Good kids' music

[ELM]

Anyone have suggestions about good collections of kids' music? My dd is 10 months old. I've bought a few cds (used) for her and have been pretty disappointed. What I don't want is: stuff with strong synthesized-drum beats or insipid versions of "Mary Had a Little Lamb".

Thanks for your recommendations!

ELM

[kel]

"Songs for Singing Children" by John Langstaffe (sp?) is great! I love listening to it, too. Its a lot of cool old folk songs. Also - "A Child's Celebration of Folk Music". Its a bunch of different artists, including Doc Watson, and Taj Mahal. A couple of the songs are annoying, but most of them are wonderful and fun to dance to, too.

[jasnjakesmama]

We have been playing music for Jacob since he was in utero. We don't just limit ourselves to kids music either. We listen to everything from the Beatles to Stevie Ray Vaughn to Nirvana. I think it's good to expose kids to all kinds of music. I did that with my older daughter and she has the most eclectic taste in music!

But you did ask for kids music and I do have some suggestions. Have you ever heard of Buckwheat Zydeco? They are awesome. Great for kids. We have Choo Choo Boogaloo. It's a very fun CD.

Of course there is always Raffi. Very cute and great to sing along to. We have about 4 of his CD's. They always do the trick. Raffi can make a fussy baby smile.

We also have a really cool CD by a local artist, Dan Zane. I think it's called Rocket Ship Beach. It's got a reggae Mother Goose song that is very cool.

Old Motown is great for kids. How about the Jackson Five?

~jennifer

[BathrobeGoddess]

Free to Be You and Me! It was my fav as a small kido and my dd's fav for a long time, too.

[peggy]

My children listen to all sorts of different music. Classical, Rock, "Kids" music etc.
They have a great selection at www.musicforlittlepeople.com


peggy

[lojoma]

Charlotte Diamond. She has a website, I think its just charlottediamond.com Very fun, smart, humorous and multi-lingual sing alongs for kids.

[Moon Stander]

I like Jim Gill and Peter Stewert.

[TreeLove]

My guys totally dig:
Pete Seeger
Leadbelly
Bob Dylan (esp the early stuff)
Arlo Guthrie
Jerry Garcia
David Grisman
anything w/banjos and mandolins and/or harmonica
Carol King's really Rosie.
Not Just for Kids is a far-out CD.

I think kids dig bluegrass to those ugly synthesized crudd CDs anyday. They know real music when they hear it. Try Woody guthrie or Roscoe Holcomb.

[lil' love]

RAFFI

I love Raffi and so do my kids (fortunately :) ) lol

He makes them smile and that makes me smile :D

This is what my kids listen to mostly. We even have a couple videos!
My daughter is 21 months old and she has just started to sing along. It's great.

[lavender]

We love Raffi, too, and have several of his cds!!! I have to second Pete Seeger, Garcia/Grisman (Not forKids Only), and Buckwheat Zydeco as well. Besides that...

Green Chili Jam Band (Starfishing, Coconut Moon, and Magic Bike are their three albums--we have them all and they are well-loved)

Priscilla Herdman (we have Daydreamer, Moondreamer and Stardreamer--all great! Daydreamer is the best for play, the other two are good for winding down gradually)

John Denver-Trains

Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Gift of the Tortoise

We also have some good lullaby collections: "Mediterranean Lullaby", "Soundscapes Lullaby" from Target, "G'night Wolfgang" from Music for Little People, and some classical guitar albums.

They love folk music like Brothers Four, Kingston Trio, or just mama on her guitar...

[Gigi]

We give thumbs up to Raffi in our house too!! (Oh no, now I'm going to have 'Baby Beluga' going thru my head for the rest of the night...!)

Another CD I can highly recommend esp. for babies and small children is 'Latin Lullabies'. An absolutely beautiful compilation of latin songs. I would play this every night for my dd as I gave her her evening massage. We stopped playing it so much as she got older - but I pulled it out the other day and played it again. I cried (I'm such a nostalgic sap).

[SoHappy]

If you've never heard Ivan Ulz, track him down! His website's down right now, but bookmark it for later.
http://www.ivanulz.com
He has the greatest songs, including Firetruck, the belly button song, Pick it Up, and others. He's also a totally cool man. He does free concerts in our area often. From what I can tell, he's an aging hippy with psychedelic roots (in his psyche, not his scalp. The roots in his scalp are just normal gray.)

