What We're Listening To...

The children have been asking for new and exciting music (I guess our own stash is boring now....), so here are a few favorites that we've enjoyed and that I would recommend both for musical and kid-friendly reasons.

In choosing music that my kids listen to, I feel like I'm a 'health-food-nut-parent' who will only say yes to something my children want if there is a redeeming healthy aspect about it.  There are so many children's music CD's out there with poor singing and very un-inspiring canned music going on in the background. I often shudder when I hear these...


When you're choosing music for your kiddos to listen to (that music will also do its part in shaping their musical appetite and understanding), listen for good quality singing, use of real instruments not (entirely) computerized music and creativity in the songs. In the instance of kids' songs, if they are tied to familiar characters or stories, they may be more memorable and enjoyable for your little tot.


OK, here's our current playlist:

  1. Sesame Street "Kids' Favorite Songs 2" 

I love this CD. The Sesame Street gang is hilarious and the music is so creative and so well done. The boys had many favorites on this CD and wanted to listen to it all the time, multiple times for a while. Mommy and Daddy were laughing at parts too. I love that because of Sesame Street's great talent, they have real live musicians who make the music so much more vibrant and enjoyable. Awesome.

2. Trout Fishing in America: "Big Trouble"

As I referenced in this post, we really like this duo. They're two very creative and able musicians who enjoy being silly and having fun with children through music. This particular album of theirs contains the ever-fun, "Nursery Rhyme Polka" (Throw It Out the Window), but there are a lot of other creative songs that quickly became favorites here too. Just don't explain too much about the song, "The Cat Came Back." :-)

  3. Sesame Street: "Kids' Favorite Songs" 

Well, there was a "Favorite Songs' 2" so there must be a "Favorite Songs" 1!  I intentionally put this one in the #3 spot because it's a little more challenging for Mommy's patience with Elmo and Big Bird's loud voices throughout many songs, but it's just as popular with the kiddos as item #1 in our list...  The music is still very good and very descriptive... worth giving it a try! The boys especially love Elmo and Snuffy in "Row Row Row Your Boat" when they're trying not to sink because Snuffy is so large).  I just think that "Favorite Songs' #2" is better. Just my opinion. :-)


So, go to your library and check these out (Yes, remember that the library has MUSIC too?!) and have a blast with hearing your kids learn some tunes.

Any album favorites you'd like to share??

Row, Bounce, Turn & Sway Your Boat

Nothing like adding a little creativity to an old classic!  This time, we're taking the ever-faithful "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and adding a little more activity to it.

Songs with motions and movement are excellent for toddlers, Pre-K'ers, Kindergartners, older kids, etc., because movements enhance learning. Those who may not be so quick to pick up a melody may still be able to do simple motions in rhythm, thus still providing great training in musical ideas and patterns.

So, for this activity, grab your kiddo/s and sing through "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (If you don't know it, just type the name into Google. I would have put a link on, but they're all so cheesy I couldn't bring myself to do it. So, find one if you need to... and I apologize in advance for the cheesiness).

There are tons of things you can do with this simple nursery-rhyme song, but today we used it for some 'pretend play' in boats.

Here's what we used:
1. Laundry baskets (if you're doing this with a class or more kids than you have baskets for, you can stop into any wholesale club like COSTCO, BJ's, etc. and grab some of their many empty, low-sided boxes)
2. Stick for the mast (wrapping paper role or a stick from your yard)  
3. Paper and markers for creating a flag or sail.
4. "rowing" devise (large wooden spoon, etc.)
5. Clear packing tape.

After the kids know the song, have them create a flag for their boat and then tape flag to their mast, and tape mast to boat.

If you have a blue blanket of some sort, that would be great for water. Ours was a little small, but it still worked OK.

 Have kids 'man' their boats and sing through the song - in a round if they're old enough - and do the motions. Then, use some different motions instead of "row" - like sway, speed, drive, shake, run, bounce, turn, tickle, etc. They can make up more as they go. You can help by showing the motions for each word as you all sing it.





Here they are with "hide" your boat, I think... or maybe it was "sleep" your boat...

You certainly don't need a boat to do these - they will be just fine being creative with this no matter what!

After we were done singing, the boys continued to play in their boats for a while - it was neat to listen to their imaginative play. :-)

Be creative and have fun! :-)

"Pete the Cat" - Song and Activity

I, for one, think there is a shortage of fun song-books out there.... But, I'm glad this one is around!
"Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes"  by Eric Litwin (Ill. James Dean) has been around for a few years, but I'm just finding it now... takes me a while.

