Nuts in May, by Lawrence Weiss, 2017
Nuts in May
England
HISTORY AND SONG NOTES
Nuts in May is a 19th century folksong from England. This song shares a tune with another well known song, Here We Go ‘Round the Mulberry Bush. The traditional game that was created for this song is a partner dance, however it also works well as a group movement activity.
Additional Verses:
Who will you have for nuts in May, nuts in May, nuts in May?
Who will you have for nuts in May, on a cold and frosty morning?
We’ll have friends for nuts in May, nuts in May, nuts in May.
We’ll have friends for nuts in May, on a cold and frosty morning.
Who will you fetch to send them away, send them away, send them away?
Who will you fetch to send them away, on a cold and frosty morning?
We’ll send friends to fetch them away, fetch them away, fetch them away.
We’ll send friends to fetch them away, on a cold and frosty morning.
Group Movement Games
Nuts in May is primarily used as a movement game, which can be structured in many ways, depending on the ages and readiness of the children.
Throughout movement games, you may not see the children singing and moving at the same time, and that is totally fine. In movement games, it is common for children to stop singing so that they can focus on their movements. Singing and moving may occur simultaneously in bursts, or as the children develop confidence over time with the song.
Version 1: Standing or sitting, the children pat their knees, or keep the beat in another way on their own body (tapping hands, patting the top of their head, etc.).
Version 2: Standing in a circle, the children move together (walking, marching, tiptoeing, etc.) to the beat of song.
Version 3: The children can “act out” the parts of the song, going to look for nuts, gathering nuts, bringing them back, etc.
Version 4: Standing or sitting, children face a partner, and pat hands with their partner along with the beat of the song. This works well if the children have already been successful with Version 1.
Version 5: Standing in two groups that are facing each other, one group of children skips or moves towards the other on the first verse of the song, and then returns to their original place on the last line (“on a cold and frosty morning”). The other group of children takes a turn to skip or move on the second verse, and the groups continue to alternate turns for the duration of the song. This works best if they are already familiar with the song, and have been successful with other versions of the game.