[glh]

We love Raffi too, I feel like I have been listening to him forever. Oh yeah, I have been, and now I still have a few years to go!

My 5 yr old also loves a CD called World Playground. At first he didn't like it (not all the songs are in English) but now it is his favorite CD.

[Hawkemom]

DS (10 months) loves music! He adores baby Beluga by Raffi and Songs for Wiggleworms.

I just got Fiesta Songs Sesame Street (good intro to Spanish words) but it is a short CD. The French CD made by Music for Little People has great kids songs (Wheels on the Bus, Old MacDonald etc.)

I'd love to hear any additional music/language cds you guys reccomend.

Happy Saturday!

[rainsmom]

Ive been on a mission since I was pregnant to find childrens music I could stand to listen to over and over again. Here is a list of what Ive found:

Peter Himmelman - My Best Friend is a Salamander
My Fabulous Plum

Taj Mahall- Shake Sugaree

Shawn Colvin - Holiday songs and Lullabyes

Nicolette Larson - Sleep Baby Sleep

Garcia/Grisman - Not For Kids Only

Various Artists - Daddy-O Daddy Songs of Woodie Guthrie

Willie Nelson - Rainbow Connection

Keb Mo' - Big Wide Grin

[peacemama]

My daughter's current favorite is Peter, Paul and Mary. They did two collections for kids, called Peter, Paul and Mommy, and Peter, Paul and Mommy Too. We have the first one, with "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and "The Marvelous Toy." She LOVES it.

DD also loves Raffi, and we had that wonderful World Playground CD until it got stuck in my CD player and we can't get it out - it's been almost a year!!!!

We take Music Together classes and the music is excellent.

[zealsmom]

another vote for Free to Be You and Me! I love it; dh loves it; ds loves it; and I teach first grade (for the last 8 years) and they love it!

[ELM]

Wow! Thanks for your ideas. I will definitely investigate -- and invest in -- some of your suggestions.

Here are a few we DO like:
- Sharon, Lois and Bram. We have their greatest hits collection, which is not bad.
- The Planet Sleeps -- a collection of lullabies from around the world.

[jempd]

I second the Dan Zane cd. I was going to mention it and see that you got to it already, Jennifer. I wanted to mention also, for those of you who live in the Eastern NJ, NYC area, there's a great kid show on saturday mornings on WFMU (91.1 on the fm dial) called Greasy Kids Stuff that dh and I used to listen to even before we had a kid. It's very very silly and has a lot of obscure, strange stuff, like Green Eggs and Ham read aloud, lots of Japanese girl band songs about food, the alphabet song set to power pop, kids doing call ins, jokes etc. It has that ecstatic sense of the goofy that 4 year olds seem to be so plugged into . . . oh to be 4 years old again!

My baby and dog both seem to be calmed by bluegrass for some reason, maybe the softly strumming guitars and plunking banjos. A couple of people have told me that the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou is great for kids.

[Lila]

My dd's favourite is bluegrass. She loves Alison Krauss (good girl) and the sdtk from O Brother Where Art Thou. Our family is steeped in bluegrass tradition, tho. It's in her blood.

We also like Raffi. Singable Songs For The Very Young is excellent.

I also have a CD called Zydeco. Good Cajun music. Great rhythm, gets the babe moving!

[fiddler]

This topic is very close to my heart:love . Since my daughter was born 6 years ago I've been collecting kid's music. In addition to a lot of the music already mentioned, I have found my family and I like (and can listen to over and over):

Riders in the Sky- Harmony Ranch (some nice hokey cowboy tunes, not country western!)
Tom Chapin- Family Tree, Hometown, Zag Zig
Burl Ives- Little White Duck (maybe because I grew up on this one)
Jack Grunsky- Waves of Wonder

And I just have to give Green Chili Jam Band another plug on this thread. I LOVE their cds and have been known to put them on even when the girls are out playing with Dad. My favorite cd is Starfishing, which starts out with an uplifting song of self-worth, "I'm Shining!" Each cd has a story-song on it which really gets my kids attention. Of these, the one on their Coconut Moon cd is my fave.

I also like The Planet Sleeps, which I put on most evenings as we're getting our pj's on and brushing teeth. It really helps us start transitioning to sleep time.

Let the music play! Fiddler :D

[rainsmom]

where can you find Green Chili Jam Band? sounds good??

