Like many of you, our Christmas break is going to include some road tripping to visit family. In my case we are driving from Indiana to New Jersey and there is no way I can deal with 14 hours of If You’re Happy and You Know It or London Bridge. While my oldest son will spend quite a bit of time watching DVDs, there are times when he just wants to listen to some music and probably wont go for Kings of Leon.
Luckily, I have discovered that there is quite a collection of kid’s music that doesn’t make you want to pull the car over to the side of the road and run into the woods. Before you pack the minivan, check out some of these artists to take along for the ride.
Imagination Movers – yes they have a goofy show on the Disney Channel, but before these guys were recruited by Mickey they were releasing their own CDs of great kids music that has strong influences from adult artists. For example, tell me that Seven Days a Week doesn’t sound like Big Country or the Proclaimers, or that What’s in the Fridge wasn’t influenced by 70’s funk.
They Might Be Giants – look, it’s They Might Be Giants so that gives them some street cred right off the bat, but their 2 kid’s albums Here Come the 123’s and No! are really good. Take a listen to High Five or the infectious Clap Your Hands which always gets my 3 year old moving.
Ralph’s World – Ralph’s World has several CDs available, but my favorite by far is Rhyming Circus. Listen to Folsome Daycare Blues and tell me you don’t at least smile.
So there you have it – a short list of kids music that doesn’t suck and will hopefully make your Holiday road trip a little more enjoyable. There’s a lot of great kids artists out there – who are your favorites?
(Image credit: gemsling)
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My kids are odd. They like listening to Family Force 5 (a Christian…dance? band?) and Great Big Sea. Both are very clean, but as a parent, you have to like this music too.
If you are a Disney fan like myself, you can pick up the soundtracks to classics like Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, and Jungle Book. You can also find the Disney compilations that have most of the popular songs on one disc. These make great singalongs. Again, you have to be a fan to appreciate it.
I would STRONGLY advise any sane parent to avoid any Little People’s CDs. These things are extremely annoying and feature adults trying to sound like kids. Their delivery is horrible, but the kids love it. If you have to let them listen to this, buy them all cheap MP3 players. Then you can avoid the issue totally.
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My kids are odd. They like listening to Family Force 5 (a Christian…dance? band?) and Great Big Sea. Both are very clean, but as a parent, you have to like this music too.
If you are a Disney fan like myself, you can pick up the soundtracks to classics like Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, and Jungle Book. You can also find the Disney compilations that have most of the popular songs on one disc. These make great singalongs. Again, you have to be a fan to appreciate it.
I would STRONGLY advise any sane parent to avoid any Little People’s CDs. These things are extremely annoying and feature adults trying to sound like kids. Their delivery is horrible, but the kids love it. If you have to let them listen to this, buy them all cheap MP3 players. Then you can avoid the issue totally.
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Hey Chris, checkout Dan Zanes, a credible musician who faced the same problem and solved it. Also Jack Johnson from the curious George movie is fairly tolerable.
I’ve also tried with some success to get my kids to listen to non-kid music. Stuff that works is Bob Dylan (Sally Gal) or Jamiroquai (Canned Heat) or Johnny Cash (I’ve been Everywhere). These are kid-friendly and they seem to like ’em.
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Hey Chris, checkout Dan Zanes, a credible musician who faced the same problem and solved it. Also Jack Johnson from the curious George movie is fairly tolerable.
I’ve also tried with some success to get my kids to listen to non-kid music. Stuff that works is Bob Dylan (Sally Gal) or Jamiroquai (Canned Heat) or Johnny Cash (I’ve been Everywhere). These are kid-friendly and they seem to like ’em.
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When I heard Flood by They Might Be Giants for the first time, I thought the album would be great to play for kids. My only regret about never having kids is that I didn’t get to play Flood for them. 🙂
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When I heard Flood by They Might Be Giants for the first time, I thought the album would be great to play for kids. My only regret about never having kids is that I didn’t get to play Flood for them. 🙂
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Great choices! Our current favorite is “Juice Box Heroes” by the Imagination Movers. But we also like TMBG. And I second Dan Zanes and the Curious George soundtrack by Jack Johnson, too!
My other “must-have” for road-trips is our “best of” Disney soundtracks. It’s probably not for everyone, but I’m a Disney-phile, so I sing right along with the Minions. 🙂
Oh, and we all love to listen to “Not For Kids Only” by Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman.
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Great choices! Our current favorite is “Juice Box Heroes” by the Imagination Movers. But we also like TMBG. And I second Dan Zanes and the Curious George soundtrack by Jack Johnson, too!
