Sunday, April 13, 2008

Our tour through kids' music

My article in today’s Ledger-Enquirer takes a tour through some of our family’s favorite kids’ music – including some longtime favorites of Will’s and some new discoveries Will and I made in the course of writing the article (granted he didn’t write it, but he did all the grunt work as my music-listening guinea pig).

The best thing that came out of the whole process is that we made a wonderful mix CD for Will that includes favorites off of about 15 different albums. I don’t necessarily recommend buying all 15 albums, but a good mix tape with your kids’ personal favorites is a pretty great thing to keep in the car.

I believe in catering to children’s requests for repetition when it comes to both books and songs. They love to learn the language of songs and stories and they thrive on music they can sing and books they can recite by memory. As Will sometimes says when we’re playing a selection off the new mix CD, “Mom, did you know? -- I’m starting to learn this song.”

So Will’s singing along with music more than ever. And now I no longer have to hunt for the tracks he loves although we do tend to play each song twice as we make our way through the CD.
So here it is: Will’s Kids’ Hits Mix (listed by song: artist/album -- with links to a few of the albums that feature multiple favorites for us).

1. Wild Wild Party in the Loquat Tree: Indigo Girls/Mary Had a Little Amp
2. La La La La Lemon: Bare Naked Ladies/For the Kids
3. This-a-way That-a-way: Ella Jenkins/Songs Children Love to Sing
4. Hop Along Peter: Jerry Garcia & David Grisman/Not For Kids Only
5. Baby Beluga: Raffi/Baby Beluga
6. Oh Susanna!: Children’s Favorite Songs (Walt Disney Records)
7. C is for Conifer: They Might Be Giants/Here Come the ABCs
8. Froggy Went A Courtin: Doc Watson/Doc Watson Sings Songs for Little Pickers
9. I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly: More Silly Songs (Walt Disney Records)
10. Shake My Sillies Out: Lari White/ Country Goes Raffi
11. All Around The Kitchen: Pete Seeger/ Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection
12. The Three Little Kittens: Nursery Songs Sing-Along (Peter Pan Records)
13. He’s Got the Whole World: Raffi/Rise And Shine
14. Dulce Dulce: Ella Jenkins/Songs Children Love to Sing
15. Dinosaur, Dinosaur…& 16. Jump Rope Jive: Philadelphia Chickens (written by Sandra
Boynton)
17. Riding in My Car: Woodie Guthrie/ Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection
18. Alabama Chicken: Sean Hayes/Alabama Chicken (this one's not a kid's album but Will loves it anyway)
19. Ha-Ha This-a-Way: Lead Belly/ Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Music Collection
20. Little Bunny Foo Foo: Nursery Songs Sing-Along (Peter Pan Records)
21. Go for G!: They Might Be Giants/Here Come the ABCs
22. Harmonica for Hannukah: Ella Jenkins/Songs Children Love to Sing
23. Apples and Bananas: Keith Urban/ Country Goes Raffi
24. Magalina Hagalina: Pete Buchwald/ Get On the Bus with Mr. Pete
25. The World is Big: Ella Jenkins/Songs Children Love to Sing
26. Yellow Submarine: The Beatles
27. Down By The Bay: Eric Heatherly/Country Goes Raffi


What songs or albums are hits with your kids?

4 comments:

AmyJ said...

Hi Annie,

Loved your article, as usual. I didn't see anything about The Laurie Berkner Band or just Laurie Berkner. My kids, Mikayla (5 in May) and Matthew(3 in August) love her. I took Mikayla to a concerct in Atlanta and she loved it. If you are not familiar with her, you can see her on Noggin. We have a great DVD of music videos and also some great CD's. You will be singing along with your kids in no time at all. laurieberkner.com

Annie Addington said...

Thanks for the tip! I'm listening to some samples now on amazon... Sounds like she does some fun renditions of traditional songs along with plenty of new stuff too of course.

Unknown said...

I love your list and wish I could get the CD mix you made without all the effort of collecting the songs. (: I was amused to see "Yellow Submarine" on there, as for some reason the chorus has been stuck in my head and I keep singing it aloud. Of course, the only part I know is "I live in a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine, a yellow submarine." My 3 1/2-year-old keeps asking me, "Who, Mommy? Who lives in a yellow submarine?" You'd think I'd know more of this classic song, but I don't. Thanks for the great info! We love music and are big fans of Boyton, anything Disney, and movie soundtracks like Wizard of Oz.

--Kelley

Unknown said...

Not being a big fan of most kids music, I have had a hard time finding something we can all listen to together and enjoy. Country goes Raffi is one of our favorites, along with Dan Zane and a cd called Sing Along with Putumayo.