uses this fixed layout as the performance space. In “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” children vault over seats, sit in “seat area,” and stand in “right aisle.” The “See Saw, Marjory Daw” formation requires three aisles to work together: the center aisle pupil stands with arms raised sideward, while outer aisles grasp those hands. The room itself becomes a stage set, with desks doubling as props for sitting, vaulting, or supporting. This integration of furniture into the activity suggests that the plays were designed for ordinary classrooms, not specialized gymnasiums.

Catalog Subjects vs. Actual Content

The Project Gutenberg record lists “Schools -- Exercises and recreations” and “Exercise music” as subjects, with secondary tags “drama-theatre” and “music.” The excerpts confirm the first two: the book is indeed a collection of exercises set to nursery rhymes. However, the “drama-theatre” tag is misleading. There is no dialogue, character development, or narrative arc. The “dramatized” element is limited to miming actions like “imitating the opening of the pie” or “fluttering of arms up and down, imitating the flying of birds.” The music tag is accurate only in that the book includes MIDI files and sheet music for the songs, but the primary focus is on the physical movements, not musical instruction. The catalog’s emphasis on drama and music overstates the book’s theatrical and musical dimensions.

Readers approaching this work should expect a practical manual, not a storybook or performance script. The value lies in its detailed, step-by-step instructions for group movement, which reflect early 20th-century physical education philosophy. The excerpts show a strong emphasis on order, repetition, and teacher-led direction, with little room for child-led creativity. Those interested in the history of classroom exercise or the adaptation of folk material for pedagogical purposes will find this a precise, if narrow, example.

That rain-washed afternoon, mimicking “Little Boy Blue” with second graders, I kept noticing how a single rhyme could anchor a whole body of movement. The same instinct—finding structure within playful repetition—surfaced later in Hand-Craft: The Most Reliable Basis of Technical Education in Schools and Classes — A Closer Reading, where hands shape what rhythm sets in motion. One book simply leaned into the other.