Of four new kids' album we've been spinning in our house this month, we'd highly recommend three of them, and the fourth is sure to be of interest to some.

Enter Sandbox

StarFish

Sarina and I are in love with StarFish's second album. Enter Sandbox is a tongue-in-cheek look at childhood, as sung to rock music. "My Name is No" is about a child who hears the word "No" so often ("No, don't do that!") that he thinks it's his name; "Time Out" is the anthem for kids who are mad about being punished for their naughty deeds; "Spread Your Wings" is about leaving the video games and going outside to play. But our favorite is "Elephant," a silly song with a great chorus ("And if I can't tell right from wrong/My family's there to learn from/And if I can't tell what to do/My friends are there to lean on").

Sometimes, when music is done right, you can just feel the fun the band had when they were working on it - like in this case. My only beef is the rip-off of Shel Silverstein's poem "Sick," which has the same punch line as StarFish's song "Sick Day." Aside from that, these New Jersey dads really know how to rock the kiddie tunes. | $10 on CD from Amazon.com

Be Nice

Leeny and Steve

Be Nice is an infectious album. My favorite track, a rockin' tune called "What Have You Done With All The Penguins?!," is about a family trip to the aquarium, whereupon they find that the penguin exhibit is mysteriously closed. It's the kind of song that gets stuck in your head - but you don't even mind, because it's that cool. You'll catch yourself bopping along to it out in public and grinning.

The album is a combination of silly songs ("Stinky Diaper") and songs that have lessons ("Ain't Ain't a Word"). Overall, it's good-hearted and spirited music that should be a hit with the preschool crowd and parents. | $9 MP3 Download / $16 CD on Amazon.com

Tiny Cool

Princess Katie and Racer Steve

It normally takes me a few listens to really catch on to a CD and figure out if I like it or not, but Tiny Cool is one of those special ones that immediately became a hit in our house.

With subjects such as parties, sand in a sandwich at the beach, being shy, being honest about what happened at school, and individuality, this one is geared more toward the kindergarten and early grade school audience. It’s high-energy kiddie rock, and it shows serious musicianship. There’s even a horn section featuring members of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Tiny Cool is the third release by this Manhattan-based husband-and-wife team, who are now touring nationally. | $9 as an MP3 Download from Amazon.com

Green Golly and Her Golden Flute

Flute Sweet and Tickletoon

Green Golly is an album with a mission, designed to introduce kids to classical music on the flute in an entertaining way. The bulk of this CD is the reimagined tale of Rapunzel, now known as "Green Golly." Green Golly's hungry parents trade her to a witch for a salad. The witch is concerned that Green Golly is getting very attractive and boys are paying too much attention to her, so she locks the girl in a tower. Green Golly has nothing much to do in her tower except grow hair and play her new flute. Luckily, it turns out that she really likes her flute, and she uses it to play Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, and others.

For us, this CD straddles the line between being entertaining and being just plain too weird and over-the-top. I wouldn't listen to it again. I have a feeling it works better in a live performance. However, my opinion may be against the grain; I've now read several reviews of this CD from people who found it creative and funny. | $9 MP3 Download from Amazon.com

Jenna Glatzer (www.jennaglatzer.com) is the author of 19 books. Her most recent collaboration is Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. Jenna lives with her two-year-old daughter in New York. - Jenna Glatzer

Three CDs that we love this month, and one that… well, I vaguely abhor, but you might not. Hope you enjoy!

Why Does Gray Matter? and other brainy songs for kids

Roger Day (2010)

Must admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I saw Roger Day's album sleeve. Brainy songs for kids? Didn't sound like much fun. Especially since nearly every song had the word "brain" in the title.

Turns out Why Does Gray Matter? is, in fact, a ridiculously fun collection of songs. It's a tribute to intelligence that hip nerdster parents like me will adore. One of my favorite tracks compares the left brain and the right brain, declaring that the left brain loves to do taxes and the right brain wants to rock the house. It's one of my favorites because it's so unexpected: the left brain parts are sung to a string quartet, while the right brain parts are sung as British punk rock. And I am positive that I've never heard the words "deep basal ganglia" in a children's song before. Or any other type of song, for that matter.

