Tumblelight Garden · for parents and caregivers

Achoo! Cover Your Sneeze

A tickly dandelion seed lands on Piko's nose at a picnic in Dandelion Glade. A call-and-response song about sneezing or coughing into your elbow or a tissue, putting the tissue in the bin and washing hands. For ages 2–5.

Actions: Chorus: on 'Ah... ah... ah...' tip your head back a little more each time, then hide your face in the bend of your elbow on 'ELBOW-CHOO!'. You sing the questions and your child shouts the answers in brackets: 'In my elbow!', 'In the bin!'. Verse 1: wiggle your nose, then hide your hands behind your back ('not in your hands'). Verse 2: pretend to pull a tissue, cover your nose, then 'plop' it into a pretend bin. Bridge: point at everyone, because everybody sneezes! Verse 3: rub your hands slowly while you count to twenty together. Tip: practise the elbow move when nobody is sick, so it becomes a habit. In the 'Again!' round, freeze in your sneeze pose (elbow up!) whenever the music stops.

Chorus

Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!
When a sneeze comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
When a cough comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
Use a tissue, toss it in the bin! (In the bin!)
Wash your hands, and play again!
Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!

Verse 1

Fluffy seed on Piko's nose,
Wiggle, wiggle, here it goes!
Turn away, and not in your hands,
Achoo! In your elbow! That's the plan!

Verse 2

Luma's got a sniffle, sniff, sniff, sniff,
Grab a tissue, quick, quick, quick!
Cover up your nose, achoo!
Plop it in the bin! Woo-hoo!

Chorus

Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!
When a sneeze comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
When a cough comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
Use a tissue, toss it in the bin! (In the bin!)
Wash your hands, and play again!
Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!

Bridge

Everybody sneezes, yes they do!
Frogs and moths and mamas too!
Sneezes are okay, it's true,
Just catch it, catch it, like we do!

Verse 3

Soap and water, wash, wash, wash,
Scrub and count to twenty, slow,
Rinse and dry, and now we're done,
Back to the picnic, here we go!

Chorus

Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!
When a sneeze comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
When a cough comes, where does it go? (In my elbow!)
Use a tissue, toss it in the bin! (In the bin!)
Wash your hands, and play again!
Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!

Outro

Ah... ah... ah... ELBOW-CHOO!
Bless you! (Thank you!)