Kids Music Recommendations?

I also live in Elkins Park and my almost two year old and I go to music class called Children's Music Express in Huntingdon Valley. Tammy, the instructor, is great. She gives out CD's that are so easy to listen to over and over again. My husband and I cannot listen to any other children CD, only Tammy's! I can send you the info if you want, her fall classes start this week.

Elizabeth Mitchell. I can't say enough about how wonderful she is. Her voice is beautiful and the songs are great. She puts a bit of a folky twist on covers of children's songs, The Velvet Underground, Bob Marley, Neil Young and others. Not annoying at all. Her latest is You are My Little Bird. We listen to it in the car and sing along. I even listen to it sometimes without the kids! There are several others, including one record done with Lisa Loeb. Love her!!

We also like They Might Be Giants Here Come The 123s and Here Come the ABCs. Quirky, fun and more upbeat songs about numbers and the alphabet.

Jen

anything by laurie berkner..she is awesome..i have 2 of her cd's..they are "under a shady tree" and "victor vito""..you won't believe yourself when your turning the volume way up in the car and rockin out to it with your little one! i highly recommend it!

I love anything by Elizabeth Mitchell of the band Ida! She's put out at least 3 cds of really great kids music... some originals, mostly other people's songs. They're called:
you are my flower
you are my sunshine
you are my little bird

you can listen to samples at her website : http://www.youaremyflower.org/home.html
i've bought them for myself and also given them as gifts to friends and their little ones... we don't get sick of listening!

I suggest taking a look at www.cdbaby.com
They have a great kids/family section with loads of good stuff. They usually have listening options to be able preview some of the songs on each cd.
For lullaby stuff, check out Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of different modern musicians... my favourite is the Radiohead Rockabye album! pretty fun.

We listen to a lot of music in our home... mostly because my husband and I play music too and just can't get enough. The must we put on to listen to is usually just music we like and our year-old little boy just loves it too. We steer away from stuff that would be too harsh for him (or too annoying for us!)... he loves Johnny Cash, Band of Horses, Dr. Dog, Fleet Foxes, Bjork, Bob Dylan... anything with great rhythm and interesting melody and vocals. Jazz and blues standards are fun for him too.

Hope this helps a little!

I love Laurie Berkner. You can see her sometimes between shows on Nick Jr. She also has great DVD's with her and her group singing with little kids in them and great bright colors. I love to sing her songs with the kids and mine are now 7 and 5. They still love her music and
they have been listening to her since the oldest was 2. She has even done some local concerts, but we didn't get to go to that. Good luck, I think you will enjoy her.

C.

For the Kids and For the Kids 2 (both by various current artists, such as Sarah McLaughlin and Cake) are great. Snacktime by the Barenaked Ladies is also a big hit with my 20 month old son. I also find myself singing many of the songs from all 3 CDs when they aren't even on - so they definitely aren't annoying. I got all 3 from amazon.com for a good price and you can listen to sound bits on there to see if you like it before you buy it.

Imagination Movers (the name of the album is Juice Box Heroes)
Choo Choo Soul (it has a hip hoppy kind of sound)

The music for both of these groups are featured on Playhouse Disney and are lots of fun. I actually enjoy dancing around with my daughter with these CD's. I don't mind listening to them at all. Check your local bookstore, their website, or Amazon.com.

Another vote for the Laurie Berkner Band!

The CD/DVD called "We are the Lauire Berkner Band" has little videos on it that keep my 16 mo old daughter glued when we need a distraction. Any time she gets crazy or has a melt down I start singing one of the songs to her and she calms down.

Hey! Check out ChooChoo Soul, Imagination Movers and Laurie Berkner. They are all fun and I will admit to occassionally jamming to them without the kids around! I first heard choochoo and im on disney channel, but downloaded them from itunes. Have fun =)

We like the band The Sippy Cups. Their CD Kids Rock for Peas takes regular rock music and turns it into Kids songs.... Jungle Boogie with monkey sounds, I Wanna Be Elated (instead of Sedated). I ordered the CD online, but I think they are available on iTunes now.

I would say anything that you listen to as long as it is clean. We don't have to make the music corny for them to enjoy it. (Athough disney music is always a plus) My mother in law would listen to Jimmy Buffet on vacation and when my older girls were about 4 their favorite song was cheeseburger in paradise...lol! If you start them now they will have an appreciation for all different types of good music. My husbands parents used to have all kinds of music on when they were little. Now he amazes people with his range and knowledge of music. I am so fortunate that he has exposed my kids to things like Jimmy Reed and some other amazing artists that we would have never known.

Since my kids are older, I'm a little out of the loop on children's music; my kids liked Trout Fishing in America (name of the band). However, we mostly listened to either classic rock like WMGK 102.9 (where I could turn off the song if I knew it wouldn't be approproiate) or Disney Radio (where the lyrics are all clean). There are also some classical CDs that have fun, peppy music (like Tchaikovsky's the Nutcracker Suite or some of Beethoven's symphonies), or very simple (for slowing down/nap time).

Have fun with it.

Yet another vote for Laurie Berkner. My husband and I catch ourselves singing her songs all the time!

My daughter also loves songs from The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. I downloaded some of the songs I liked and made a mix CD. She has never seen either movie, so that doesn't matter.