The illustrations are simple, but effective. The song also, is simple and effective to get you and your kids singing. It's a fun, silly little melody about a cat's shoes that start out white and change color throughout the day as he gets stuck in some colorful stuff.
I hope your library has a few copies of this so that you can pick one up and give it a try!

Once you've got your hands on the book, go to this site from the publisher to hear the song and the story being read. Once you've got it in your head, read/sing the book to your kiddos - with a cool groove, of course. :-)


We had lots of fun with the story and song.
They especially liked making sound effects for the wet, squishy shoes. :-)

Then, we colored our own shoes and sang about them. No, not our real shoes, silly.  Just paper ones.

If you'd like to join in the fun, find a black and white printable image of a shoe online, print out a few pairs and have kids color or paint them.

K wanted his to be green, so we figured that he got stuck in a pile of mushy peas (ick).
J wanted his to be gray, so for lack of a better option, we figured he got stuck in a pile of fire ashes (better option, anyone?).
Then K wanted to make another pair and just call them "Cool Scary Star Wars Shoes."
So, we had fun singing about our shoes (I colored a pink pair!), including the Star Wars shoes.

Give the book a try, even if you don't like cats! It's fun to sing about shoes!

Make-It-A-Song-Monday - Musicals!

So, I semi-recently saw Les Miserables in the theatre. It was a fun night out with some friends, and I really wanted to see it, seeing as me and 5,000,000,000 other people love the show.

Do you really want to know my opinion of the lead roles' singing? Maybe not.... so, I'll just skip that.

But, I have been singing Les Mis songs all day every day since I saw the movie. And, if you're like me, you start to get creative with the lyrics.

Today, I made "At the End of the Day" into a song about vegetables.
It went something like this....

At the end of our lunch, there still are those carrots.
And also some broccoli, staring at me.
I know I have to eat it. I won't get candy if not.
But I really don't want to eat it, healthy or not.
But mommy looks angry.

Then we made it a bit more veggie-descriptive, since the boys didn't care for my rendition as much (I know, what gives???).

Oh, we need to eat all of our broccoli and carrots,
Our green beans and peas, and all our fruit too.
All these foods make us stronger,
so we'll eat our veggies and fruit,
to be strong like super heroes, they eat them too.
And they eat them quickly!


This one came to my head easily at nighttime...

At the end of the day, the children are crazy.
Like they don't even know that it's bedtime at all.
Running down the hallway, laughing and singing and shouting,
Mom and Dad are stunned, ready to fall.
And we can't find clean jammies.


Do you want to know other lyrics that have destroyed enhanced these lovely melodies? I thought you'd want to know!

"I Dreamed a Dream"
I dreamed a dream of toy-free floors,
where I won't trip, and spill my coffee.
I dreamed of children who close doors
quietly, so they won't wake baby....


Anyway - enough glimpses into my life....

Melodies from musicals are great for fond remembrances from your own childhood which you can pass onto your kids. I certainly wouldn't put my 5 year old in front of "Les Mis" yet, but a few I would do are, "Mary Poppins" or  "The Sound of Music" or "Chitty, Chitty, Bang Bang" or "The King and I" or "Annie" or "Lion King" or "Peter Pan."

Here's some fun from "Mary Poppins" to get you singing today... Go Here!.  Enjoy!

Throw it out the Window

Well, life is starting to swing into gear around here with Christmas and New Year's behind us. Sometimes there is a little reluctance to get started (What?! No! Never!), and, as is the case in our house, laughter is usually the best medicine. Our #2 is especially grumpy lately, and nothing changes his mood like us getting him to start laughing.
One way to help cure some grumpies is.... Silly Songs!  And one of my favorites is "Throw it out the Window."

This song was first introduced to me by a dear friend (Hi, Cynthia!), who told me that her family used to sing this song on the road together as a family. I thought it was hilarious and immediately made her sing to me all the rhymes that went with it.

I'll have a recording of it a little later, but the words of the song could be any rhyme that you in your vocal ability can make fit into the time and pulse of the song.
Then, after about 2 lines of the song, you complete it with "she/he threw it out the window...."

Like so -

Let's take.... Jack and Jill.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of water,
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
Jill threw him out the window.

Or, "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Mary had a little lamb
whose fleece was white as snow,
and everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window,
the window, the window,
she threw him out the window,
Everywhere that Mary went,
she threw him out the window.