My other “must-have” for road-trips is our “best of” Disney soundtracks. It’s probably not for everyone, but I’m a Disney-phile, so I sing right along with the Minions. 🙂
Oh, and we all love to listen to “Not For Kids Only” by Jerry Garcia and Dave Grisman.
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I really like 123’s and the DVD is fantastic. We have Sirius in the van and the Disney and Kids Stuff channels are pretty good. But if I hear Laurie Berkner one more time, I think I’ll have to kill myself.
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I really like 123’s and the DVD is fantastic. We have Sirius in the van and the Disney and Kids Stuff channels are pretty good. But if I hear Laurie Berkner one more time, I think I’ll have to kill myself.
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Darn, I forgot.
The kids really like:
Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake
Nicky’s Jazz for Kids
Peter and the Wolf with Sean Connery
and
The Velveteen Rabbit by George Winston and Meryl Streep
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Darn, I forgot.
The kids really like:
Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake
Nicky’s Jazz for Kids
Peter and the Wolf with Sean Connery
and
The Velveteen Rabbit by George Winston and Meryl Streep
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Thanks for all the great suggestions. I’m adding may of them to our ZunePass to take on the trip next week.
Keep ’em comin’.
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Thanks for all the great suggestions. I’m adding may of them to our ZunePass to take on the trip next week.
Keep ’em comin’.
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Justin Roberts rocks, though some adults find his voice a bit too harsh on the ears.
While I loved the Del Fuegos, Dan Zanes’ kid music is just OK by me. The Things never dug him much. We saw him in concert once and every now and then, I could hear a little thing in his voice that made me think he was going to bust out in “Move with Me, Sister” or “Sound of Our Town.” Alas, ’twas not to be.
Can’t go wrong with classic Kinks and uptempo Stax/Volt tunes.
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Justin Roberts rocks, though some adults find his voice a bit too harsh on the ears.
While I loved the Del Fuegos, Dan Zanes’ kid music is just OK by me. The Things never dug him much. We saw him in concert once and every now and then, I could hear a little thing in his voice that made me think he was going to bust out in “Move with Me, Sister” or “Sound of Our Town.” Alas, ’twas not to be.
Can’t go wrong with classic Kinks and uptempo Stax/Volt tunes.
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Forgot – XM Satellite Radio’s Kids’ Place channel is usually good for the younger set. Commercial free but a few of the DJs may wear on you.
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Forgot – XM Satellite Radio’s Kids’ Place channel is usually good for the younger set. Commercial free but a few of the DJs may wear on you.
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TMBG for kids are awesome. the video podcast rocks too.
also try Tom Chapin “In My Hometown” and Bare Naked Ladies “Snacktime.” At first I wasn’t sure, but it definitely grew on me.
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TMBG for kids are awesome. the video podcast rocks too.
also try Tom Chapin “In My Hometown” and Bare Naked Ladies “Snacktime.” At first I wasn’t sure, but it definitely grew on me.
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Hi All,
I just launched a website that happens to be dead-on-topic here: jitterbug.tv – music for hip kids. A place for parents and young kids to listen to great, independent, hand-picked kids music and videos. How do I get in touch with you, Chris Webb, to tell you more about it?
Enjoy
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Hi All,
I just launched a website that happens to be dead-on-topic here: jitterbug.tv – music for hip kids. A place for parents and young kids to listen to great, independent, hand-picked kids music and videos. How do I get in touch with you, Chris Webb, to tell you more about it?
Enjoy
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In my case, 6 year old Jesara (pictured) and 4 year old Josh sit pretty quietly in the car and don’t insist on any kids’ music. So, I just play what ever I like and try to introduce them to different genres. Hopefully between my eclectic tastes and their Mum’s playlist they’ll get some sense of what they like.
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In my case, 6 year old Jesara (pictured) and 4 year old Josh sit pretty quietly in the car and don’t insist on any kids’ music. So, I just play what ever I like and try to introduce them to different genres. Hopefully between my eclectic tastes and their Mum’s playlist they’ll get some sense of what they like.
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Chris, I had no idea this type of music was out there. My wife once got a CD of kids singing Beatles songs but that was still pretty tough to listen to.
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Chris, I had no idea this type of music was out there. My wife once got a CD of kids singing Beatles songs but that was still pretty tough to listen to.
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Chris, I had no idea this type of music was out there. My wife once got a CD of kids singing Beatles songs but that was still pretty tough to listen to.
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Chris, I had no idea this type of music was out there. My wife once got a CD of kids singing Beatles songs but that was still pretty tough to listen to.
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Chris, I had no idea this type of music was out there. My wife once got a CD of kids singing Beatles songs but that was still pretty tough to listen to.
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