I have discovered THIS. Ha! And this, which has a picture of a girl who hasn't got a CLUE how to play with that french-skipping-rope (well, not by the rules I learnt), and a comment from a ten-yr-old advising that they have to "land on that cross in the middle". We NEVER crossed them in the middle! Maybe we did it wrong :(

Dukes A' Riding...yes, I can see how that could have changed. Not so keen on their "tinsy tinsy tee". Our "Ipsy dipsy dee-eye-oh" sounds far more...boisterous, somehow. Which I have probably spelt wrong.

I'll look out the "man in the house" game, but my lunchhour has extended a bit too long, so I'll post the "mummies and daddies" when I find it (really? You honestly never played it?)

Also, as an aside (because my lunchhour is honestly over), the "I had a little dog" rhyme above is an actual poem (I had a little brother/His name was Tiny Tim) by...Alan Ahlberg, or someone similar. I'll find out, I have it at home. And we had Barky's "... and ... sittin' in a tree" as well, though I'd like to point out that this was mocked in later years with "F-*-*-K-I-N-G" substituted for "K-I-S-S-I-N-G".

My mother taught me:
Oh dear what can the matter be?
[name]    is stuck in the lavatory.
She/He was there from Monday to Saturday.
Nobody knew she/he was there.

Presumably she learnt it back in London. And yes, she made the lines rhyme. "Lava-tree", "Mun-dee to Satur-dee" - this wasn't how she usually promounced the days, but the first word is her normal way of saying lavatory. For years, I thought this was a rhyme about a tree made of lava. To this day, I picture the person sung about lying in a large bright orange and red tree...

-Viracocha