Fun With Kidsongs Blog

Kids and Music Lesson Choices

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:50:23 +0000

We all know that kids love music! Like most parents, I was eager to expose my kids to music at an early age. It’s a good idea for more than just the joy they get out of it. As we’ve said before on the Fun With Kidsongs Blog, music enhances a child’s brain development and improves their success in school later in life. I sang to my kids when they were babies, played music at home and in the car and took them to toddler music classes. But once my older reached school age, I realized that it was time to take it up a notch.

After doing some research online and talking to other parents, I found out that for the age five and up crowd, the piano is a logical choice, mainly because it’s easiest for a beginner. A year or so of instruction on the piano or keyboard provides a great foundation. My child learned basic music theory concepts -- we’re talking the easy stuff -- the music alphabet, what quarter, half and whole notes are and the location of the keys on the keyboard. All the while she learned fun, familiar songs such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. I started my daughter in a group lesson offered by our local Parks and Recreation Department. It saved me money and I was able to gauge how receptive she was to learning an instrument. The teacher was creative and made the experience varied and fun.

"Fooba Wooba John" from Play Along Songs

At age 7, my child expressed an interest in learning other instruments, namely the violin. Violin is another relatively easy instrument for a school-age child to learn and with a year of piano under her belt, she should find easier to transition between instruments. I like the idea or her learning a string instrument – I greatly enjoyed playing the violin in my junior high orchestra. So now the challenge is finding a quality used violin – either to rent or buy. I have already found a number of qualified teachers in my area that offer individual lessons at a good price. I like the idea of a young, energetic college student who is looking to earn some extra money. I want to make this a positive experience for my daughter – a far cry from the cranky old woman who taught me how to play Chopin on the piano at age 9.

If you and your children decide to take the plunge into the world of music lessons, another ongoing hurdle is getting them to practice. You know your child best, and it may take some trial and error to find the best way to get it accomplished. I’ve found that there has to be some kind of external incentive. You can try a sticker chart which rewards their efforts at the end of the week – for example, a new book or a trip out for ice cream. I’ve found that a timed practice session is not as useful as setting a goal for practice. Focus on a couple of difficult lines or a problematic section, starting with a very slow tempo and slowly bringing the tempo up. Once it is played correctly and with expressiveness, she is done for the day. That way, she focuses on perfecting the piece instead of going through the motions while watching the clock.

Even if you don’t go the route of lessons early on in your child’s life, exposing them to different artistic/musical outlets will reward them throughout their lifetime. Don’t forget that singing in a choir, theatre performances and dance are all beneficial to your child’s development and love of music. I’m sure I will have more stories and helpful hints as we continue on our musical journey!

By the way, check out our terrific CD/Songbooks which come with sheet music for many of your favorite Kidsongs songs!

Babies, Toddlers, Kids and Music Choices

Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:17:34 +0000

We've all seen babies joyfully connecting with music -- bouncing, rocking, swaying along -- with big smiles on their faces. Whether the source is the car radio, live musicians playing, or mom and dad singing to them, the reaction is natural and instinctive: Babies like music and they respond to it.

Toddlers and kids also engage wholeheartedly with music and are often inspired to play along. Hitting a pot or pan with a wooden spoon, keeping tempo by stomping their feet or by playing a simple musical instrument, young kids really enjoy getting into it and making some noise.

People often ask us what kinds of music are best for children of certain ages. My answer is always this: The music that they like and respond to. It’s easy to tell -- their face lights up and their bodies start moving. I will generalize that the youngest children prefer simpler melodies with repetitive lyrics and gentle instrumentation -- a piano and vocal version of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” or a folksy version of “Old MacDonald Had A Farm”, for instance. But, I have also watched toddlers twirling around to a big soaring Tchaikovsky concerto and getting their groove on to a reggae hit like “Don’t Worry Be Happy”.

The simple beats of classic rock and roll seem to connect with just about everyone over the age of two. Novelty song lyrics often capture children’s attention and appeal to their sense of silliness. Within the Kidsongs Library, I would point to “Splish, Splash”, “Purple People Eater” and “Yes, We Have No Bananas” as examples of oldies that transcend the generations. Grab your video camera to capture the moment when your little ones start to “rock out” -- it's always cute.

"Splish Splash" from Ride the Roller Coaster

We have over 300 songs to choose from in our Kidsongs Music and Video Library, with free lyrics available to all. Check your local library or children’s books and music stores for other great sources of kids music, too. With kids and music, it really is the more the merrier! And, you might just find yourself joining in the singing and dancing fun, too.

To see the our complete list of kid’s songs available for mp3 download, click here. To see our toddler friendly DVDs go here.

Help! I Forgot My Childhood Campfire Songs!