Some of you are horrified right now (What? Throw him out the window? It sounds so violent!), but really, it's great fun. Try it!

This song can be done with oh-so-many Mother Goose rhymes that we know and love... Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffett, Cobbler, Cobbler, Mend My Shoe, Humpty Dumpty, Little Bo Peep, Old King Cole, Simple Simon Met A Pieman, etc....

It's a great (and silly) way to get some more rhymes in kids' heads, but what is educationally advantageous about it (yes, there has to be SOMETHING educational!), is the way it gets your brain to conform the words to the pattern of the song. Taking something long and drawn out, like "Little Miss Muffet" and speeding it up into a song is brilliant work for the brain's organizational music and rhyming abilities. My 5-year old can sort of keep up and my 3-year old listens and sings when he can. I think they'll be better at this as they get older, but it's been lots of fun already. :-)

This is great for car rides, transition times at school, singing while working/doing chores with your kids, while you get dinner ready and they are starving and hanging around your ankles.... Whenever!

So, without further ado, if you have not had the privilege of hearing this little tune already, here it is, being sung by a favorite crew of my husband's, "Trout Fishing In America"
Go Here!

Get some giggles and creativity going to start off the year! :-)


Did your family have a favorite song to sing in the car on long car rides?

Make-It-A-Song-Monday - Working Together

We've been bagging endless amounts of leaves, and when the task seems that it will never be through, I take the advice of the 7 dwarves and decide that singing will help the time pass, and will also put me in a happier mood. So, whether you choose to "whistle while you work" or make up a song, I'm sure the work-attitude will get better! :-)

So, during our leaf-bagging, I was trying to show the kiddos how to work together, not just doing whatever-that-thing-is-that-I-wanted-to-do-and-oh-yeah-no-one-else-can-use-that-thing-but-me.
So, as we were learning how to work together, I started a little tune, which went as follows:

It's so fun to work together,
So much fun to work together,
It's so fun to work together,
it helps us get done fast!

It's so fun to work together, 

So much fun to work together, 

It's so fun to work together, 

that's what friends do best! 

This one was to the tune of "Glory, glory Hallelujah" - which is the chorus to The Battle Hymn of the Republic ("....His truth is marching on! Glory, glory hallelujah, glory glory hallelujah...." If you need a reminder, here's the melody).

There's also this one you're sure to recognize -  but, instead of singing "the more we GET together..." try "the more we WORK together..." 

"The more we work together, together, together, 

the more we work together, the happier we'll be!

You'll help me, I'll help you, 

We'll work hard 'till we're through, 

The more we work together, the happier we'll be!" 

If they sing along and enjoy it, great!! Even if they don't, that's OK. You are getting melody into their heads and showing them that singing is a great way to pass the time when working on tasks. Your example to them may be the most valuable they see to train them in a positive outlook of work - that it's not a burden and a drag, but can be joyful and relationship-building as well. 

What did you make into a song today? 

Songs about Fire Trucks

It's big. It's loud. All kids are amazed by it...
It's a fire truck! And they are fun to sing about, too.

Here are two of our favorite fire truck songs which you can catch my kiddos singing at any random time around the house, and they may be fun to add to your home too.

"I Want To Ride In a Fire Truck" by Ivan Ulz 

Fire truck,
Fire truck,
I wanna ride in a fire truck.  (repeat)

I'm gonna put on my jacket,
put on my boots,
put on my helmet,
then I'll slide down the pole (weeee!)
and get on to...... my........

Fire truck,  (hey!)
Fire truck,
I wanna ride in a fire truck.

There are all sorts of other verses, which you can learn as well -  Check this one out HERE!

You can also pick up this book online (Amazon.com, etc.) or check and see if your library has it.
We have fun making motions to go with each verse too.... Like putting on our fire helmet and boots, spraying the water, shouting, weeee!! as we "slide down the pole."


"Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Fire Truck" 

Hurry, hurry drive the fire truck,
hurry, hurry drive the fire truck,
hurry, hurry drive the fire truck,
ding, ding, ding ding ding!

Hurry, hurry, climb the ladder....
Hurry, hurry, spray the water...
Hurry, hurry, put the fire out....

We do a little different version of it, but here's a link to a little "Thomas the Tank Engine" video of it (which my boys love). Go HERE!

(This song also works well for helping to get your kids out the door... "Hurry, hurry put your sneakers on," etc...)