[fiddler]

rainsmom,
I'll try to copy the link to amazon for you.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/104-2614678-9993500

This should put you right at the Green Chili Jam Band page.

Happy tunes! Fiddler

[redheadmama]

My kids have always liked reggae and bluegrass and the Grateful Dead (Reckoning and Europe '72 being their faves). The Garcia/Grisman Not for Kids Only is a great one. Also Old and In the Way. There's a great CD out called Reggae for Kids that they really like. My latest find is a blues collection for kids called Big Blues which is really good. And, of course, anything by Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff (The Harder They Come Soundtrack is especially good). And, for some reason, The Ramones held a certain appeal for my middle son when he was four, although I needed to screen out some songs due to the content of the lyrics. Also The Presidents of the United States of America have been a big hit with Volcano and Mach 5. I guess it depends on the age group. The older they get, the more they can relate to. My oldest, who is now 7, has always been a fan of John Coltrane, probably because I can't sing along to it!

[daylily]

John McCutcheon is a great children's musician. (We used to live next door to him.) His best kids albums are "Howjadoo" and "Mail Myself to You."

[lauren]

Don't think I've seen anyone mention JESSICA HARPER. She writes very cool songs with beats from many different genres, particularly swing and reggae. Her two kids sing (well) occasionally on her CDs. Two favorities are "Its' a Wonderful Life" and "Nora's Room" also "Rhythm in My Shoes". She is well loved by many of my parent-friends and by my kids, both son and daughter. We play a lot of reggae, global/world music.

[moremilkmama]

We love the We Like Kids Songbook(comes with a tape or you can play your own instruments) published by GoodYear Books. Great songs like Beans for Brunch, I am Who I Am, Moose on the Loose, Nobody Else Like Me, Teaching Peace and more.

Yet another vote for Free to Be You and Me by Marlo Thomas and Friends. :thumb

[autumn]

well, our 8m dd's favorites at the moment are the insects, husker dü, foo fighters - she just shakes her little butt to classic punk rock stucture. dh is thrilled. otherwise she really likes cajun (beau soleil is her favorite) and anything from or related to "oh brother".

now, my favorites are "smithsonian folkways children's music collection", "leadbelly sign for children", "really rosie" (carole king), "free to be you and me", and "shake sugaree" (taj mahal).

bethrobegoddess: i also listened to ftbyam when i was a kid, so of course i had to get it for ella. when i put the cd in for the first time, i cried. the songs and stories really stuck with me all these years.

we have also have a ton of mozart cds ("mozart for mommy and daddy", "mozart in motion", etc.) that she seems to like when she's feeling really mellow.

autumn

[beccaboo]

Treelove, Lila, or anyone else: I'd love to get one or two "quintessential" starter bluegrass cds. Not kid's music, necessarily (though that would be fun too). Any recommendations for specific albums? I'm a violinist (though not bluegrass at all; I wish!), so something with some violin action would be fun. I heard some live bluegrass in college (one of my professors was Paul Zonn - don't know how well known he is) and always was interested in getting to know it more.

One recommendation I have for music for kids to dance to is Tito Puente (I guess you'd label it Afro-Cuban jazz). My dh recently got a "best of" cd that 2.75 ds absolutely loves.

[fiddler]

Bumpity, bump, bump!

[merpk]

Can't believe I didn't post to this thread before. Have said this too many times to count on too many threads, but it can't be said enough:

"Not for Kids Only," by Jerry Garcia (may he rest in :Peace) and David Grisman.

:hippie

:D

[ali1331]

Since fiddler was nice enough to bump this post for me, I will add my 2 suggestions,

Bobby McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma, Hush

Also, we have a great CD of lullabies that ds listens to every night but I can't remember the title. It has Brazilian, Cuban, Welsh songs and more. One of the sweetest songs is sung by a Brazilian singer who is counting the 7 dwarves and 1 is missing, Sleepy. OK, so it's inspired by a Disney version of the story but is really is wonderful. When ds is awake I'll find the title.

edited to add: The CD is titled World Music for Little Ears. It's a compilation of other titles by the same record label. My favorite song is "Soneca" and the singer is Monica Salmaso.

and I second Tom Chapin's Family tree and Free to be you and me. I haven't bought the latter yet but I loved it growing up.

Thanks,

[Tanibani]

Originally posted by Hawkemom
I'd love to hear any additional music/language cds you guys reccomend.

