Everyone knows and loves the song Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Kids love repetitive songs and as adults it’s our job to help them discover new ways to experience the songs they love repeating over and over.
Most people are really familiar with the first verse of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, but did you know it has several other verses that feature all kinds of animals and exciting scenes?
Here are the lyrics to more verses of Row, Row, Row Your Boat:
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
If you see a crocodile,
Don’t forget to scream.Row row row your boat
Gently down the river
If you see a polar bear
Don’t forget to shiver!Row row row your boat
Gently down the creek
If you see a little mouse
Don’t forget to squeak!Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the shore
But if you see a lion
Don’t forget to roar!Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the lake
But if you see a little snake
Don’t forget to shake!
You can search online and find a variety of other alternate verses for this song too. I really like these verses that feature animals because animals are so relatable to kids.
I love coming up with interesting ways for kids to interact with the same songs. In preschool music classes, it makes it easy to use familiar material in a new way. At home with kids, it breaks up the monotony and helps them branch out.
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Here are 10 activities you can do as you sing Row, Row, Row Your Boat with young children:
1. Lay out a blanket or scarf on the floor. Sit on it and pretend it’s a boat. Row in your pretend boat as you sing the song.
2. Use Row, Row, Row Your Boat as an action song. Move about the room pretending to row in your boat.
3 Sit with a child in a rocking chair and pretend that the rocking chair is the boat rocking in the water. Rock and sings slowly and faster to add some variety.
4. If you don’t have rocking chair, you can sit together on the floor, couch or a normal chair and rock together as you sing.
5. Sing all of the verses of the song and pretend to be the animal mentioned in each verse. Make animal sounds and do motions to match each verse.
6. Find a story book such as this one that depicts the song. Sing it as you read and flip the pages.
7. Use a laundry basket or box as a pretend boat and pretend to row as you sing.
8. Find stuffed animals or puppets to match the animals mentioned in each verse. Display each animal as you sing its verse.
9. Use a felt board or paper cut outs of the animals from each verse. Hold up each animal as you sing its verse.
10. Help kids make up their own verses. Ask them to think of where they are rowing, which animal they will see and how they will react. It’s an added bonus if you can make your own verse rhyme, but focus on playful creativity and letting kids use their imaginations.