Mama Monday Disclaimer: I am nowhere near an expert mom. I am on a mama journey just like all of you are. However, I'm more than willing to share my experience with you guys. If today's topic is something that you have an experience with then I hope you'll share too...either on your own blog (be sure to leave us a link) or in the comments section.
ACK! I'm overcommitted! I'm sure you guys have those days too. You know the ones: the laundry has piled up for what seems like weeks, you're trading in one set of houseguests for another, the kids sense that you went to bed an hour later than usual so they get up an hour earlier than usual, you have an evening commitment that will take a bit more preparation before you're ready for it and, oh yeah, IT'S MONDAY! MAMA monday. So forgive me if I'm a little short. In length I mean. Although with my kiddos it may be my patience that's a little short today. (oops)
SO. In ever so quick list form here are some of our favorite jams. Correction, SARAH's favorite jams. Some of them more tolerable/enjoyable than others for the parental units aorund here.
1. Sandra Boyntons's Philadelphia Chickens and Rhinoceros Tap. It took a bit of time to convince Sarah that this was actually kid music but once she was a bit older (over two) she could really get into the silly lyrics and wordplay. As a parental bonus one of these gems (can't remember which) has a track called "bad babies" which is amazingly cathartic when you sing it at the top of your lungs on a particularly overcommitted day (see above).
2. Anything by Laurie Berkner. Amusing and silly enough for little ones, completely palatable for big ones.
3. Raffi. No comprehensive list of children's favorites is complete without mentioning this guy. Plus I know there are some Raffi groupies out there that might revolt and never read PPAHBR again if I didn't give him a shout-out here. Slightly-related sidenote: Creating a Raffi station on Pandora give you a host of island and environmental tunes but, sadly, no kids music.
4. Curious George and Shrek soundtracks. We've been able to convince Sarah that both of these are in fact "Sarah music." Score.
5. Greg and Steve's Kids in Motion. Absolutely awesome for indoor, need-to-use-up-some-energy days. We're particularly big fans of "the freeze", "animal action", and "who's got the number?"
6. CJ. Our favorites are here and here .
Okay people, let's hear YOUR favorites!
Buddy Posters:
Christie
Jenni
Angela
Jennie
41 comments:
Hi Erin!
I cannot help cause I'm french (or maybe do you want french toddler songs!!!), but I just wanted to thank you, cause everything you wrote about this "mama monday", is like a bibble for me :o)
Thanks
French mom
We LOVE the Curious George soundtrack!
I posted something...not so much artists but just how we incorporate music at home.
www.thepaintedhouse.blogspot.com
Good luck today!
Just an add :
Do you now a compilation's name for classic USA nursery rhymes or songs? I mean songs that all kids know in USA, like "twinkle little star"...
Cause it's difficult to do the good choice for me for start to introduce my 2 years old daughter to USA favorites songs...
Hope you understand my "nice" american style for speaking!!!
THANKS YOU again and again... !
French mom
We love Fred Penner and Sharon, Lois and Bram--fun kids stuff that even our older children like. I haven't looked to see if they are still making new music, but the older collections we have are wonderful!
The Wiggles are tops in our music selection lately. They are coming here in July and we are planning on taking her! Emma has also became obsessed with the Veggie Tales "Marshmallow Song"...why must this song only be 1:40 minutes long?? She wants it repeated the whole trip. Ay ya ya! She loves Curious George and I hadn't thought of buying the soundtrack, it does have great music! Thanks for the great tips!
I forgot to add that we made a mix CD, Emma's Silly Songs, for the car from songs we downloaded online. It has a little bit of everything...Wiggles, Veggie Tales, Backyardigans, Doodlebops, Laurie Berkner, Mickey Mouse, etc.
FYI: We saved so much $$ on just buying a song or two on iTunes instead of $12 a CD just for the couple of songs we wanted. :) We are up to volume III of Emma's Silly Songs!
My daughter LOVES Hap Palmer songs. I remember his songs from my preschool days, so it is fun to sing the songs with her. He has a website and there you can find great CDs for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. I even used some of his music with my second graders when I used to teach. One of our favorite songs right now is "Peek-a-boo". He's great!
I'm not at home so I'm gonna have to make it a shirt list
Lisa lobe and Elizabeth Mitchell "Catch the Moon"
great GREAT songs! Look Elizabeth Mitchell on iTunes ans you'll find tons of great songs!