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 00:40:46 +0000

We received an urgent email yesterday with the above mentioned subject line. The family in need was joining a large group of cousins, aunts and uncles for a summer weekend get together and were panicked that their children wouldn’t be up to speed for the families’ tradition of evening sing alongs around the campfire.

Fortunately, the Anderson family came to the right place. You can find helpful suggestions and free lyrics to hundreds of songs on our kidsongs.com website. Just click here to see the free lyrics list.

For campfire favorites, we suggest that the Anderson kids become acquainted with “The Ants Go Marching”, “99 Bottles of Pop” and “On Top of Spaghetti” -- all from the Kidsongs “A Day at Camp” DVD & CD -- because I really do remember singing them at camp, around the proverbial camp fire, with s’mores (more on them later). Plus, counting songs are great for long evenings and the whimsical ideas of a runaway meatball and marching ants have mega kid appeal.

I associate these and other campfire songs with me and my fellow young campers excitedly hiking up a hill to the campsite, singing industrious songs along the way like, “The Caissons Go Rolling Along”, “Whistle While you Work” and “When The Saints Go Marching In” -- good camp songs, all of them!

We suggested to the Anderson's that if the cookout ends with sleeping out under the stars, it would be good to have some lullabies up their sleeves to help their excited little ones unwind and drift off into dreamland. The familiarity of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” in an unfamiliar place is a good choice, as are “All the Pretty Horses” and “Lullaby and Goodnight”.

Now back to those s’mores! We used to make the traditional way -- graham crackers, chocolate broken off a Hershey’s bar and marshmallows in the middle -- all wrapped in foil, and placed near the campfire to melt together into a sweet delicious goo. But my daughter was never a fan of chocolate so we tried variations: replacing the chocolate with strawberry jam, sliced apples, orange wedges or peanut butter. Our traditional s’mores had serious rivals with these concoctions.

S’mores and camp fire songs are alike in that way: They are great the traditional way, but not to be taken too seriously. Add some verses, drop some, work kids’ names or favorite activities into the lyrics, make them your own and even better than the originals. But most of all, ENJOY!

"Kidsongs: A Day at Camp" is available on DVD and for video download, and all the songs listed here are available for MP3 download, too. Don’t forget to browse our free lyrics, and print out as many as you like.

More Fascinating Facts About Nursery Rhymes

Thu, 06 May 2010 21:28:57 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about the stories behind our favorite nursery rhymes and based on the responses we’ve been getting, it’s clear that our readers like this topic. So back to our sources we went, for more fascinating facts:

First up, let’s look at “Pop! Goes the Weasel”. This song started out as a popular dance in England in the 1850’s and words were added soon after. The earliest version of the first verse went like this:

Up and down the City Road
In and out the Eagle
That's the way the money goes
Pop! Goes the weasel

The City Road is one of the main roads through London and “the Eagle" refers to The Eagle Pub which was on it. The third line implies that the story teller has spent his money “pub hopping”.

Straight forward so far, and then the curious phrase, “Pop! Goes the Weasel” appears. To “pop” is a slang word for “pawn”. “Weasel” is an example of the very entertaining Cockney rhyming slang. The Cockneys, working class English folk, take a word or phrase, find a rhyme for it, and use the rhyme instead of the word. “Weasel and stoat” rhymes with “coat” and rhyming slang shortens it to “weasel”, hence “weasel = coat”. If you are still following me and are curious, a stoat is furry creature from the ermine family.

So, what does the fourth line mean? It was traditional for working class people to own just one set of nice clothes, that they would save for church on Sunday. During hard times they would pawn their suit, or coat, on a Monday and claim it back before Sunday. So “Pop Goes the Weasel” means “to pawn the coat”.

On the other hand, “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is an all-American nursery rhyme that was first published as a poem in 1830, by Sarah Hale of Boston. It was inspired by an actual incident, when, at the suggestion of her brother, a little girl really did bring her pet lamb to school. Naturally, it caused quite a commotion.

In the 1830’s, Lowell Mason, a leading figure in church music who composed over 1,500 hymns during his lifetime, set the poem to music and added the repeating lyrics to “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. A timeless hit was created. What I find most interesting about this nursery rhyme is that the words of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” were the first ever recorded by Thomas Edison, on tin foil, on his phonograph.

“Pat-A-Cake” also known as “Pat-A-Cake, Pat-A-Cake, Baker’s Man”, is one of the oldest and best known English nursery rhymes. This rhyme is accompanied by a hand-clapping game played by two people, often a parent and child. It is common to replace some lyrics with a child’s name and initial with your own. For example, changing “mark it with a B, for baby and me” to “Mark it with an A, for Amy and me”.

