"Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" (Also called "Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" or the cookie jar song)is a sing-along game of children's music. The song is an infinite-loop motif, where each verse directly feeds into the next. The game begins with the children sitting or standing, arranged in an inward-facing circle.
The song usually begins with the group leader asking who stole a cookie from an imaginary (or sometimes real) cookie jar, followed by the name of one of the children in the circle. The child questions the "accusation," answered by an affirmation from the "accuser," followed by continued denial from the "accused." The accuser asks who stole the cookie, followed by the accused's saying the name of another child in the circle. The call-and-answer is potentially infinitely recursive, limited only by the number of participants or the amount of time the participants wish to spend on it.
Sometimes, a clapping or snapping beat is used by the children in the circle. Sometimes, the other children in the group sing along with the "accuser" after the "accused" has been identified. Some variations on the theme include the use by teachers of the song as a lesson in keeping with a beat and improvisation. As with many children's songs, there can be many variations on the execution of the performance.
The song's lyrics are usually:
Accuser: (name of a child in the circle) stole/took the cookie/cookies from the cookie jar.
Accused: Who, me?
Accuser/Group: Yes, you!
Accused: Not me!
Accuser/Group: Then who?
This is followed by the "accused" saying the name of someone else, as "(name of a child in the circle) stole the cookie from the cookie jar," and the subsequent back-and-forth lines are repeated. The song may be repeated ad infinitum or it may end - if it is being performed as part of a game, where members of the group are eliminated by failing to keep up with the prescribed beat or eliminated as a result of being chosen as one of the accused.
The fourth line is often changed to "Couldn't be!" Sesame Street's version also changed the third line to "Yeah, you!"
Example of a lesson plan used by teachers, with lyrics, and appropriate grade level.
A variation on the performance of the piece, noting the importance of keeping to a rhythm.
Related Research Articles
Guy Smiley is a fictional character on Sesame Street who was dubbed "America's favorite game show host". His skits are among those on the show that parody commercial media. Smiley has also hosted This Is Your Lunch and Here Is Your Life, a parody of This Is Your Life. Guests who were profiled included a loaf of bread, a tooth and a tree. He has also hosted pageants for numbers and letters.
A powwow is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or public, indoors or outdoors. Dancing events can be competitive with monetary prizes. Powwows vary in length from single-day to weeklong events.
The "Chicken Dance", also known and recorded as Der Ententanz,Tchip Tchip,Vogerltanz, the Bird Song, the Chicken Song, the Birdie Song, the Bird Dance,Danse des Canards, the Duck Dance,El Baile de los Pajaritos, O Baile dos Passarinhos, Il Ballo del Qua Qua,Check Out the Chicken, or Dance Little Bird, is an oom-pah song; its associated fad dance has become familiar throughout the Western world. The song was composed by accordion player Werner Thomas from Davos, Switzerland, in the 1950s.
Blackfoot music is the music of the Blackfoot people. Singing predominates and was accompanied only by percussion.
Capoeira music is the traditional musical accompaniment used in Afro-Brazilian art capoeira, featuring instruments like berimbau, pandeiro, atabaque, agogô, and reco-reco. The music plays a crucial role in capoeira roda, setting the style the energy of a game.
Sioux music prominently features the human voice, with songs accompanied by drumming.
Chinese jump rope, also known as Chinese ropes, jumpsies, elastics, rek, yoki (Canada), Super Cali (Newfoundland), French skipping, American ropes/Chinese ropes, gummitwist, "jeu de l elastique" in France and Chinese garter in the Philippines is a children's game resembling hopscotch and jump rope. Various moves are combined to create patterns which are often accompanied by chants.
Chinese jump rope combines the skills of hopscotch with some of the patterns from the hand-and-string game cat's cradle. The game began in 7th-century China. In the 1960s, children in the Western hemisphere adapted the game. German-speaking children call Chinese jump rope gummitwist and British children call it elastics. The game is typically played in a group of at least 3 players with a rope approximately 16 feet in length tied into a circle. Traditional Chinese jump ropes are strings of rubber bands tied together, but today many varieties of commercial rope exist. Two players face each other standing 9 feet apart, and position the rope around their ankles so that it is taut. The third player stands between the two sides of the rope and tries to perform a designated series of moves without making an error or pausing.
"The Farmer in the Dell" is a singing game, nursery rhyme, folksong, and children's song. It probably originated in Germany and was brought to America by immigrants. From there, it spread to many other nations and is popular in a number of languages. It is Roud Folk Song Index number 6306.
Wink murder is a party game or parlour game in which a secretly selected player is able to "kill" others by winking at them, while the surviving players try to identify the killer. The game is also variously known as murder wink, killer, murder in the dark, lonely ghost and killer killer. The practical minimum number of players is four, but the spirit of the game is best captured by groups of at least six players or more.
