Some of the best summertime activities happen on camping trips. There’s nothing like spending time closer to nature, sans electronic devices and inside and the great outdoors with family and friends. Whether it’s pitching a tent, fishing, hiking, kayaking or roasting s’mores, nothing makes better memories or brings people closer together than the “tradition” of singing around a campfire! In fact, it’s a true conspiracy. Music brings people together like nothing else. And I’ll bet you don’t know that the word “conspire” is Greek and means “breathe together.”
Action songs or stories that have songs within them can be the most fun. Aside from these 50 traditional camp songs, check out my website and listen to:
The Very Scary Hairy Bear. True story.
I wrote it after a camping trip where I had an amazing dream.
Flea Fly Flow Mosquito– was one of the first chant/songs I learned at summer camp. There are many versions as they are passed along year after year by mouth and memory– in the true folk tradition.
Lastly, check out my scary story about a giant pumpkin. It’s from Jamaica and h song in it!
- Camp Granada
- This Land Is Your Land
- Ain’t No Flies on Us
- I Like Bananas
- Hey Ho Nobody Home
- Do Your Ears Hang Low?
- Down by the Riverside
- My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean
- You’re A Grand Old Flag
- Home on the Range
- Going on a Bear Hunt
- Baby Shark
- Kumbaya
- The Happy Wanderer
- Little Bunny Foo Foo
- Oh! What a Beautiful Morning
- Peanut Butter
- I’m a Nut
- Molly Malone (a.k.a. Cockles and Mussels)
- On a Bicycle Built for Two
- When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again
- Bed Bug Song
- On Top of Spaghetti
- Oh Susanna
- Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
- B-I-N-G-O
- I’m Being Swallowed by a Boa Constrictor
- Kookaburra
- The Ants Go Marching
- Camptown Races
- Underwear
- Baby Bumble Bee
- Oh, I Wish I Were
- Did You Ever See a Lassie?
- Dem Bones
- Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
- If You’re Happy and You Know It
- Off We Go into the Wild Blue Yonder
- Way Down Yonder in the Paw-Paw Patch
- Five Little Speckled Frogs
- There’s a Hole in the Bucket
- I Like to Eat
- Boom Chicka Boom
- Frog Went A-Courtin’
- The Hokey Pokey
- Little Red Wagon
- The More We Get Together
- Wheels on the Bus
- Alice the Camel
- Make New Friends
Some fun camping tips?!
- Pack only what you need, and pack out everything you brought.
- Keep your camp grounds clean!
- Make sure you know where you are going and don’t go alone.
- Control your fire
- Don’t forget: matches or lighter, headlamp, warm clothing to layer, space blanket, sleeping bag, tent, swiss army knife, sun block, hat, sunglasses, toilet paper, plenty of water, First Aid kit, compass, protein bar, rope.