Transport can be one of the most fun topics for toddlers to learn, especially with the right soundtrack to get them in the mood for adventure.
We’ve collected the best songs about trains for preschoolers, each displaying an array of fun aspects that come with the unique experience of train journeys.
Songs About Trains For Preschoolers
1. Miss Patty – Choo Choo Train
This nursery school train song harbours an array of quirky onomatopoeia centred around the chugga-chuggas of a train that is destined to get preschool kids in hysterics as they join in on the oddball verses.
Anchored in the fun, resounding “choo choo” lyric, this track is clad with movements, from pulling the horn on a steam engine, to mimicking the different speeds of a train as it speeds along and pulls up at the station.
2. Rock N’ Learn – I’ve Been Working On The Railroad
I’ve Been Working On The Railroad harnesses a classic preschool melody, setting it with simple, Irish inspired lyrics about having a job building the railroads, playing the banjo and other cute, adventurous nursery messages.
Magical descriptions are interspersed with playful nonsense lyrics, teaching even the youngest kids about the life of an old-school railroad worker in an enchanting way;
“Can’t you hear the whistle blowing, rise up so early in the morn, can’t you hear the captain shouting, ‘Dinah, blow your horn … Fee fie fiddlee-i-o, fee fie fiddlee-i-o.”
3. CoComelon – Train Song
This track explores all the sounds the train makes as it speeds along the tracks, encouraging kids to listen in wonder to the world unfolding around them.
Each verse begins identically, crafting memorability for young listeners, before mentioning different onomatopoeic sounds and adding them to each verse’s final line.
From the first verse, “Beneath the train there are some tracks, and they go clicka-clacka, I’m on a train,” to the last, “The train goes clicka-clacka, chugga-chugga, all aboard, bye bye, – I’m on a train,” the sounds and experiences are built up one by one, colourfully illustrating the endless adventure of going on a train journey.
4. Rainbow Rabbit Songs – Little Underground Train
Little Underground Train is a cute, indie pop style snippet of a song about subway trains which travel both overground and underground.
This London Undergound-inspired track takes you overground through the suburbs, travelling through the flowers and past the cows, before the train goes underground beneath the city, Big Ben, the Thames and other London landmarks.
What makes this track unique is its stylistic use of silence after the lyrics “Into the station and stop,” mirroring how the sound of the train and the adventure of train travel momentarily halts every time the train pulls up at the next station.
5. The Learning Station – Let’s Ride This People Train
This addictively upbeat track puts an inventive twist on preschool songs about trains. Let’s Ride This People Train is an action song inviting kids to put their hands on each other’s shoulders and walk in a conga line, creating their own human train.
Brimming with clickety-clacks, chug-chuggs and other vibrant sounds, this track is great for kids of all ages, encouraging both the young and old to join in on the ice-breaking movements.
Let’s Ride This People Train’s lyrics set out which action to follow next, such as ‘reverse,’ ‘switch hands,’ and more, crafting a fun and simple version of the Cha Cha Slide perfect for kids’ parties and big family gatherings where there are a lot of kids to be entertained all at once!
6. The Jim Henson Company – Dinosaur Train Theme Song
Although this next track is the theme tune for the TV show, Dinosaur Train, its bright beat and characterful narration allow it to thrive as a stand-alone kids’ song embellished with a beautifully inclusive message.
Dinosaur Train tells the short story of a dinosaur that hatches from an egg and realises he looks nothing like his brothers in the nest.
But this doesn’t prevent the mother from intuitively adopting him without second thought; “You may be different, but we’re all creatures and all dinosaurs have different features.”
He flies with his new adopted family to take the dinosaur train where they meet all the different dinosaur species, finalising a sweetly childish sentiment of acceptance, love and equality regardless of race and colour.
7. Meowmi Family Show – Subway Safety Song
Subway Safety Song is sung by a family of cats demonstrating important safety warnings to be remembered when going on a train journey, using a cute story of kittens taking a train ride on the subway.
This song is perfect for kids living in a big city or visiting the busy capital for the first time, carrying a plethora of peaceful, vital advice that everyone needs to pay attention to when taking the train, whether they’re a toddler or an adult.
From the risk of running down the platform, leaning on the door, falling over as the train rocks, and the meaning behind safety lines, this track balances life-saving advice with a sweetly innocent melody, interspersed with playful, gibberish lyrics that get all the kids on board with its message.
8. StoryBots – Riding on a Train
Taken from the show Storybots on Netflix Jr, this eccentric track carries a marching beat that perfectly matches the throttling energy of an old steam train, its click-clack rhythm is astoundingly evocative of old wooden tracks echoing beneath the wheels.
Against an irresistibly fast tempo, Riding On A Train illustrates what each carriage in a train is used for, from the dining carriages, lumber hauling cars, sleeping quarters and tank cars, all whilst travelling through a wonderfully wild and imaginative landscape;
“Train ride, lookie there, there goes a building, there goes a bear, see a moose and a lady in a rocking chair, we’re riding on a train.”
9. Rainbow Rabbit Songs – Five Trains
This simple train song is about a train who meets other trains as he travels, before all leaving together in the same direction, collecting another train along the way with each new verse.
This is a pure metaphor that kids can understand, relating to building friendships and one-by-one amassing a diverse group of friends who you can go on life’s adventures with.
10. Mother Goose Club- Freight Train
Freight Train is a country-style song for kids about a cargo train rolling rattling down the tracks, detailing all the types of train carriages a freight train may be trailing.
Threaded with onomatopoeia, the lyrics describe a flat car, a tank car and a caboose car, amongst others, chugging and clacketing along the train tracks.