The earliest historical record of “Pat-A-Cake” lists it as a rhyme in a play called, “The Campaigners” by Englishman Thomas D’Urfey, way back in 1698. In the play, a nurse tells her charges:

“…and pat-a-cake baker’s man,
So I will master as I can,
And prick it, and prick it,
And prick it and prick it and prick it
And throw’t in the oven”

The “prick it” refers to piercing the pastry. It’s sweet that the long history of this rhyme lets us know that the tradition of decorating cakes with the name or initial of a child goes back at least 300 years!

It’s fun sharing these fun facts about the songs we love here at Kidsongs. We hope that you find them fun, too. Let us know if you do!!

Everything You Want to Know About "If You're Happy and You Know It"

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 04:28:06 +0000

When I think of the songs from my childhood, it’s always easy to remember the simple, play along ones, sung to a happy tune. “If You’re Happy and You Know It” is a perfect example. Like many familiar children’s songs, it has been altered in various ways over the years.

Here is the start of the original song as it is known to many people:

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you're happy and you know it,
And you really want to show it,
If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

A common variation of the fourth line is "Then your face will surely show it". The song usually proceeds with other verses that replace "clap your hands" with phrases such as "stomp your feet" or “touch your toes” or “pat your head”. You can view and print the full lyrics of the Kidsongs version here.

Repetitive songs that get kids up and moving have always been popular with preschool teachers, camp counselors and parents the world over. There is a Japanese version of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” written by Rihito Kimura called, "Shiawase Nara Te o Tatako" (meaning “If You’re Happy, Clap Your Hands” -- so close!). This Japanese version is on the movie soundtrack of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”.

Cal Worthington used a variation of the tune for years, as the advertising jingle for his Worthington auto dealerships throughout the United States (including Alaska!)

The international pedigree of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” traces back to an old Latvian folk song from the early 1900’s. An instrumental version written by Isaak Dunayevsky was featured in the 1938 Soviet film “Volga-Volga”, directed by Grigori Aleksandrov. When Aleksandrov came up with the idea for his movie, he was rowing a boat on the San Francisco Bay with his friend, silent film star Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin jokingly told him that the movie should be called “Volga-Volga”. Apparently Aleksandrov took him seriously!

The universal appeal of “If You’re Happy and You Know It” probably comes from its catchy tune, positive message and people's fondness for songs that teach children while entertaining them. Songs like this one and “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes”, “This Old Man" and “Old MacDonald Had A Farm” are all examples of songs with a basic structure and a variable phrase. These repeated phrases help develop children’s memory and language skills. The variable lyrics tied to the play along gestures encourage kids to pay attention to different word sounds and meanings -- essential building blocks for reading. The “play along” aspect of these songs, especially actions like “stomp your feet” and “clap your hands” help the development of balance and coordination. Fine motor skills also come into play when acting out lyrics like “touch your nose” or miming “a quack, quack here”.

“If You’re Happy and You Know It” is fun, entertaining, has a positive message and is even good for your kids. Perhaps that’s why it’s been the most downloaded song here at Kidsongs.com for three months in a row. We like it and clearly our fans do, too.

Check back often for more blog articles from this series, “Kidsongs Guide to Children’s Songs”. Learn the history, fun facts and some behind-the-scenes stories about everyone’s favorite songs.

The song "If You're Happy and You Know It" is featured on the "A Day At the Circus" DVD, the "My Favorite Kidsongs Collection" CDs, "A Day At The Circus" Album Download, The Kidsongs TV Show episode "Let's Work Together" on DVD and sheet music, too!

The Five All-Time Greatest Children's Songs

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:25:21 +0000

Here at kidsongs.com we have spent decades listening to over a thousand children's songs before deciding to go into the studio to record and produce videos of them. We have to really like them to add them to our catalog. Here are the best...in our opinion, of course!

To find the best of the best we had to go further. We looked for more than just a cute, catchy song. The song had to do more. It had to capture your child's imagination, play a role in your child's development, be memorable and be a song that everyone likes to sing.

Here's the list and the reasons why the song made it:

1.) Old MacDonald Had a Farm: The simple sing-songy melody is easy for little ones to master, its repetition of both key words (like "quack, quack") and phrases ("and on his farm he had a...") teaches children animal sounds while utilizing memory skills. Plus, you can add your favorite animals to it and in the words of Simon Cowell, "make it your own".

2.) The Wheels on the Bus: A simple structure, catchy melody and ability to add movement to act out the lyrics landed this on the list. Kids just want to play along with it and it's a favorite for in the car sing alongs.

3.) This Old Man: Rhyming and counting in one fun play along package. Need we say more?

