Children’s Music and Games for Valentines Day

Valentine’s Pencils are an excellent alternative gift for this special holiday.  If your child got some, perhaps, instead of sharpening them, you might want to be creative, and make them into instruments.  Last year, my students enjoyed this challenge, and I posted a slide show of their creative works of art and music:  Homemade Instruments Made from Pencils.

I’ve posted a fun Animal Valentine video, as well as two other fun videos on my other blog:  Kids Love Animals.  Share the love and the learning.

It doesn’t take long online to find some excellent Valentine’s Game and Activities for children, but my daughter’s favorite is on The Kidzpage .  It has puzzles, and coloring pages to print, and fun online games.

SONGS FOR TEACHING is an excellent site that has the lyrics to wonderful songs for children, and it has a page full of Valentines Songs.  You can even listen to someone singing it, and if you like it, you can download it for a small fee.

Kindermusik families may remember some of their favorite songs from their Home CDs that are perfect for this day of family love.  Many of these are folk songs, so you may know them as well.  I am trying to include enough of the songs to help you remember how to sing it.

Skinnamarink a-dink-a-dink, Skinnamarink a-do, I LOVE YOU!   – Village: Dream Pillow

Love Somebody – Yes, I do… (3 times while pretending to look around for someone to love, then)… I Love Somebody and it’s YOU, YOU, YOU!

You are My Sunshine, my only sunshine.  You make me happy when skies are grey.  You’ll never know dear, how much I love you.  Please don’t take my sunshine away.

Mama loves, and Daddy Loves, and Everybody Loves a little Baby.    – Village: Dream Pillow

I love my Family, my family, my family, my family, take a look and you will see…  They’re OK with me.   on Family Time:  Our Kind of Day

Tell Me Why the stars do shine,  Tell me why the ivy twines,  Tell Me Why the skies are blue, And I will tell you just why I love you.      on Village:  Do-Si-Do

Shady Grove, my little love, Shady Grove I know, Shady Grove, my little love, bound for the Shady Grove.     on Village:  Cock-a-Doodle Moo

Cuddle Up A Little Closer Baby Mine, Cuddle up and be my little Valentine

Let Me Call You Sweet Heart, I’m in love with you.

Wiggle (4 x), Giggle (4 x)… Little Sack of Sugar, gonna eat you up   on Family Time: Our Kind of Day

Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland   - on Village: Dream Pillow

Find out more about Kindermusik at www.kindermusik.com !

Enjoy singing and playing with your family this Valentine’s Day !!!  LOVE, Ms. Debbie

Songs for Mothers and Fathers

Oh, my, there are so many songs written by parents for parents – not necessarily for the children.  These sing to the heart of a parent and their experiences of loving their children. 

These songs help me step back from the RUSH of daily life, and the negative emotional responses to the regular annoying things children need to do to grow.  These songs help me refocus on my love for my family, and how to let them be children, and how to guide them to the positive end result of capable, responsible, caring adults.

I have two favorite collections, one of which you can buy, the other is a made by a friend.  Each have songs by different artists, so I’ll list them separately so you can find them.  There are a few albums full of these songs that I love, and a few singles that I would recommend.  You may be amazed at how many of these you may already have in your collections.   PLEASE feel free to add your favorites in the comment section so we can all find these gems!

Hand in Hand – Songs of Parenthood  – A collection by Music for Little People  Find it at www.musicforlittlepeople.com .  But beware, you may want to spend a LOT of money there.  I do.

1. Circle Game – Joni Mitchell
2. On Children – Sweet Honey in the Rock
3. The Things We’ve Handed Down – Marc Cohn
4. Baby – Bobby McFerrin
5. Wake Up – Yoko Ono
6. Beautiful Boy – John Lennon
7. Only Child – Jackson Browne
8. Born to the Breed – July Collins
9. Child’s Song – Tom Rush
10. Sunshine – Ferron
11. My Father’s House – Kenny Loggins
12. Forever Young – The Pretenders

Love Songs for the Time of Tiny  – “A collection of music for babies and parents falling in love.  These songs were compiled onto one CD by one of my Kindermusik moms, Kimberly Sgroi, when her second child was born.  I am so grateful she shared this music with me, and I still listen to it frequently.  I have even purchased several of the CD’s from which these songs came.

