Funny Campfire Songs for Kids
Funny campfire songs can break the ice and make memories from the first night
It’s not the “dadliest” practice on earth, but singing around campfires has been a long tradition enjoyed by all ages. When you were in college, the songs resembled something more like “Bottles of Beer on the Wall”, but with kids you can still come up with a few fun ones. Whether in small groups of five or in large groups like a Dads & Kids Camping Weekend, funny campfire songs have always been a favorite.
In fact, funny campfire songs are a great way to bring the group together and is often helpful in easing young campers who may be uncertain about being in an environment that they aren’t familiar with.
Funny campfire songs are usually begun by an adult camper who then invites the others to join in and contribute their own songs.
Often, campers participate in campfire “rounds”, or songs in which each camper contributes a verse. Then, all campers join in on the chorus of the song and it goes “round” the campfire. Quite often, getting the campers to stop singing will be the biggest problem you’ll have once it gets going.
There are thousands of funny campfire songs which have been passed down throughout history.
Some of the better-known and traditional funny campfire songs are:
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
Frere Jacques
The Kookaburra Song
There Ain’t No Flies On Us
These classic singalongs are easy to teach and great fun for the entire group. Some other traditional funny campfire songs include:
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Oh Susanna
Clementine (Oh My Darlin’)
California, Here I Come
Deep in the Heart of Texas
The Boll Weevil Song
My Bonnie
Kum Ba Ya
Another fun activity involving funny campfire songs is to take a traditional song (like many listed above) and have the campers make up new lyrics and sing them to the tune of the traditional songs.
Some of the funniest campfire songs come from this improvisation. For example, the group can invent new lyrics sung to the tune of Old MacDonald using names of different campers.
Another funny campfire song to try could be having campers make up new lyrics to On Top of Old Smokey using landmarks of the locale in which they are camping.
Some helpful websites that contain many campfire songs, including funny songs:
If you want to learn more about how to start your own Dads and Kids Camping Weekend, check out my 45-page Dads & Kids Camping Handbook.