Sailor Sailor on the Sea

Formation: Students (“Farmers”) stand in a circle surrounding one student, the “Sailor.” The Sailor has hidden several small objects in one hand. (The objects should be small objects, such as beads, marbles, or buttons. Decide ahead of time what the largest number of objects would be.)

Verse 1 = Students stand still and sing while the Sailor walks or skips around in the inside of the circle. On the last word, “me,” the Sailor stops, faces the student who is closest and holds out the fisted hand with hidden objects inside.

Verse 2 = Sailor (or all students) sing.
Sailor says, “Guess how many.” Farmer answers with a number. Make sure students know what their choices are, say one through five.
If the Farmer answers correctly, the Sailor (or all students) say,
“You have guessed the number true,” and the Farmer becomes the new Sailor.

If the Farmer answers incorrectly, the Sailor (or all students) says, “You have missed the number plain,” and the Sailor gets another turn.

If you wish to increase the chances of the Farmers guessing the right number (so more students get turns), you could make the greatest number of objects be three. Or, the Farmer could become the new Sailor whether or not the answer was correct.