Kenny logans "return to pooh corner"
very sweet songs
I have tons more, but the kids are calling me....
Erin we are at "our" beach house! The kids totaly remember you!
OK, so I never post on mama Mondays, seeing as I'm not a mama...
...but I am a nanny and a Vocal Performance major in college right now, so I think I'm going to add my two cents today :).
The girls I nanny for are 4 and 6 and are pretty much completely enamored with the High School Musical soundtrack; However, I can only stomach that one for about five minutes, so they know that one won't be on the playlist in my car.
When the girls were younger (the oldest was 1 when I started as their nanny), we listened to classical music exclusively. I agree wholeheartedly with Christy's buddy post in her anti-Baby Einstein CD sentiment. If you want your kids to learn to love classical music, play the "real" stuff and not a synthesized version. Liv called it the "little bear music", as much of the background music from that show is orchestral.
As the girls got a little older, we started listening to more musicals. The girls especially love Wicked, The Lion King (original broadway cast), Little Women the musical, and The Light in the Piazza. All of these are fun to listen to and sing along with, and I don't feel like I'm driving around town listening to "kiddie tunes".
Recently, I had a lead role in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. The girls came to see me and fell in love with it. Now we listen to Opera almost exclusively.
I guess the bottom line for me is that you don't have to compromise your musical taste for your kids. Don't get me wrong--I love the Curious George soundtrack. To each his own. If you, as a parent, can't stand listening to opera or classical music, then I wouldn't recommend playing it just for your kids' sake...
I guess the jist of what I'm trying to say is, find music that you love and share it with your kids. You may be surprised to find that they enjoy listening to it.
I'm an Opera singer who grew up on Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, James Taylor, and The Pretenders (with a little Raffi thrown in....sometimes you just gotta "shake your sillies out"...). My parents hate opera (well, it's growing on them, I think). I wasn't raised on the stuff, I just fell in love with it over the years. Your kids will develop they're own musical tastes, but I guarantee they won't be listening to Baby Einstein through their teen years, so why not introduce the good stuff now?
{Whew! That was a long one! Sorry, Erin--I would have buddy posted, but my friends might have wondered why there was a "mama monday" post on my non-mama blog...}
Thanks for all the suggestions girls. And Renee I'm SO glad you joined in. What GREAT insights!
My son (2yrs)goes bonkers for anything DAN ZANE! He watched it on a Disney short, and now we listen/watch the video's on his website, EVERYDAY.
Some days it can drive me crazy, but then I peek around the corner, and see him with his guitar, imitating each and every move! It makes me giggle...
A few of our favorites here:
http://www.jklmrussell.blogspot.com
I have to agree with Renee. Our kids listen to what we love to listen to, and they love it more than we do! My husband is the worship leader at our church, and my kids get to watch their Daddy, 3 uncles, and their Grandpa up there singing and praising every week. My kids LOVE music because the people they love love it!
I love to sing the kiddie songs with my kids though. They learn a lot from that, I think...and beg me to sing their favorite songs with them all the time! We also have fun just making up silly songs about silly things.
My daughter LOVES music! Her favorites are "Choo choo soul," Kenny Loggin's "Return to Pooh Corner" and she also loves James Taylor and get this - Will Smith. ;) His music is really clean and I only let her listen to "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" and "Men in Black." Hee hee! Oh, and the Jack Johnson Curious George Soundtrack is another favorite! :)
I love reading what others have their kids listening to. I myself cannot sing to save my life and even after 7 years of piano can hardly play-lack of practice. I love music though and want my kids to have a good appreciation of it. Most of our music listening happens in the car. Mostly what we listen to are bible songs and scripture set to music. I love praise music and then we throw in some of my favorites like Selah, Nora Jones, Willie Nelson,
U2, Ray Charles and others. The kids occasionally will request "their" kid songs and I usually comply but sometimes Mama can't take kid songs all the time!
They really enjoy listening to some silly song CD's my MIL got them.
I love the classical station here and we often have that on. I listened to classical almost exclusivly when pregnant and driving-for some reason it was the only thing I wanted to listen to and the kids enjoy it now.
Ahhh!...Rhinoceros Tap. Noah listened to that EVERY waking hour of EVERY day for about 2 months. I am not exaggerating. Then one day, it "got lost." Funny how that happens periodically.
