Engine Engine Number 9

This nursery rhyme covers a topic beloved by many children: trains. Engine Engine Number 9 is a short rhyme (no singing required!) about a train in Chicago. Keep reading, and watch this video to learn how to add Engine Engine Number 9 to your young child’s playtime.

Engine Engine Number 9 Lyrics

Engine, engine, number 9
Going down Chicago line
See it sparkle, see it shine
Engine, engine, number 9

Here are the lyrics in a beat chart with the beginning of each beat bolded.

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
En– gine, en– gine, num– ber 9
Go– ing down Chi- ca– go line
See it spar– kle, see it shine
En– gine, en– gine, num– ber 9

If you’re an auditory learner, I recommend watching the video, but if you’re a visual learner, then this chart will help you see how the beats and lyrics are organized.

Bounce Your Baby to Engine Engine Number 9

1. Lay your baby face-up in your lap. Make sure you are supporting baby’s head.
2. To bounce to the rhythm, lift your heels and drop them back to the floor on the beat. This motion is fairly small.
3. Chant the nursery rhyme while you bounce. Use a light sing-song-y voice.

Roll Down the Train Tracks with your Seated Baby

If your baby is sitting on their own, then you can do seated activities with baby in your lap. This is also a hit with toddlers.

1. Hold your child in your lap facing forward.
2. With your hands, hold your child’s hands or forearms, whichever is more comfortable.
3. Make small circular motions with your child’s arms while you chant the nursery rhyme. Alternate arms with the beats (left on 1, 3, right on 2, 4). If that sounds too technical, just picture a bicycle pedaling motion.

Let Your Child be the Conductor

If your child is getting more independent, they might want to be in charge of the activity! This takes a few more steps, but is so rewarding!

1. Offer your child some sand blocks, or another rhythm instrument. Sand blocks are wooden blocks that fit comfortably in your hand and have a piece of sandpaper glued on to them.
2. Show your child how to rub the two pieces of sandpaper together to make a scraping sound. Let them try it on their own.
3. When it’s your turn to hold them again (I like to wait until the child loses interest or hands the blocks back), chant the nursery rhyme while making a scraping motion with the blocks on the beat.
4. Give your child back the blocks and encourage them to scrape the blocks, establishing a beat.
5. Chant the rhyme with your child while following their beat. They may go slow or fast. The beat may be irregular. They might slow down or speed up as they go. Do your best to follow their speed and match the rhyme to their beat.

Alternate lyrics for Engine Engine Number 9

Folk songs are passed down through aural tradition, so the words tend to change over time and different regions will end up with different standard lyrics. Here is another option for lyrics.

Engine Engine Number 9
Going down Chicago line
If the train goes off the track
Do you want your money back?

If you learned this nursery rhyme with different words, let me know in the comments. I like to collect lyrics and I’ll even add them to this post.

Related Educational Activities and Topics

Play with a Train Set

Engine Engine Number 9 is about trains, so this is a great time to pull out a train set and and get playing.

Museum trip

If you live near a train museum, this would be the perfect time to visit!

Geography

This nursery rhyme mentions Chicago, which provides an opportunity to talk about the city and pull out a map to see where Chicago is.