20 Silly Sing-Along Songs for Road Trips
Despite all the device options available to families today, sometimes you still find yourself needing additional activities for your kids. Maybe your screens have lost their charge or you're stuck in traffic for longer than you expected or the games and movies have lost their novelty. What will do you?
Or, maybe your family prefers to go on old fashioned screen-free road trips, complete with staring out the window, playing the license plate game, and sing-along songs. There's are so many great songs to sing with kids to keep them entertained, engaged, and enthusiastic. You might even get them to laugh. Here's my list of 20 great sing-along songs!
1- Down on Grandpa's Farm
2- There's a Hole in the Bucket
3- On Top of Spaghetti
4- 99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall
5- The Ants Go Marching
6- Peanut Butter Pirates
7- My Aunt Came Back
8- Down By the Bay
9- Boom Chicka Boom
10- Wheels on the Bus
11- Little Red Wagon
12- I am Slowly Going Crazy
13- Billy Joe McGuffrey
14- Ain't It Great to be Crazy
15- Backpack Tree
16- Apples and Bananas
17- This Old Man
18- Baby Shark
19- Under Where?
20- Diarrhea Song
Scroll Down for Details about the Songs!
1- Down on Grandpa's Farm
I remember singing this Raffi song with my family when I was a kid. We'd sing along both to the cassette tape and on our own. The great thing about the song is that you can add as many farm animals and noises as you'd like. Or change the song to "down on Grandpa's zoo" and make an endless list of exotic sounds.
// Down on Grandpa's Farm, there is a big, brown cow
Down on Grandpa's Farm, there is a big, brown cow
The cow, she makes a sound like this (moo)
The cow, she makes a sound like this (moo)
Oh, we're on our way, we're on our way
On our way to Grandpa's Farm!
Oh, we're on our way, we're on our way
On our way to Grandpa's Farm! //
2- There's a Hole in the Bucket
According to Wikipedia, this song is about 400 years old! It wasn't translated into English until the 1940s, though. The song describes a silly problem where the hole is in the bucket, but the solution ends up bringing them right back to the main problem. The great thing about the song is that once your family has learned it well, you can add additional solutions and have your children try to solve the various problems in the song. Try it with other situations too!
// There's a hole in the bucket,
Dear Liza, dear Liza,
There's a hole in the bucket,
Dear Liza, a hole. //
3- On Top of Spaghetti
This slightly gross song will have kids hanging on for the next phrase of the saga. That poor meatball! If you get the accompanying book for the song, the kids will have two activities to keep them busy on the trip.
// On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese
I lost my poor meatball, when somebody sneezed //
4- 99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall
Turn this pub beer drinking song into a benign kids' song by changing a few of the lyrics. The best part about the song is how it encourages kids to count down from 100 (or go smaller with 50 or 20) and sneak in some math practice. I'm sure the kids will decide to give up before they annoy you too long with this song.
// 42 bottles of pop on the wall
42 bottles of pop
If one of these bottles happens to fall
There's 41 bottles of pop on the wall //
5- The Ants Go Marching
Here's another classic counting song with silly rhymes. Your kids will love hearing what the "little one" does in each verse and wonder if the ants will get underground in time for the storm. This is another one that you can expand as you'd like to add in more verses.
// The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight,
The little one stops to roller skate,
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM //
6- Peanut Butter Pirates
I've written about this album several times because it's our absolute favorite! The pirate lyrics are so silly, but the tunes are very enjoyable for parents and children. Brent Holmes plays real bluegrass instruments, sings with a silly voice, and still manages to make the songs very calming. This is a great choice for nap time on the road, because mom and dad will still enjoy listening to it even after the kids fall asleep.
// We are pirates and we love peanut butter
We eat it all the time
We sail around the seven seas hoping that we'll find
A treasure chest full of peanut butter
We need silver or gold
Just a few good jars or peanut butter
And some milk that's good and cold //
7- My Aunt Came Back
This is a new song for me, but it looks like a great way to talk about geography. You can make it customized to be familiar to your family as well. Use places where family lives, landmarks or attractions kids know about, or anything else that interest you. Walk through all the USA states in alphabetical order for an even larger challenge. Oh, and this is a call and response song so kids can work on some listening skills.
// My Aunt came back (my aunt came back)
From Holland too (from Holland too)
And she brought with her (and she brought with her)
A wooden shoe (a wooden shoe)
My aunt came back (echo)
From ___ too (echo
And she brought with her (echo)
A ____ (echo) //
8- Down By the Bay
Practice phonics awareness with this silly rhyming song that's a classic for campfires and car trips. Stretch your rhyming ability by changing the question that Mother asks every time. The line that changes is "Did you ever see a ___" and then the next line adds a rhyming action. See how far the kids can go making rhymes. A good activity to do before singing this song is to asks kids to come up with rhymes for many different words.
// Down by the bay, where the watermelon grow
Back to my home, I dare not go
For if I do, my Mother will say
Did you ever see a whale
With a poke-a-dot tail?