Her other favorite is Wee Sing. It's little kids singing the classic little kid songs. I think we have a double disc.

And finally, she really likes her personalized CD. I also catch myself singing these songs. You can get one here:
http://www.kidsjukeboxinc.com/catalog/kids-juke-music-p-3...

Have fun!!!

My children loved/love Jack Johnson and listened to all of his albums but particularly the soundtrack to the "curious george" movie, also classical music, sesame street music, and other "adult" music I enjoy.

I figured, I am the one with the children. I would go crazy listening to all the high frequency "kid's music" out there so it only helps my children's day to be enjoyable if we all enjoy the music. Then on occassion I can handle throwing into the mix one of the designated "kid's music".

My children LOVE classic rock...Beatles,Pink Floyd...seems to actually relax my son when he's getting to high strung...my daughter's fave is Strawberry Fields...just too cute to hear her singing it!

We love the Backyardigans! Their songs are catchy and fun, and have a great sound! My kids love Laurie Berkner too. I had no idea Choo Choo Soul has a CD! I am going to be needing to get that! They have a great hip hop sound!

We also love Elizabeth Mitchell and They Might be Giants.

My two year old is fixated on Tom Chapin's Billy the Squid and Family Tree, two albums that are clever and musical. Anything repeated 9000 times is hard on the soul, but my husband and I have survived and (I'm only sort of embarrassed to say) mostly enjoyed the last 8000 repetitions

Hilary,

My kids are a little older now (elementary and middle school), so I am not up on the new music expressly for kids, but I'll tell you what I used to buy for my kids...some of which my younger child still listens to:

***classical music, particularly Mozart, but also Handel and Tzaichovsky...Nutcracker, etc. We would take our kids every year to the Ambler Orchestra's children's concert at Wissahickon High School, and sometimes to Philly Orchestra concerts, and we always bought in advance whatever pieces were going to be performed at the concerts. My kids still listen to their classical favorites.

***international and ethnic music, not only from our own background, but from other backgrounds. My youngest still likes to go to sleep to music in European languages that none of us understand, but which I picked up on some business trips to Europe! (Some are children's CDs, some are not, but I always ask an English speaker who works in the store about the albums, to make sure I'm buying appropriate music...even if we don't understand the language!)

***folk music...the music from the 1960s is so classic...and our kids have grown up listening to Peter, Paul and Mary, among many other artists

***music my husband and I love. Our kids have grown up listening to Billy Joel, Simon & Garfunkle, the Beach Boys, Carly Simon, and many other artists from the past who transcend to today.

***Broadway show tunes. Make sure they are appropriate, though! (There are some great shows with great music that may have a line or two that you wouldn't want your child going around singing!)

***There are some great kids' CDs where kids sing popular tunes.... I can't remember the name of any of those, but there's a whole section of those CDs at places that sell CDs. Our kids have numerous ones of those and love them. "Sugar Beets" was the first one of those albums we received, for our daughter's 1st birthday, and our kids still listen to it!

***Some popular artists for adults have put out music great for kids. For instance, our kids LOVE a certain Michael Finestein CD...I forget the name of it...but it has great songs for kids on it, although it may not be marketed that way. My daughter, 13, still listens to that music often! I think we owned the CD even before we had kids.

***Likewise, long before we had kids, my husband bought me a CD where popular artists sing Disney, etc. I think it is caled something "About the Mouse." Our kids still listent to this!

Have fun! Our kids are extremely musical, and I have no doubt that part of that is that we exposed them early and often to all kinds of music!

--T

I do not like children's music. It makes me feel violent. ;)

My daughter LOVES Duran Duran, Erasure, Dave Matthews Band (the horns are her favorite) and other artists like that. Anything peppy that doesn't mention harming others or "bein' up in da club" is fair game in my opinion.

If you are looking specifically for kids music, I kind of liked Seusical The Musical and Philadelphia Chickens (which is a book and CD), but don't be afraid to play "your" music for your child-- my kids, now 6 and 8, LOVE James Taylor, Jackson Brown, Bruce Springsteen-- even Beyonce. I refused to lose my mind and listen to Raffi and/or Barney.

Oh - yuck yuck yuck... My husband and I listen to the Grateful Dead - so my kids are definitely heads... my husband also listens to the Ramones - and my four year old will definitely break out into some crazy punk tune every so often... We are not the "i brush my teeth 3 times a day - la la la" or "can you sound like a dinosaur - rrrooooaarrrr" type of musical people. Can't bring myself to endure that - nor my children.

But if you need "kid's music" - we listen to Dan Zanes.. we've been "zaneheads" before he sold his soul to disney.. (boo hissssss) - but his music is excellent... he writes his own, but he also covers lots of legendary, pete seeger (who we just saw at the world cafe this summer), woody guthrie, leadbelly - all liberal commies in their own time... so, we're talking political - definitely political.
His latest CD is called "nuevo york" and is in spanish... not too crazy about that.. but check out his music on his website...
He sings with Sheryl Crow, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry (blondie)... Our favorite CD is one of all sea shanties - called "sea music" - it's a great one.
And, by the way - we are in maple glen - not far from you in EP - we're there all the time... well, mostly jenkintown.
Let me know what you find interest in...

peace and tofu grease,
A.