Oh, this is one of the topics I can talk about until I'm blue in the face. We take our music (and books) very seriously around here : )
I can't emphasize enough how important Renee's comment about sharing the music you love with your children. For the most part, we have a rule that says if we can't stand to listen to it, we won't be playing it. We do have a handful of gift CDs that people have given to us that fit into that category--which for us is songs where a large chorus of children is singing loudly and off-key to traditional songs--so we've had to relax a tiny bit on that rule, but for the most part we minimize the stuff we don't like and maximize the stuff we do. The girls listen to all sorts of things, but for the sake of this conversation I'll keep it to what we consider "family music." Here are some of our favorites!
They Might Be Giants: No!, Here Come the ABCs, Here Come the 123s
John Lithgow (not crazy about him as an actor, but I LOVE him as a musician!): Singin' In the Bathtub, Farkle & Friends, The Sunny Side of the Street, his version of Carnival of the Animals is especially good too
Dan Zanes: Catch That Train, Family Dance, House Party, Parades and Panoramas, Social Music
Elizabeth Mitchell: You Are My Little Bird, You Are My Sunshine, her album with Lisa Loeb--Catch The Moon
Woody Guthrie songs: Daddy-O Daddy! Rare Family Songs of Woody Guthrie
two good compilations, though we like #2 better than #1: For the Kids, For the Kids Too
Trout Fishing in America: It's a Puzzle
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman: Not For Kids Only
Harry Connick Jr.: well, every single thing he has made, but for this list, especially Songs I Heard
Pete Seeger: Birds, Beasts, Bugs, and Fishes
excellent compilations: Pottery Barn Kids Playtime (I don't know if this is available anymore, but it is SUPER--I would be happy to make you a copy if you can't find it!), Sing, Clap, Wiggle & Shake (jazz aimed at family/children)
There is a gem of a song available for free online if you search (can't remember where we got it): Fifty Nifty United States, which was written by Ray Charles. The version we have is sung by the Great Land Singers. It is a blast to sing with kids.
Also, I could make a whole other list of traditional music, bluegrass, folk music that is especially fun (though not necessarily aimed at children, good for them). You can't go wrong with those genres--or jazz, either. Or classical. A really fun classical CD to start kids on is called Heavy Classix, which is full of booming, thunderous classical music. It isn't on iTunes (I think everything else I listed is, if you want to listen to samples) but you can get it on Amazon. There is a Heavy Classix Vol. 2 that we don't have.
I used to put Laurie Berkner in this category of music we love but now I kind of feel like if I ever hear it again my brain might explode. Ha. It went through heavy rotation in Gracie's room at bedtime for a long time.
And I may have broken the record for longest comment ever. Maybe I should think about a buddy post
; )
Oh, and one that is on my list to buy: Frances England's Fascinating Creatures.
I listend to THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS as a teenager and when I became a mom I found that they had changed their demographic to kids music. they are totally wacky and fun and don't make a whole lot of sense but my kids just love them. Even the stuff that isn't kids stuff is kid friendly too and like I said they don't make alot of sense but kids don't care.
YAY for Raffi! All our other faves are mentioned too. We're fans of all of JJ's cd's, not just Curious George (especially great in the am during breakfast or while mommy's trying to cook at dinner time). And I see someone above gave a shout-out to Sharon, Lois and Bram (which was going to be my only add-on).
Thanks again for Mama Mondays!
Crissy
Just buddy posted!
http://jenniekeen.blogspot.com/
Thanks to everyone else who has been posting! I've got a shopping list going! :-)
We love Greg and Steve in our house too and of course, Raffi. Thanks for sharing your other favorites, we'll have to check them out.
Music is very much a part of our lives and has been since the day Katie was born. I've sang the same 3 lullabies to her from day 1 in the hospital and sing them every night to her to this day. Apart from that she's been going to Kindermusik (www.kindermusik.com) since she was 6 months old which has given her such a love of music and dance and exploring musical intruments. It hurt our pocketbooks though...that can't go without saying. It's pricey but in my own personal opinion totally worth it to see her have fun with other kids, sing, and dance. Each semester you get a CD of 50+ songs on it of a variety of different styles, languages and emphasize different aspects of music.
95% of the time we listen to Kindermusik CD's in the car and she loves it. At home if we aren't listening to old Kindermusik CD's we listen to Little People CD's. She got them for her 1st birthday and it has traditional children's songs on it sung in really annoying voices (in my opinion!) but of course she loves it. I haven't really gone out to purchase any CD's since Kindermusik keeps our library pretty full of choices.