Down by the bay //
9- Boom Chicka Boom
This is another new song for me. Basically it's just a really silly song with lots of potential for new movements and ways to sing the song. You sing the "boom chicka boom" part over and over while using funny voices or different actions. You can continue adding verses as long as you'd like, as this is a call and response song.
// Barnyard Style:
I said a moo chicka moo (echo)
I said a moo chicka moo (echo)
I said a moo chicka,
Watch your step
Don't track it in the room (echo 3 lines) //
10- The Wheels on the Bus
I suppose the Wheels on the Bus isn't really a silly song, but it can have a lot of verses and go on for a long time. Just keep adding people to the bus- church ladies (say "Praise the Lord"), clowns (laugh like crazy), dads (mind your mother), or anything else you can dream up. You can also change it to "in the car" too (the mom in the car says we missed our exit).
// The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
Round and round
Round and round
The wheels on the bus
Go round and round
All through the town //
11- Little Red Wagon
This is a common summer camp song that encourages loud and obnoxious singing, perfect for passing time on a road trip. It's so simple that you're family will have it memorized in no time. When you get tired of the red wagon, make up your own verses to the song.
// You can't ride in my little red wagon
Front seats broken
And the axles draggin'
Chug! Chug! Chug! //
12- I am Slowly Going Crazy
Is there any better chant for long road trips than "I'm going crazy?" I learned this in elementary school and still sing it when I'm starting to lose my mind. You start out singing very slowly and then go faster and faster until you can't say it anymore.
// I am slowly going crazy
1-2-3-4-5-6 switch
Crazy going slowly am I
6-5-4-3-2-1 switch //
13- Billy Joe McGuffrey
This is a road trip song from the Veggie Tales Jonah. In the movie, there are only a few verses sung, but I've found a website that lists all 12 verses. Poor, Billy Joe, always getting into scrapes- "You can buy a zoo with all the doctors bills he's paid!"
// Now Billy Joe McGuffrey was a really clumsy kid
On the ninth day of ninth grade, I'll tell you what he did
He fed the pigs on grandma's farm, two piglets and a sow
Slipped on their slop and then got stepped on by a cow
First aid in the ninth grade
First aid in the ninth grade
First aid in the ninth grade
You could buy a zoo with all the doctor bills he paid //
14- Ain't It Great to be Crazy
I remember this song from Wee Sing Silly Songs in my childhood. The video of this song is just nutty- my kids couldn't stop watching it! The song contains only a few silly verses but you can add more!
// Boom! Boom! Ain't it great to be crazy
Boom! Boom! Ain't it great to be crazy
Giddy and foolish the whole day through
Boom! Boom! Ain't it great to be crazy //
15- Backpack Tree
I asked my kids which silly song they wanted to include, and they said this one! The Backpack Tree song is one of the songs on Brent Holmes' Barefoot Bears album. It talks about a bear finding a backpacks hanging in trees and how excited he is to eat all the food he finds in them. It's a very mellow silly song, and I highly recommend his albums for quiet time music that's fun to hear. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the full lyrics.
// A backpack tree, a backpack tree
I love it when I run into a backpack tree
When I'm bouncing down the road
My favorite thing to see
Is backpacks hanging in a backpack tree. //
16- Apples and Banana Song
Here's another song that plays would phonics awareness. By replacing the vowels in each word with a different vowel, you make a very silly song! Try changing the vowels of other songs and see what happens.
// I like to eat, eat, eat
Apples and bananas
I like to eat, eat, eat
Apples and bananas //
17- This Old Man
I remember loving this silly counting song as a kid! The lyrics are full of nonsense words and phrases that will make kids ask questions (why is he rolling home). After you've counted up to ten, you can count back down again or start adding your own lyrics. Maybe you could challenge yourselves to created a verse for every letter of the alphabet? "This old man, he ate ants! He played knick-knack on my pants!"
// This Old Man, he played five,
He played knick-knack on my hive
With a knick-knack, paddywack
Give the dog a bone.
This old man came rolling home. //
18- Baby Shark
There probably aren't too many parents who aren't totally annoyed and OVER this song, but it's also a great choice for a sing along. You can add as many silly verses as you'd like. You could even do different animals.
// Baby Shark
Doo-doo Doo-doo-doo //
19- Under Where?
We love the "Slugs and Bugs: Under Wear" album for the "I'm Adopted" song most of all, since we're a family built by adoption. As the kids have gotten older, they've appreciated the silly songs on the album too. The "Under Wear" song is their favorite.
// Have you looked under there?
Under where? Under where?
Under there.
Under where? //
20- Diarrhea Song
Would it really be a road trip without someone having tummy troubles? It's not a fun part of the trip, but singing a song about it can be very fun. I know this song isn't in everyone's taste, but I couldn't finish this list without mentioning it. Making up new verses will really keep you busy on the road. It's agreat (but gross) way to practice rhyming.
// When you're sliding into first
And your pants about to burst
Diarrhea! Diarrhea //
Album Recommendations
1- Wee Sing Silly Songs
2- Peanut Butter Pirates
3- Slugs and Bugs: Under Where?
4- Best of Raffi
5- Bear Tunes for Kids
Pin It!
Comments
Post a Comment