From the recording Zoom Zoom Cuddle and Croon
This is a magical fingerplay. I love the imagery that is conjured up by the gold and silver and ivory.
Lyrics
This is the boat , the golden boat,
That sails on the silvery sea, (undulate hands like waves
And these are the oars of ivory white,
That lift and dip, that lift and dip (raise and lower ‘oars’)
Here are ten little fairy men
Running along, running along, (make fingers run)
To take the oars of ivory white (actions as before for the last lines
That lift and dip and lift and dip,
That move the boat, the golden boat,
Over the silvery sea.
I found this additional verse in a ‘Sing a Song with Baby’ by Mary Thienes Schunemann:
Here is the moon so big and round (trace a circle around baby's face)
That shines on the boat
That is homeward bound
Back to the harbor safe and sound ( cuddle baby)
From its sail on the silvery sea.