We listen to music while we color or do playdough. We take it outside while we play. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled about that. :)
ok here we go...
elizabeth mitchell
ALL jack johnson
ALL john mayer
"johnny cash" - the walk the line SDTK
the muppets
signing time CDs
Thats funny about Pandora... don't try their country pop station either unless POP to you is Kenny Rogers and Patty Lovelace. There is only so many times you can give it a thumbs down!
We love "A Child's Gift of Lullabyes" created by J. Aaron Brown. We've been listening to it since I was pregnant with my firstborn who is now 11. He still occasionally finds it soothing at bedtime, although he mostly listens to instrumental classical music at bedtime. Maybe it influenced his love of music?
These are all great suggestions. We started out with the old tried and true nursery rhymes. The girls love to listen to the oldies in the car. They never change so they get the words or their version and sing along. We also keep a few of their CDs in the car to listen to, like Curious George, Jack Johnson, Muppets. We usually just have fun with music.
I am not a mom, but figured I'd share my two cents from my kindergarteners...in our class we love listening to Dr. Jean CDs and also The Learning Station CDs (particularly the Tony Chestnut CD and Physical Ed - both on Amazon). The Learning Station CDs are really fun and upbeat and even have movements that go along with them for rainy days when you're stuck inside :-) The Tony Chestnut song and Side Slide (from the Physical Ed CD) are my class's two personal favorites.
Hey, my kindergartner has been singing the Tony Chestnut song lately that she learned at school--it's hilarious to watch her do it with the motions. I'll have to look for those CDs!
Here's our very short buddy post:
www.bhamtigertales.blogspot.com
I love the ideas from everyone :-)
I have to agree with the previous poster Elizabeth about Dan Zanes, They Might Be Giants, and John Lithgow! Laurie Berkner is a big favorite as well!
I honestly think my kids learned their ABC's and numbers from listening to They Might Be Giants. They sound so silly but the kids really love it. Thanks for your Mama Monday posts. I didn't know Sandra Boynton had music as well.
Okay, I did it. Posted my music. Great suggestions...http://3funboys.blogspot.com/
Raffi is indeed #1.
"what's that noise ally?"
"ba-ba-you-ga"
And of course, Raffi is from Toronto.
French Mom-
Je voule une liste des chansons françaises pour les enfant.
ma liste:
petit poisson
http://www.hotlyrics.net/lyrics/A/Amelie_Bartier/Petit_Poisson.html
Alouette
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/alouette.htm
Frère Jacques
La fille que je garde aime des chanson francais mes ses parents ne parlent pas français.
I absoultely love all your pictures. Such an inspiration. Thanks for posting them.
Thanks for the post, Erin, and soundtracks are a great idea! Leah's new favorite is "Songs for Wiggleworms" (Old Town School of Folk Music). They use it at our libary story time and we got it for a roadtrip. It has a lot of favorite kid songs, both old and new - wheels on the bus, are you sleeping, if you're happy and you know it. And a few we didn't know, our new favorite is the "milkshake song"!
I know I'm a day late and don't have much to add but I do have one suggestion. The Kingdom Kidz Club CDs are awesome! They teach kids versus from the Bible to catchy tunes. I even walk around singing them and have learned versus I never knew. There are 2 CDs and we haven't even put in the second one yet because my kids (almost 2 and 8) are still loving the 1st one so much. My almost 2 yr old asks for it as soon as we get in the car. There's a song called God's Big Ten (naming the 10 comandments) and she calls it "3 4 X (six)". Check out the website http://www.kingdomkidzclub.com/listen.php You can listen to the songs before buying the CDs.
Kristin, I'll give you a complete list of traditionnal french songs!
I'll take a look to my CDs!
French mom
hi!
I'm a little late in posting this but I had to put in my .02 on the music post because I'm a huuuuge music person, .. I'm glad you posted about laurie berkner, as we love her as well. But, there is someone we also love that I didn't see posted- (well someone here on the replies may have but i don't have the time right now to read all of them.. so i am just going to say it, even if i am a big fat ole' repeat! ha)
Dan Zanes!
He is great!!!! He is an alt/rocker turned kids music phenom!!
ok, i just scrolled down briefly real quick and saw a few posts on dan zanes afterall! how cool!
ok, i just scrolled down briefly real quick and saw a few posts on dan zanes afterall! how cool!
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