Cartoons Car Tunes!
Songs and games to sing & play to pass the time on long car rides
Time to sing & play! If you have read some of my other posts, you’ll know, in my family, we are all about road-tripping and back-road adventures. Setting out with no destination in mind and finding unique places and activities along the way.
Sometimes; however, the time between stops can get a little long and the scenery, although often amazing can be reduced to a short area of trees, upon trees, upon trees. Traveling with young children can make this a challenge and growing up with five brothers and sisters I know first hand the bickering that can result.
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Car Tunes and Sing-a-long Songs
My parents (and two of my sister and I) were all youth group leaders, so we were lucky, we always had new songs to learn and sing.
Below are a few of our favorites for singing in the car:
SING!!
There’s a Dinosaur in My Bed – song
This song has it’s own tune – no known tune to follow – so, make up your own – have fun with it!
There’s a dinosaur in my bed. There’s a dinosaur in my be-e-e-ed. My pillow’s in trouble. Did you hear what I said! There’s a dinosaur in my bed.
Chorus: Keep quiet. Don’t start a ri-i-ot. Mom and Dad will wake up and see-e-e-e. We’ll take him downtown and we’ll show him around. —– He’ll be the coolest thing in pre-history.
There’s a dinosaur in my tub. There’s a dinosaur in my tub-ub-ub-ub. He thinks he’s a super-sonic underwater sub! There’s a dinosaur in my tub.
Chorus: Keep quiet. Don’t start a ri-i-ot. Mom and Dad will wake up and see-e-e-e. We’ll take him downtown and we’ll show him around. —– He’ll be the coolest thing in pre-history.
There’s a dinosaur in my school. There’s a dinosaur in my school-ool-ool-ool. He thinks he’s – super, duper Mr. Cool! There’s a dinosaur in my school.
Chorus: Keep quiet. Don’t start a ri-i-ot. The teachers will wake up and see-e-e-e. We’ll take him downtown and we’ll show him around. He’ll be the coolest thing in pre-history.
There’s a dinosaur in my… (Have your kids make up there own – the only rule is that the end of each line should rhyme!) Here are a few more we have tried –
1) dinosaur in that tree – he better get down ’cause he’s got to go pee…
2) dinosaur on my car – if he doesn’t get off, we’re not going very far…
BOOM CHICKA – chant
This is a “Repeat After Me” song. Mom or dad can start and the kids can repeat – or one of the kids can be the leader…
Start in a normal voice:
Boom (Leader), Boom (repeaters)
Boom Chicka, Boom Chicka
Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom, Boom Chicka Rocka Chicka Rocka Chicka Boom
OK, OK
Uh Huh!, Uh Huh!
Then the leaders Says: “One more time” and changes their voice. Examples: deep voice, high and squeaky, grandma voice, whisper, loud, underwater (put your index finger between your lips and shake it as you talk). Repeat from “Boom” to “Uh Huh!” and change your voice again. If you want to mix it up and have all the kids involved, have them take turns deciding on how to say the words – this makes it easier to stop, also – once each child has had a turn as leader (deciding on the voice sound) the song is over.
One Day I Met… – song
This is kind of a “Repeat After Me” song. Each piece is said and repeated, then sung again – all together.
1) Repeating:
One day I met, One Day I met
A great big bear, a great big bear
A great big bear, a great big bear
Oh way up there, Oh way up there
Together (in a sing-song voice):
One day I met a great big bear, a great big bear oh way up there!
2) Repeating:
He said to met, He said to me
Why don’t you run, why don’t you run
I see you ain’t, I see you ain’t
Got any gun, Got any gun
Together (in a sing-song voice):
He said to me why don’t you run, I see you ain’t got any gun!
Continue repeating and singing together the remaining verses.
3) And, so I ran – away from there – but, right behind – me was that bear
4) I saw a tree, in front of me, a great big tree, oh Lordy me!
5) The nearest branch, was ten feet up, I’d have to jump, and trust my luck.
6) And so I jumped, into the air, but I missed that branch, oh way up there
7) Now don’t you fret, and don’t you frown, cause I caught that branch, on the way back down!!!
When you sing verse 7 together , stretch it out a bit and finish off the song!
The Ants go Marching – song
A sing together song
1) The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, the little one stops to suck his thumb
and they all go marching down, underground to get out of the rain, Boom, Boom, Boom!