The Turn of the Screw is a 20th-century English chamber opera composed by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, based on the 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James.
Cookie jars are utilitarian or decorative ceramic or glass jars often found in American and Canadian kitchens. In the United Kingdom, they are known as biscuit barrels or biscuit jars. If they are cans made out of tinplate, they are called biscuit tins. While used to store actual cookies or biscuits, they are sometimes employed to store other edible items like candy or dog treats, or non-edible items like currency.
Traditional Filipino games or indigenous games in the Philippines are games that are played across multiple generations, usually using native materials or instruments. In the Philippines, due to limited resources for toys, children usually invent games that do not require anything but players. There are different kinds of Filipino traditional games which are well-suited for kids, and the games also stand as one of the different cultural and traditional games of the Philippines. Due to the variety of skills used in these games, they serve an important purpose in the physical and mental development of Filipino children. These games are also an important part of Filipino culture.
The Singing Bee is a sing-along game show that originally aired on NBC and then CMT. Combining karaoke singing with a spelling bee-style competition, this show features contestants trying to remember the lyrics to popular songs. Originally slated to begin with a six episode season during late 2007, it launched early in reaction to Fox's competing Don't Forget the Lyrics!
"Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel. The song is often recorded unattributed and, because of its age, has lapsed into the public domain. Most of the chorus appears in the later songs "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" and "Daddy Sang Bass".
"The Rattlin' Bog" is an Irish folk song. It is a version of an internationally distributed folk song type. In the Roud Folk Song Index it has the number 129, and carries such titles as "The Everlasting Circle", "The Tree on the Hill", "The Green Grass Grew All Around", and "Down in the Lowlands", as well as "The Rattlin' Bog", The adjective rattlin' means "splendid" in the context of this song. It is a cumulative song, similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", as it has a list at the end of each verse which grows throughout the piece. The Roud index lists 180 versions collected from oral tradition in English, and the song has analogues in French, Italian and German as well. Since it is a folk song, it has been transmitted over generations orally and aurally so many versions coexist and it may be impossible and even nonsensical to seek a single authoritative version of the song's lyrics. The earliest version appears to be "March to the Battlefield" in "Riley's Flute Melodies" published by Edward Riley. In 1877 water-colour painter and folk-song collector Miss Marianne Harriet Mason published a version called "Green Grass Grows all Around" in "Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs".
Repetitive songs contain a large proportion of repeated words or phrases. Simple repetitive songs are common in many cultures as widely spread as the Caribbean, Southern India and Finland. The best-known examples are probably children's songs. Other repetitive songs are found, for instance, in African-American culture from the days of slavery.
LA VÍBORA DE LA MAR is a traditional singing game originating in Mexico. Participants hold hands creating the “snake” and they run around the playground. It is a popular children's game in Mexico and Latin America, and also in Spain where it is known as "pasemisí". This game has become a tradition at Mexican weddings. The bride and groom stand up high on chairs and are encircled and held by family members representing the family union and support towards them. Meanwhile, other participants will form the “snake” and dance and bump against them, trying to knock them off the chairs, representing all the obstacles and problems that may try to bring them down. Family and friends try to keep the couple standing on their chairs, symbolizing that they will keep the couple together and support them through adversity.
A cookie jar is a jar that holds cookies.
Everybody, Sing! is a Philippine musical game show created, developed, produced and distributed by ABS-CBN Studios. Hosted by Vice Ganda, it premiered on June 5, 2021, replacing the third season of Your Face Sounds Familiar. The first season concluded on October 10, 2021, and was replaced by Pinoy Big Brother: Kumunity Season 10. The show returned for its second season on September 24, 2022, replacing the second season of Idol Philippines. The second season concluded on February 19, 2023, and was replaced by the fifth season of The Voice Kids. The show returned for its third season on June 3, 2023, replacing the fifth season of The Voice Kids. The third season concluded on February 11, 2024, and was replaced by the third season of The Voice Teens.
Dari Segi Nori is one of the most popular Korean traditional indoor games. It is also called as Dari Ppopgi Nori. The origin of the play is unknown. As it is a play using body parts, it is likely that it has been around for a long time. In the magazine 『Hangul』 published during the Japanese colonial rule, "I stretch out my legs and put them together, and say, "Indari~Gandanri, or Hangeori~Ingeori." There is a record that the protagonist of the last remaining leg loses the bet." This game is a favourite among children. It is a game that the whole family can enjoy indoors, and is usually good during cold winter days. Dari Segi Nori generally involves singing a song with legs crossed, and counting legs with hands. At the end of the song, the game differs depending on how you take your leg out.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
