When you go camping this year, be sure to prepare for your nightly campfires. Choose some fun nursery rhymes to sing around the campfire. Campfire singing is not just a fun part of camping, it’s a good and healthy social event for everyone, especially kids. It’s good for them; not to mention the fun! So here I have some of my own suggestions; Fun songs for kids to sing around the campfire.

The bear jumped over the mountain:

The Bear Went Over the Mountain has all the makings of a good campfire song: movement, easy to learn, and an outdoor theme. As you sing this song, have the children pretend they are crawling like bears. When you sing ‘to see what he could see’, put your hand on your forehead like you’re covering the sun, looking for something.

Here are the lyrics:

The bear jumped the mountain, (repeat 2 more times)
To see what he could see. (repeat 2 more times)
The bear jumped the mountain, (repeat 2 more times)
To see what he could see.

2nd installment:

The other side of the mountain, (repeat 2 more times)
It was all he could see. (repeat 2 more times)
The other side of the mountain, (repeat 2 more times)
It was all he could see.

Bill Grogan’s Goat:

Like the previous song, this one too has movement, an open-air theme, and is easy to pick up. As far as action moves go, I’ve seen people do this in a variety of ways. It’s easy to figure out actions on your own for this song. This is also a call and response song. One leader sings the first phrase (four syllables) and all the others repeat after him.

Here are the lyrics:

There was a man, now please take note. There was a man who had a goat.
He loved that goat, in fact loved him. She loved that goat like a child.

One day that goat felt playful and fine. I ate 3 red shirts, right on the way out.
The man grabbed him from behind and tied him to the train track.

Now, when the train arrived at the site, that goat turned pale and green with fear.
He blew out a deep breath as if in pain; She coughed up those shirts and pointed at the train.

There are no errors in me:

You could spend an hour coming up with new verses for this song. In that sense, it has a lot in common with the old songs that cowboys and pioneers sang over 100 years ago. They would sing around the campfire and make up new verses for songs like ‘Clementine, Cindy, Sweet Betsy From Pike.’

Here are the lyrics:

There are no mistakes in me.
Oh, there are no bugs on me.
There may be errors on some of your mugs.
but there are no mistakes in me.

CHORUS
Mosquito, you fly high.
Mosquito, you fly low.
If the old skater falls on me,
He won’t fly anymore!

To make up new verses, simply replace the underlined words (bugs and cups) with two other rhyming words, like bees and knees, or frogs and pigs. Children especially like to help with new verses.

The ants are marching one by one:

Sung to the tune “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” this song is great for kids. Unlike some of the other songs I’ve mentioned, most kids already know this one.

Here are the lyrics:

The ants are marching one by one, hooray, hooray.
The ants are marching one by one, hooray, hooray.
The ants are marching one by one, the little one stops to suck his thumb,
and they’re all marching down into the dirt to get out of the rain, boom, boom, boom.

He repeats, but now it’s two by two and the little one stops to tie his shoe.

We usually go all the way to 10, but I’m sure you could go as high as you want (or have the patience to!)

Jenny Jenkins:

This is similar to ‘There are no bugs on me’, in that you can make up new verses. It’s about a fiancé and his girlfriend discussing what to wear to the wedding.

Here are the lyrics:

Will you wear white, oh darling, oh darling?
Will you wear white, Jenny Jenkins?
No, I won’t use white, because the colors are too bright.
I’ll buy me a foll dee roll dee until da toll de
look for a double-use cause to find me.
Roll, Jenny Jenkins, roll.

Just replace the underlined words (white, because the colors are too bright) with another color and a rhythm to follow it. Here’s an example:

red, is the color of my head; green, is the color of a bean; yellow, I’d rather swim in jelly.

You can have a lot of fun with these five songs. They could fill an entire night of campfire singing. Just remember to have fun and help the kids have fun too.