Do you know what's the WORST? When your kids only want to listen to their stupid kiddie music CD in the car and it makes you want to gouge your eyes and ears out because the songs get stuck in your head for roughly 7 weeks at a time and you KNOW that you'll be singing them forever...
But you know what I LOVE? Children's music that's actually fun to listen to. And sung well. And catchy. Honestly, I like some of our children's music CDs better than mainstream music! And I certainly never have to worry about the lyrics!
I'm a music teacher, so I feel like I should have good taste in music, right? Here are some of my favorite children's CDs that are fun for adults to listen to! These make great baby shower and birthday gifts, because they're definitely lesser-known albums.
ONE
This is my latest favorite - fun melodies, really good vocals and tight harmonies, and the lyrics are awesome! Plus he's my cousin (although we've never met because I have about a trillion cousins...) and he's Catholic, so you should probably shell out for this one :) YES, the songs will get stuck in your head, but you'll enjoy having them there!
TWO
Putumayo is an AWESOME series of world music CDs, and I love exposing the kids to different languages, instruments, and musical styles. Animal Playground is my favorite of all the cds we have, and I also really love their Folk Playground
CD.
CD.
THREE
There's some actual OLD SCHOOL Jazz in this CD, and it introduces kids to the classics through some of the greats. The Potato Chips song makes me giggle each time, especially hearing the kids try to sing along!
FOUR
John Paul used to ROCK OUT to this one - the title song is such a hoot, the variations on familiar songs are fun, and it includes upbeat and calm songs so you can use it for dance parties AND calming down time.
FIVE
I'm a little weird, and if you're not familiar with French you might not like this one. But right now I think it's only $4 on Amazon, so it's worth a try! Again, lots of old school songs, but really fun melodies with upbeat rhythms. And the kids will certainly recognize some of the melodies!
How about you? Any awesome favorites? Those Kidz Bop CDs just don't do it for me...
How about you? Any awesome favorites? Those Kidz Bop CDs just don't do it for me...
Now head on over to Camp Patton - Grace is hosting Five Favorites this week!
BABY! WUVS! DZAZZ!!!!
ReplyDeleteI want to hear the potato chips song. Can't find it on youtube. What's the title?
I've been needing some good kid music that isn't bedtime music. Gracias! Have you seen the Rockabye Baby CD's? They make albums of popular artists into instrumental kid sounding tunes. I really want the Dave Matthews and Queen ones.
ReplyDeleteWe only listen to kids music now, too. We had a few too many times with the eldest son singing raunchy country music lyrics (ie- looking into my eyes while putting him to bed saying "baby, I just want to make you feel wanted"). My kids love love love singing in French so I will have to look that one up.
ReplyDeleteHA! I laughed out loud at that story - John Paul has always been a little bit (well, a lot...) of a parrot, so we have to be reeeeeeeally careful about what he listens to, and there's so much scandalous popular music that we don't even think about, so I try to play it safe!
DeleteWe have a different cd of French children's songs that Michael has LOVED since he was a baby ... I don't know French but I think I can still sing them all from memory. :) At one point I looked up the lyrics so I'd know what the heck we were listening to every time we got in the car and one of them was ... er ... somewhat suggestive?? I was slightly scandalized, lol. It doesn't look like it's on your album though, hehe.
ReplyDeleteWe love Putamayo Kids!! Another favorite of ours is They Might Be Giants for kids. This is the kind of stuff my brother loves to buy for my kids. Sadly the CD player in my van is broken, so I haven't gotten to listen to any of it lately. Here's an incredibly long link, if you're interested.
ReplyDelete(http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=they+might+be+giants+children&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=4645062417&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14878086681911958447&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_1ccovs6ayi_b)
Ooh, definitely checking it out! I love it when mainstream artists put out children's CDs :)
DeleteAww, I love Putumayo CDs for all ages!
ReplyDeleteThey're such an awesome concept!
DeleteOh, thanks for the suggestions! Right now we only listen to classical music or the Christian station in the car, but I think Claire would really appreciate some both kid and parent friendly CDs to shake things up!
ReplyDeleteOh yay Rosie! I'm always at a total loss as to what kids cds are any good, and lets just say I'm reluctant to trying for myself! I'm definitely going to ask you about music stuff for kids from now on! I took music forever yet I'm the worst at finding stuff for beginners and good music for kids. I have illusions of only allowing them to listen to Bach until they're 10.
ReplyDelete