So you’ve spent the day reuniting with cousins ​​and relatives. The afternoon Dutch oven meal is over. All that’s left is to roast some marshmallows, make some s’mores, and relax around the campfire. Uncle Stan tells some stories about your mom and his family. It seems like you learn a little more about her at every family gathering.

One of your cousins ​​takes out his guitar and starts playing a tune. Aunt Jamie suggests a campfire singing. Someone suggests “This Old Man”, but cousin Steve doesn’t really know the chords. So, he sings without the guitar.

Uncle Travis suggests his favorite Jack Johnson song, but no one else knows it.

And now that?

Well, that was a good idea, but there doesn’t seem to be any campfire singing. This is the point where most campfire singers die. A little preparation can prevent the death of singing camp songs.

The best camping songs for a group are the silly and fun songs that the group already knows. You can also sing songs that are easily learned. So trying to sing long songs like “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” or “El Paso,” or all the verses of “A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief” probably won’t work.

If you have a long song that you really want to do, make copies for people to read. You may have a special campfire that a certain song would be perfect around. Don’t forget it’s dark, so make sure everyone brings flashlights. They may also be able to stand close enough to the fire to see the words.

Some simple movement songs would be a great addition for younger children. Here are a couple of good movement songs:

• BINGO. With this you can have everyone sing the first verse. Then in the next verse, skip the B and clap once instead. For the third verse, skip the B and I, and clap in each of their places. Continue through all the verses until you are not spelling the word, but just clapping your hands.
• My Bonnie is over the ocean. You have to be sitting down for this song. Every time you get to ab, you stand up or sit down, going back and forth between sitting and standing.

In the Great American Campfire Songbook, there are more camping songs you can use for young children that involve movement. There are also some great campfire songs that most of the group may not know, but are easy to learn. Two songs that you can use are:

• Chumbará. This is a Canadian folk song. You just sing one word over and over again, but it can be a lot of fun. There are other words you can use. Words with three syllables work great, but you can also try words with 2 or 4 syllables. Try names, like Step-pha-nie or Ken-ne-dy. Use food names like black-ber-ry, cook-ie-dough, or broc-col-li. This is good for groups because everyone can help make up new verses.
• There Ain’t No Bugs On Me Here’s another “make up new verses” song. For line one, the two rhyming words are Bug and Mug. In the next line, think of two new words to put in their place, such as “bees and knees,” “spiders and fighters,” “ants and pants,” “flies and dudes,” “cougars and snot.”

Songs we like to do around our campfires include the following:

• Clementine
• You are My Sunshine
• red river valley
• I’ve been working on the railroad
• house in sight

The three things to remember are:

1. Make songs that everyone knows, or
2. Make songs that are easy to learn, or
3. Have a copy of the words.

Have fun singing and have a great time!