Here is the church and here is the steeple...

[Tapoopoo]

If you know the next lines, where did you grow up?

We did it all the time as children. It didnt make sense then. It doesnt make sense now.

It popped into my head and no one here knew what I was talking about with with the finger action. I grew up West Mids.

Maybe it's not so much where WE grew up as where the people who taught us the rhyme came from?

Because I will have learned it from my mother, who was from Windsor.

Me too
Welsh mother but lived in North London

Home counties 70s
Here's the church and here's the steeple
Open the doors and in come the people
Here's the vicar going up the stairs
And here he is saying his prayers.

That's the wording we used, in my area in Scotland.

I’m a little girl guide dressed in blue
here are the actions I must do
salute to the captain
bow to the queen
and show my knickers to the football team

(a skipping rhyme!) @MyDogClive

Same here.

Lincolnshire.

Yes we did this rhyme too... Hertfordshire.

Yes, I remember it from my childhood in Northampton. But did I pass it on to my DCs? Shall have to ask DD.

‘Look inside and see all the people’ - Gloucestershire.

Of course it makes sense. What part don't you understand?

That’s it!! Although I think our version might have been I’m a little rich girl…

This - West of Scotland

I used to.play this game too. West Mids.

Open the doors and see all the people. Manchester.

Open the doors and see all the people.

"Open the doors and here's all the people"

I grew up in West Mids too.

But I don't understand what it is that's confusing you about it. It makes more sense than most rhymes / children's songs.

Open the doors and here's the people. Southend

Here is the door and here are the people- accompanied by wiggling fingers. Wonderful West Midlands

Here’s the church and here’s the steeple
Look inside and here’s the people
Here’s the parson going upstairs
And here’s the parson saying his prayers.

Somerset.

Here are the people that sit inside her?

Me too - exactly those words and Scotland.

Yes. South Wales

South wales .
‘look inside and here are the people’.

This, except it was "open the doors and here are the people"

S Wales.

Finger rhymes are really important for fine motor skills. And of course, it’s bonding- sitting close, looking at each other, taking turns and laughing.

There’s purpose in all these old things.