All Aboard!
Trains in Story and Song

Trains are one of those things, like farm animals and dinosaurs, that young children don’t really have a lot of experience with, but they’re still fascinated by them. I guess most children are more likely to come into contact with trains. If you count subway trains. (But I don’t think they hold the same allure, even for preschoolers.)

Anyway, I’m reading a story with a train in it this week (“Toot! Toot! Quack! Quack!” by John Archambault and David Plummer (by the way, my classes all love this book – you can buy it here.) I wanted a song to go with it, and I chose “Choo Choo Train” by the wonderful Patty Shukla. (The video’s on YouTube.)

Well, I knew I liked this peppy movement song, and I anticipated that the children would enjoy it, but I had no idea what a hit it would be! They love the slowing down, stopping, and then resuming the regular (fast) pace, which happens several times in the song.

As an educational bonus, at the end the song counts to twenty. Then the music stops and starts one more time! Preschoolers and kindergartners think this absolutely hilarious. I haven’t had a group yet that didn’t respond enthusiastically to this song! I highly recommend it to anyone working with young children!