If you’re planning a lesson about cars, trains, buses, planes, boats or even emergency vehicles, this is what you need. My Top 10 EFL ESL Transport songs for children has all the songs you need for a transport or vehicle themed lesson. You’ll find something here for all ages from preschool to older kids and for all levels of English. Plus lots of fun games and activities to get your kids speaking and practicing their English. So buckle up, vroom, vroom , let’s go and find my favorite transportation songs.
Transportation Song by The Singing Walrus
Let’s start with some general songs about different kinds of transport. How fast can you go? Do you want to go faster? This song has lots of different types of transport and cute animals riding them and trying to go faster. Yo could use it in a lesson about comparatives but it’s a good introduction to transportation too. Maybe you could have a race in class to see which vehicles can go faster and which are slower. Older children could research this on the internet as well as looking at the size of the vehicles and how powerful they are. Then make a wall chart or poster to show your results.
Vehicles by Pinkfong!
Vehicle sounds are what we’re learning here. This is another of the general EFL ESL transport songs for children, especially preschool aged children. You can use it to learn about lots of different kinds of transportation and their sounds. Can your class guess what vehicle it is if they just hear the sound? Play a fun guessing game and see.
Vehicles by Pony Tail
Do you know if you drive a train or catch a train? And what about a bike? Do you drive it or ride it? This is a great song for practicing vehicle actions which can be tricky to remember. Use lots of TPR and actions to help your class remember the different actions as you sing it. You could make a worksheet and get the kids to match the action with the vehicle to practice.
Driving In My Car by Super Simple Songs
As you all know, I’m a big fan of Super Simple Songs. They have a song for nearly every possible subject and transport is no exception. This is the first of five of their songs that make this list. Although it starts with a car, it goes on to practice lots of other vehicles (bike, row boat, train) and some useful adjectives. You can use it to introduce the idea of fast and slow or high and low and also the sounds that different vehicles make. Ask the kids to pretend to be riding in the different types of transport and describe how they are going. Or play a mime game where they have to guess what vehicle you are in.
Let’s Be Planes by Maple Leaf Learning
Another general transport song by another one of my favorites. This time we’re looking at actions. Maple Leaf Learning have a great Let’s Be Planes resources pack to go with this song with lots of flashcards and activity sheets. You’ll find plenty of ideas there. This is a great song for pretending to be the vehicle with smaller children. Can they fly like planes? Or float like boats? You can have a lot of fun with this and the kids will pick up the vocabulary really quickly
The Wheels on the Bus by Super Simple Songs
A classic song which we’ve all used in our classes so it might seem a bit obvious to include it here. However it is still one of the best transport songs for kids as it teaches so much useful vocabulary in such an accessible way. Use lots of TPR as you sing the song and if you have space to make a bus with chairs, act it out too. Let the kids take turns to be the drivers and open and shut the doors. And everyone else can be passengers getting up and down or on and off as you sing. This version of the song has a nice video and has all the useful vocabulary. Don’t forget, you could use this song for other vehicles too. I’ve used it in classes about trains, cars and lots of other vehicles and it always works.
Choo Choo Train by Patty Shukla
This is a great song to practice talking about fast and slow and backwards and forwards. You can have really good fun making a train with the kids in your class. Let them take turns being the driver and deciding how fast or slow the train will go and in which direction. Then the kids can get on and off the train as it stops at the station, call “All aboard!” and start moving again with a new driver. If you can get outdoors where there’s a bit more space, this would be a fantastic activity as part of an outside lesson.
I’m a Little Airplane by The Kiboomers
Do you want to be a pilot and fly your own plane? Or maybe you could be an air traffic controller and give instructions and directions to the pilots. This song would be a fun way to introduce this kind of role play with your class. Learn about how airports and air traffic control works and then set up your own class airport with planes taking off and landing. You can find some more ideas about how to do that here or make up your own role play. You could also look at different destinations that planes can fly to from a certain airport and, with older kids, look at time and distances.
I Like To Ride My Bicycle by Super Simple Songs
This is a very catchy song. I’ve been singing it to myself all weekend so beware! Can the kids in your class ride a bike? Even if they are too small or don’t know how, they can still pretend. So get everybody on an imaginary bike and let’s go for a bike ride. What can you see? Are you in the town or the country? Maybe you could draw a map to plan your ride and everything you want to see. Or use it as part of a project about a particular town or country and plan a tour on your bike. How will you ride in different places? Slowly up hills and mountains or very fast on city cycle paths?
Ferry Boat Song for Kids by Toy Song TV
Do the children in your class know how a ferry boat works? Maybe they’ve never seen or been on one. This video and song explain exactly what happens and how cars get on and off the ferry. If you have toy cars and some cardboard boxes, you could try and make a fun craft project like this one. Then sing the song as you move the cars and the boat around.
Let’s Take the Subway by Super Simple Songs
You might be teaching in a big city where kids get the subway every day. But if you’re living somewhere smaller, the children in your class might never have seen a subway train. This would be another fun role play to do. Pretend you’re going to get the subway. What do you need to do? Buy a ticket and then go down underground and wait for the train. Make a train carriage with chairs in your class and work out what you have to do while the train is moving. If you’re learning about London (like in this lesson plan) or other big cities, have a look at subway maps and plan a route to different destinations.
Bonus Emergency Vehicles songs
- Here Comes the Fire Truck by Super Simple Songs
- Hurry Hurry Drive the Police Car by The Kiboomers
- Ambulance Song by Blippi
And because not all transport is just for traveling to places, here are some songs about emergency vehicles that might come in useful. These songs can be used to show what the role of the emergency services are so could be used in lessons about jobs or places in a town. Little kids often love fire engines and police cars so will love these songs too.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this collection of EFL ESL Transport songs for children. If you have and you want to see some more of my song collections, you can find them all here. You can also find lots of lesson plans and other teaching ideas for all ages and levels of English. To stay updated with new posts and lesson plans, you can sign up for email updates by filling in the form below. Alternatively, head over to the GoogooEnglish Facebook page and follow me there.