2) The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching two by two, the little one stops to tie his shoe!
and they all go marching down, underground to get out of the rain, Boom, Boom, Boom!
Continue counting to 10, rhyming each number as below – or make up your own!
3) … the little one stops to climb a tree
4) … the little one stops to close the door
5) … look at a bee hive
6) … pick up sticks
7) … gaze at Heaven
8) … shut the gate
9) … ’cause he feels just fine
10) … to do it again… end with the Boom, Boom, Boom!!
Herman the Worm – song
An action song to sing & play!
Sing: Sittin’ on my front porch, chewin’ on my bubble gum (make chewing sounds)
Playin’ with my yoyo (make hand movement and “wee, eww, wee, eww” yoyo sounds)
When along came Herman the worm
And he was This big (make a gesture with your fingers or hands to show a normal worm size)
Speak: The next day!
Sing: Sittin’ on my front porch, chewin’ on my bubble gum (make chewing sounds)
Playin’ with my yoyo (make hand movement and “wee, eww, wee, eww” yoyo sounds)
When along came Herman the worm
And he was This big (make a bigger gesture with your fingers or hands)
I said Herman, what happened.
(In a Herman Voice) I ate a… you can put whatever you want here – start small and get bigger as the song goes on, example: a cherry.
Speak: The next day!
Sing: Sittin’ on my front porch, chewin’ on my bubble gum (make chewing sounds)
Playin’ with my yoyo (make hand movement and “wee, eww, wee, eww” yoyo sounds)
When along came Herman the worm
And he was This big (make an even bigger gesture with your fingers or hands)
I said Herman, what happened.
(In a Herman Voice) I ate a… you can put whatever you want here – start small and get bigger as the song goes on, example: an apple
Continue the verses until Herman gets very big, then on the last verse
…And he was This big (make a small gesture with your fingers or hands like when you first started)
I said, Herman, what happened.
(In a Herman Voice) I burped…
Play!!
Zip, Zap, Zoom – game
This is a game everyone plays together – it can get a little silly if the traffic is heavy.
As a group, you assign each type of vehicle with a sound. For example: motor cycles are zip, cars are zap and trucks are zoom.
Each time you meet a vehicle everyone calls out it’s sound – zip, zap or zoom. Usually someone gets it wrong and there is a lot of giggling. As you get comfortable with the zips, zaps and zooms add some more sounds in – maybe transfer trucks are zowies… Have fun with it!
A-B-C – game
This is a game everyone plays together
Choose a category (Example: animals, food, colours, etc.)
Decide who will start (the person with the shortest hair, the person who’s birthday is next, …).
The first person says a word that starts with “A” and fits the category, the next person says the “A” word and adds a “B” word – it’s Ok to help each other, some letters are tricky.
As children age this game starts to get a little less challenging. Try mixing it up and instead of following the alphabet, let the first person pick a word in the category and have the next person find a word that starts with the last letter of the first word. trying to find and remember all the words, out of alphabetical order, is much more of a challenge.
What Shall We Look For?
Like I Spy with a twist! Instead of “spying” something (since you are moving and chances are it will be already out of sight before anyone starts to look) choose an object for everyone else to look for.
For example: the first person may choose a blue mailbox. When someone finds it, it is their turn to choose something new to look for. This can keep kids busy for a long time.
Be original! Try to think of objects that are not difficult to find but not everywhere either. A “blue mailbox” will take a little longer to find than a “mailbox”. A word of caution – If you make the object to find too difficult: such as; a cow in the middle of a city or a purple Volkswagon Beetle, the kids might get too bored trying to find it and the play may turn back to arguing or whining.
License Plate – game
We play this year round and try to see if we can out-do the year before.
Preparation: Print out a map or maps of countries, states, provinces, or territories of places whose license plates you may see in your area.
For example: We print out an outline map of both Canada and the United States each year. We make sure our map has each state or province clearly marked and able to be coloured in.
As we travel on our adventures we keep watch for license plates and colour in each new one we find. We have been able to fill in an entire Canadian map but have yet to see a license plate from every state in a single year. We have come very close and if we combine our maps one year to the next – we have seen every American license plate, except Hawaii, I believe. Someday… Not bad for adventuring in Nova Scotia.
