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Cobbler Mend my Shoe

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe. / Have it done by half past two…

ActionsPepper (fast)Long rope

Cobbler, cobbler, mend my shoe.
Have it done by half past two.
If half past two is a bit too late,
Have them done by half past eight.
One, two, three, four.
Back two, three, four.
Glue it, shoe it, hammer, hammer, hammer.

How to play

The skipper jumps up the rope while counting one through to four, two times. Then, at the word 'Hammer' the turners turn the rope at double speed.

Where this rhyme comes from

Earliest record
by 1916
Sung in
UK (London)

'Cobbler, cobbler' was already a London children's shoe game (a hunt-the-slipper type) in 1916. The counting and 'hammer' fast-turning ending used for skipping here is not dated.

Sources: Norman Douglas, London Street Games (1916), p.10.

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