MUFFIN MAN – Playground Games for Kids

6 to 30 or more players. Indoors; out of doors.

The players stand in a circle, with one or more in the center. The circle dances around and sings the first two lines of the following verse. They then stand still while the player or players in the center choose each a partner who enters the circle with him; they clasp hands and dance around, singing the last two lines:—

Oh, have you seen the muffin man, the muffin man, the
muffin man?
Oh, have you seen the muffin man that lives in Drury
Lane, O!
Oh, yes, I’ve seen the muffin man, the muffin man, the
muffin man,
Oh, yes, I’ve seen the muffin man that lives in Drury Lane,
O!

Miss Newton has a very good adaptation of this game for the schoolroom or parlor, in which four or five players stand in corners. Each of these chooses a partner at the end of the second line, and these groups of two dance in a circle.

Excerpt from the book:
GAMES FOR THE PLAYGROUND, HOME, SCHOOL AND GYMNASIUM BY JESSIE H. BANCROFT
New York, THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922