- Family
- Nat Geo Family Camp
Week four: Write a camp song
Silly songs are definitely must-haves for summer camp. Even without the camp experience, your kid can still create their own songs from classic tunes.
Life skill: Self-expression
Step 1: Figure out the main words.
—Come up with questions that ask about a kid’s summer experience. For example:
• What's your favorite outdoor summer activity?
• What animal have you seen this summer?
• What's your favorite summer snack?
—Come up with as many questions as you can so you have the most options for stanzas.
—Kids’ answers can be real, or they can fun it up by making up imaginary answers. For instance, the animal could be a squirrel … or it could be a unicorn.
Step 2: Rhyme the words.
—Have kids come up with words that rhyme with their answers (for instance: swim / limb, squirrel / twirl, s’mores / snores).
Step 3: Write a song.
—Have kids think about their favorite camp songs, such as “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah,” “On Top of Old Smokey,” or “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” Really adventurous kids can pick favorite pop songs.
—Change the first line of the song using one of the answers from the questions in Step 1. For example, if the song is “Do Your Ears Hang Low?” they might change the first line from “Do your ears hang low?” to “Do you like to swim?”
—Match the last word with the rhyming word for the next line:
Do you like to swim?
Would you rather climb a limb?
—Repeat with all the lines in the verse, following the song’s rhythm and rhyming patterns to tell a story. For instance, they might write:
Do you like to swim?
Would you rather climb a limb?
Like a super-crazy squirrel,
That really seems to like to twirl.
Does he eat all your s’mores,
Then go to bed and give you snores?
Do you like … to … swim?
—Repeat the same steps for all the verses until the song is finished.
—Let creativity and inspiration lead where the song goes. For instance, if the song was supposed to feature an eagle but becomes more fun or easier to rhyme with a frog, then go for it.
Try these ideas to bring more camp to your kids’ camp songs.
—Add a guitar or drums.
—Have the group repeat short songs and speed up the pace every time the song starts over.
—Add actions and sounds to match the lyrics. For example, pat legs to sound like someone running, or wiggle fingers if the song has rain.
—Create a short music video using the camp song
