Driving together is a wonderful opportunity to sing together, making up songs, and getting children to think creatively. Here are some of our favourite music activities for the car, with children aged from babies right through to older children.
Sing echo songs using babble sounds, if singing with your baby, echo the baby's sounds
Sing echo songs such as "Down By the Bay" Scoobie, Doobie Doo", Bop it in the Rocket".
Sing an echo song using just 2 notes (notes 5 and 3) called "We Like..." For eg "We like ice cream yes we do....we like the beach yes we do...."
Sing in time to the wind screen wipers
"We're Going on a Journey" from the Bop it in the Rocket CD, making up your own verses
Sing an improvised song about the place / activity you are going to. For eg, using a simple tune "We're going to go to preschool, and we are......." leaving space for the child to fill in the gap with their sung response
Play clapping games, where you sing a little rhythm and the child copies you with their hands
Use a simple melody to ask them "What do you see when you look out the window?" leaving space for their response, take their ideas and turn them into the next part of the song
Practise singing and improvising with the Blues Scale. You can listen to how this sounds on the Swing me a Song CD with the "Teddy Bear Blues" track.
Pitch Songs - such as those found on the Magical Musical Play CD. Sing up and down the scale, experimenting with the pitches