Jose Luis Orozco's music (http://www.joseluisorozco.com/frameset_index.htm) is great. He plays guitar and sings in Spanish. We own DE COLORES & DIEZ DEDITOS. Both CDs have over 15 songs and there are 2 cool books that he produced which have the lyrics in Spanish and English.

TIP - Visit your Local Library
I borrow Children's CDs from my local library for a test run to see if they are worth buying.

Now that my son is 3 yrs old, he's gotten tired of Raffi (but it was awesome for the first 2.5 yrs!!!!)

Some of his favorites:

Toddler Favorites - At first I hated it. Though it's too sugary sweet for me (who cares - he loves it)

There is also an identical version, sung just by kids. He LOVES it! I recommend both.

Toddlers Sing (http://store.yahoo.com/melody/fonfacsizcol7.html)
All children's voices - my son went crazy for this CD.

There are 2 more, but can't remember them now. My son is very music obsessed. Those last 2 titles are good because he learned a lot of the nursery rhymes (I didn't know them) and sings them to himself sometimes.

Oddly, he loves to hear J.LO in the car with his dad.

[mammastar]

Babelet will groove to just about anything, she's such a party girl. Right now she likes the Chicago soundtrack, Madonna's Immaculate Collection, and a World Lounge collection (she's 17 mos).

The only kids' music we've got so far is Italian stuff (she's half-Italian) and Reggae for Kids, which she adores and we do too. Highly recommended.

[Viola]

I like Trout Fishing in America. (http://www.troutmusic.com/) They have some pretty cute songs. My daughter likes anything she can dance to, however. We listened to Erasure today.

[javamama]

Just wanted to second lauren's vote for Jessica Harper. We are obsessing over her right now, she has the sweetest songs that fully express the way I feel about mothering. I find myself humming tunes all day and my 6yo and 2yo LOVE her.

We also borrow alot of CD's from the library to test drive. That's how we found J Harper. My kids like all reggae and most grateful dead music as well.

Oh, and Jack Johnson is not kid's music exactly, but they like to dance to his tunes as well.

Heather

[hydrangea]

I can't believe noone has mentioned one of our favorites.

We love, love, love Laurie Berkner (http://www.twotomatoes.com/).

We all find ourselves humming her songs at odd times.

Other than Laurie, everyone we love has already been mentioned.

We also have some favorite story tapes/CDs, if anyone is interested. Anything by Jim Weiss is wonderful. My 4-year-old can't get enough of his Animal Tales, which she calls "Iggly Biggly" because of a story on it. Another favorite is Jane Yolen telling stories from Once Upon A Bedtime Story. We get these mostly from Chinaberry.com. My 6-year-old is really into Growler tapes, too.

[kimbalicious]

Some great suggestions!

We are fond of "No!" by They Might Be Giants - hilarious and fun kids songs. A collection called "The Bottle Let Me Down - songs for a bumpy wagon ride" various artists. Currently the song "Godfrey, the sickly unemployed amateur children's magician" from the latter is stuck in my head. I'm about to go searching for "For the Kids". DS (18.5 months) also is a huge Donna's fan and loves Le Tigre, along with anything featuring a harpsichord!

[Momtwice]

Aselin Debison.

http://www.aselin.com/

She is a girl from the Cape Breton area in Canada.

Kinda folky, a bit Celtic, I love her!!!!

[beanma]

i second "the bottle let me down". it's on bloodshot and has all kinds of altcountry artists doing pretty funny kids music. the robbie fulk's tune ("godfrey, the sickly unemployed amateur children's musician") is what you would expect from robbie fulks if you have any exposure to his other stuff. he can't do a straight song when he could goof it up!

the other artist dd loves (not quite 2.5) is Ralph's World (http://www.ralphsworld.com/) . he's great! definitely worth checking out.

[sadean]

My kids also like a duo named Kit and Caboodle. They are a midwestern "band" and they sing a lot of nonsense stuff. They kids love it. I know they have a website, if you do a search of "kit and caboodle" you should find it.

[Momtwice]

A fantastic music company:

http://www.putumayo.com/

[rainsmom]

Hey moms,

I found alot of this music at my local library! :)

[miasmami]

I second that momtwice!

Two very enthusiactic thumbs up for all the putumayo cd's

We love Latin Playground
World Playground
Gaelic Goddesses

tHERE are so many you can sample them online at there site..

Worth every penny

Miasmami