1. The Things We’ve Handed Down – Art Garfunkel
2. A Child is Born – Barbara Streisand
3. Welcome to the World – Nicolette Larson
4. One in a Million – Lisa Vischer
5. Dormi, Dormi – Eugene Ruffolo
6. Angel Baby – Linda Ronstadt
7. Starlight, Starbright – Nicolette Larson
8. I Will – Art Garfunkel
9. Getting to Know You – James Taylor
10. Before You Grow – Faith Hill
11. For Baby (For Bobbie) – John Denver
12. Rockin’ My Baby to Sleep – Nicolette Larson
13. Lasso the Moon – Art Garfunkel
14. Turtle Dove – traditional – Kindermusik version from Away We GO
15. Child of Mine – Carole King
16. The Moment I Saw You – Nicolette Larson & Graham Nash
17. Last Night the Moon was Still – Justin Roberts
18. May their Always be Sunshine – traditional – Kindermusik version on Dream Pillow

Full Albums by artists that focus on the parenting experience:

Sweet Honey in the Rock – Experience… 101 

This music is purely and richly vocal, with just percussion accompaniment.  – Read more about this awesome album at: http://store.musicforlittlepeople.com/3061.html

Eddie Coker – Seven Songs  (esp. Keep Shining)

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Linda Ronstadt – Dedicated to the One I Love

• Dedicated to the One I Love [Lowman Pauling- Ralph Bass]
  Be My Baby [Phil Spector- Jeff Barry- Ellie Greenwich]
  In My Room [Brian Wilson- Gary Usher]
  Devoted to You [Boudleaux Bryant]
  Baby I Love You [Phil Spector- Jeff Barry- Ellie Greenwich]
  Devoted to You (instrumental) [Boudleaux Bryant]
  Angel Baby [Rosalie Hamlin]
  We Will Rock You [Brian May]
  Winter Light [Zbigniew Preisner- Eric Kaz- Linda Ronstadt]
  Brahms’ Lullaby [Johannes Brahms]
  Good Night [John Lennon- Paul McCartney]

Specific Songs that apply from Specific Albums

• Teach Your Children – Crosby, Stills, and Nash
• Sunrise, Sunset – Barbara Streisand – Fiddler on the Roof
• Cats in the Cradle – Harry Chapin
• Butterfly Kisses – Bob Carlisle – This has also been made into a book with a cassette.

Yahoo Readers answer the question “What are some good songs about parents and their chidren…”.  Although I don’t know many of them, you can check out their answers at http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061203121413AANS0O0

DealMac also offers a friendly discussion on CD Mix of Songs for parents of New babies at:  http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?6,2582065 

Happy Mother’s Day!   Happy Father’s Day!  and Happy Parenting with MUSIC!

 

Music Connections Recommends

Welcome to Music Connections Recommends…  With this blog, I am excited to start a process of sharing the many, many wonderful resources that I have come across that I would HIGHLY recommend to families. 

There are so many great resources available, and I’m finding more everyday.  Instead of lumping them all into one category in my MusiConnx Blog, it seemed more effective to be able to sort and categorize them in a separate BLOG. 

Boy, do I have a lot to recommend, as I keep running across great things, both for children and adults.  I plan to categorize them by Age groups, as well as by themes, and media type.  Hopefully, it will make this a really great place to find good books, music, music learning sets, and much, much more. 

PLEASE feel free to add your own recommendations, by commenting on the POST that corresponds best with your resources.

Merry Melodies,
Debbie Mondale