Do you sing the Wheels on the Bus at home? Hum the same tune but instead sing about The Dinosaurs In The Swamp with your toddler or preschooler. The actions are even more fun than before:
The Dinosaurs In The Swamp
The Tyrannosaurus Rex goes roar, roar, roar.
Roar, roar, roar. Roar, roar, roar.
The Tyrannosaurus Rex goes Roar, roar, roar,
All around the swamp.
The Apatosaurus’ feet go stomp, stomp, stomp.
Stomp, stomp, stomp. Stomp, stomp, stomp.
The Apatosaurus’ feet go stomp, stomp, stomp,
All around the swamp.
The Pteranodon’s wings go flap, flap, flap,
Flap, flap, flap. Flap, flap, flap,
The Pteranodon’s wings go flap, flap, flap,
All around the swamp.
The Iguanodon’s teeth go munch, munch, munch.
Munch, munch, munch. munch, munch, munch.
The Iguanodon’s teeth go munch, munch, munch.
All around the swamp.
You can make up endless verses depending on your child’s particular favorites. Just want you want to know. And now how about the Dino-pokey?
Dino-pokey
You put your tail in, you put your tail out.
You put your tail in, and you sweep it all around.
You do the Dino-pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
You put your claws in…and wave them all around.
You put your teeth in…and you crunch them all around.
You put your feet in…and stomp them all around.
You put your eyes in…and look them all around.
Again, you can make up many more verses and sing them along with the appropriate actions. Of course, if you want repetitive songs you can sing 1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Dinosaurs or The Dinosaurs Go Marching to the tune of The Ants Go Marching making up words to rhyme.
Singing with kids is a tremendous strategy for encouraging skills like careful listening, length of attention span, focusing on an activity and not getting distracted, using language patterns, following and predicting what’s next, and more. It’s a social activity as we listen to and watch each other for clues. Bodies and brains work together like the words and actions. Hmm…did dinosaurs sing?