Here are some of our favorite fire truck / fire fighter books (check and see if your library has them if you haven't read them yet!):

"Fire Engines" by Anne Rockwell

"Firefighters A to Z" by Chris L. Demarest

"Fire Trucks in Action" publ. by Motorbooks

And, what better fun than to make your own fire truck so your little muchkin can sing while playing!
Check out this post from one of my favorite blogs.

Have fun!

"If All of the Raindrops"

Summer is a great time for this song... I find it in my head more-so in the summer anyway, even though one verse is about snowflakes...

So, if you don't know this song, head over and check it out HERE.
You can also spend a buck and get it on itunes!

I was highly discouraged in looking for a good rendition of this song online...  most of them are just ridiculous; this one from a benefit that Lisa Loeb did in Seattle was the best for its musical simplicity, although we sing the verses a little differently.
Beware... there are a lot from Barney.... but heaven forbid I would ever post a link to Barney on here.... No offense intended, Barney.

Here are the lyrics:

"If All of the Raindrops" 

If all of the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, Oh what a rain it would be!
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say,
"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!"

If all of the sunbeams were lemonade and ice cream, oh what a sun that would be!
I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say,

"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!" 

If all of the snowflakes were chocolate bars and milkshakes, Oh what a snow it would be! 

I'd stand outside with my mouth open wide and say, 

"Ah, ah ah ah, ah ah ah, ah ah!" 

In the pic above you can see the boys doing the motions for the "Ah, ah ah..." part. Other than that you can show rain and snowflakes by wiggling your fingers from high to low and the sunbeams by shading your eyes. 

This is a great song for imagination, as I think as a child I did want to have rain made of candy! My dentist would not have approved, but as long as I brushed my teeth afterwards, I'm sure it would have been fine. :-) 

For more fun with this concept, check out the ever-popular book, 

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" by Judi Barrett. 

Enjoy!! 

Our National Anthem

We love the Olympics! The boys are especially getting more educated in the many varieties of sports there are out there. K's current favorite is water polo.... I think because it's a pool and a ball together in one event. Pretty exciting to a 4 yr. old boy.

As we watch the winners celebrate and take their places on the podium, I thought it would be a good time to introduce the boys to learning our National Anthem.

So, we had an Olympic morning...
During their reading time this morning we read a book or two about the National Anthem and practiced learning the last part of it by memory (Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet waaaaaaa-ve.....  etc.  BTW, did anyone see Serena Williams' singles medal ceremony when the star-spangled banner did wave and flew away off the post holding it? That was funny.)

We also talked about why the athletes put their hand on their heart - to show their love and respect for their country. So, we practiced singing it with our hand on our heart (or wherever J thought his heart was...)

Then we commenced the events!

Making medals.....

 Having "super-fast" races...

Soccer shoot-outs....

 Throwing challenges...

And a medal ceremony!

 ...where we practiced our National Anthem

Isn't J's face hilarious? That kid cracks me up.

Here are the books I got out of the library to use for helping the boys learn the Star-Spangled Banner - they're both great!

The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner by Patricia Pingry
This is a great mini-history lesson on where our National Anthem came from.

 The Star-Spangled Banner by Peter Spier

This one is a classic and has the verses throughout with wonderful illustrations. 

Have fun! Enjoy the Olympics and teach those kiddos their national anthem!

Make-It-A-Song Monday: Vacations!

Today, we are thinking about and planning a mini-beach trip, and since we haven't been there yet this year (ahh!!), mommy is probably more excited than the kiddos.

So, all this joy in my heart wells up to.... singing! The kiddos are actually, very excited, and usually are always excited for whatever trip we're going on, so it's a great opportunity to funnel that excitement into a simple melody to sing happily... to help with the great joy of.... packing!  :-)

Here's one we're singing around the house about the beach (to the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down"):

We are going to the beach,
to the beach, to the beach,
There's sand and crabs and crashing waves
Oh, I love the beach!

We are going to the beach,
to the beach, to the beach,
Bring shovels, buckets, snacks and treats,
Oh, I love the beach!

Or.... if you're taking a trip to the mountains,

Up to the mountains we will go,
we will go, we will go,
Hiking, fishing, swimming too,
at the mountain house.

Those are some silly examples to get you thinking of more ways to incorporate melody and description into your daily routine!

BTW.... you can certainly have the kids make up their own verses.... or do a 'Mad Libs' version and have them complete the sentence. Maybe next time I'll share what K and J came up with when we did it. I'm sure it'll be silly..... since that is what they are all the time. :-)

What did YOU make into a song today?