4.) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star: Is there a nicer way to end the day then singing a simple lullaby to your child? A lovely melody, images that are easy and calming to visualize and poetic lyrics create a perfect song.

5.) Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: It was a tough choice between Rudolph and Mary’s famous little lamb. Both songs tell a compelling story that children relate to and are about the special relationship between people and animals. They both stir feelings of empathy, have a little drama and a happy ending. We love both, but Rudolph won “by a nose”.

I'm sure you have your own favorites, so please comment and let us know which songs are the all-time greatest in your household!

Summer Fun Activities for Preschoolers

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:19:45 +0000

Here are some free, or almost free, activities for you and your children. Not just for summer, but anytime!

SCIENCE FUN
Fill a bucket with water. Collect small items from around your house and yard. Have your child guess whether or not each item will sink or float when placed in the water. Drop it in and see! Explain to your child why it either sinks or floats. *Always supervise children around water.*

GAMES
Sit on the floor and roll a ball back and forth for an easy game that little kids love. Sing a song or say a rhyme and roll the ball fast or slow to follow along.

MUSIC
Sing and act out your favorite nursery rhymes: "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe", "The Wheels on the Bus", "Ring Around the Rosy" and "Pat a Cake, Pat a Cake". Get some instruments (or make your own out of wooden spoons, pans lids and plastic containers) and march around the house and yard to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In".

WATER PLAY
Great for warm weather! Give your child a small bucket of soapy water and a rag. Let him "wash" his wagon, tricycle or other ride-on toys. He can rinse them clean with a hose for more wet fun! *Always supervise children around water*

A good source for kids music and lyrics is the My Favorite Kidsongs Collection. It has over 100 songs on CD that kids and parents will love.

Happy Summer!

Grandparents Guide to Fun With Toddlers -- Nursery Rhyme Play

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:17:22 +0000

So, the grandkids are coming for a visit and you haven't entertained toddlers since your own kids were little. Before panic sets in just remember that you really do have a lot to teach the little ones and that learning can be fun. Try a themed visit -- How about an Old MacDonald Had a Farm morning?

Start off with singing the song with your little ones and if they don't know it yet, teach them! Singing together is a wonderful way to build a bond. Next, grab some magazines and some safety scissors and have the kids look for pictures of farm animals. Cut them out and paste them on 3"x 5" cards.

Have the children identify the sound each animal makes and write it on a card with a marker. Play a game with the kids where you show them the card and they make the sound. Since they have already learned from Old MacDonald that a cow goes "moo" and a pig goes "oink" they should be able to master this fairly quickly.

When you have a short break, hide the cards in easy to find places and take the kids on a hunt to find them all.

Keep the cards for their next visit or send them home. They will remember you every time they see them.

Top Five Fascinating Facts About Nursery Rhymes

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:15:18 +0000

Kids and parents alike love nursery rhymes. They can transport you to a magical far off place, give you a mini-education, and often, make you laugh. Here are a few things you might not know about nursery rhymes:

1. They could be Politically Incorrect: In an age when free speech was limited and public dissent could land you in a dungeon, nursery rhymes were a safe way to express politically incorrect points of view. Nursery rhymes associate words with similar sounds using a rhyming couplet or short verse which makes them easy to remember. This was especially important at a time when most people were unable to read or write. Stories could be passed down from generation to generation. They were used to communicate current events and freely express dissent in public.

2. Blame it on the Queen: Nursery rhymes can be traced back to the early 1300's (but they no doubt were told much earlier) and the written form of nursery rhymes date back to 16th century England where they were first incorporated into English plays. Most nursery rhymes were not written down until the 1700's when children's books as entertainment came about.

3. London Bridge was a shopper's paradise: The bridge was built and rebuilt numerous times between the 1st century and the 1960's, using the materials mentioned in the nursery rhyme. In the 1300's the London Bridge contained 140 shops, some of which were more than three stories high. The reference to silver and gold in the rhyme relates to the trading which took place on the bridge.

4. Mother Goose was French: The term Mother Goose originated in a French poem published in the late 1600's. Her entrance into the world of childhood rhyme occurred in the late 1700's when a compilation of English songs and rhymes from many eras along with illustrations was published. To add credibility, the book also contained sixteen verses from Shakespeare. Mother Goose nursery rhymes comprise four distinct categories: Lullabies, amusement, riddles and actual historical events.

5. 2 + 2 = Nursery Rhymes: Nursery rhymes can make you smarter. Research into childhood development has found that nursery rhymes set to music aid in a child's development. Research also supports the assertion that music and rhyme increase a child's ability in spatial reasoning which leads to greater success in school in the subjects of mathematics and science.

So, enjoy sharing your favorite nursery rhymes with your kids. It's fun for all and educational, too!