If you liked Schoolhouse Rock, chances are good that this will be up your alley. [$15 CD]

Pickin' & Grinnin': Great Songs for Kids

Assorted Artists (2010)

Every family needs to have at least one CD like Pickin' & Grinnin'. It's a folk CD that's calming and simple, with mostly well-known songs by well-known artists, like Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Doc Watson, and Dan Zanes.

Pickin' & Grinnin' is the antithesis of today's fast-paced, PS3 society; it harkens back to simpler times, when people sat around their living rooms singing and making up songs together because that's just what families did to entertain themselves. This is the kind of CD that makes for great singalongs, and during a break in one of the songs, the singer even encourages kids to make up their own lyrics like he did when he was younger. The 25 tracks represent 25 years of music by this company, Music for Little People. [$10 CD]

We Are The Not-Its

The Not-Its (2009)

We Are The Not-Its is a solid debut by this five-piece band, fronted by Sarah Shannon (formerly of the 90s band Velocity Girl). It’s alternative pop, mostly, and it’s danceable. The title track (“We Are The Not-Its”) is one of those songs that’ll stick in your head and you’ll catch yourself humming it in the dairy aisle at the grocery store until someone stares at you.

Lyrics are mostly innocent and kid-oriented, with just a couple of lines here and there that would go over their heads. I was disappointed by the lack of lyric sheets with this CD. Topics include birthdays, camping, going to kindergarten, inviting kids over to play, baths, sharing, and helicopters.
When they perform, the guys wear black shirts with pink ties, and the gals wear long pink tutus. It’s a fun look for a fun band. This is a good pick for preschool to grade-school-age kids. [$19 CD, $9 MP3]

Silly Short Songs for Silly Short People

Rock Daddy Rock (2008)

On the back of this CD, it says, "FAMILIES with a sense of HUMOR will love these silly songs about EVERYDAY LIFE." At the risk of being thought humorless, I will tell you that I had to force myself to finish listening, and I definitely don't want my daughter hearing it. The first song is "Boogers." Other topics include dirty nails, passing gas, spitting, and warts, along with more benign topics like bedtime and eating healthy food.

To me? Gross and kind of obnoxious-sounding music. But I know there's an audience for this that will disagree, so I'm giving it a spot here anyway. This father was inspired by the "funny, gross, and wonderful" behavior of his four sons, who also provide backup vocals on this CD. [$14 CD]

Jenna Glatzer (www.jennaglatzer.com) is the author of 19 books. Her most recent collaboration is Unthinkable with Scott Rigsby, the first double-amputee to finish the world-famous Hawaiian Ironman triathlon. Jenna lives with her two-year-old daughter in New York. - Jenna Glatzer

If you bought the boxed set of the 26-episode 1980s star-studded ball of quirks that was Fairy Tale Theatre when it came out last year (come on, everybody, raise your hands) you might be sorry to hear that the whole series is now on Hulu. This is a very wacky series and much of it hasn't aged well - how can a show that brings together Mick Jagger, James Earl Jones, Robin Williams, and dozens of other name celebrities to perform richly-costumed and stiffly-directed rewrites of classic children's stories not add up to a whole that is less than the sum of its parts? - but you will get a kick out of seeing some of the big names of the day taking the time to do some "serious television," and your kid will love at least some of this tale-telling, at least on the first go-around. In other words, this is perfect for Hulu in a way it was not perfect for a multi-disc DVD extravaganza.

Here's a sample: "Aladdin and His Magical Lamp" directed by Tim Burton and featuring Valerie Bertinelli, James Earl Jones, and Leonard Nimoy. Man, you just can't make this stuff up:



Via kottke.org - Jennifer

Wear a sweater.

And take a moment to watch a few Mr. Rogers clips or full episodes to remember what Fred Rogers brought to children's television. - Jeremiah

Indie animator and composer Cyriak has finally made something I can show my five-year-old without supplying her with a decade's worth of nightmare material. The video about teddy bears is engaging, richly patterned, and laugh-out-loud funny. Enjoy it with a child!


For an example of a Cyriak piece with dozens of ingenious jokes (and plenty of mildly amusing ones), try his entertaining "Animation Mix." If you start watching it and think it would be ok for your young child to enjoy with you, don't be fooled. Things get ugly and, for young viewers, very creepy.

Here's an interview with Cyriak that gives a few hints of his creative process. It contains a bit of the artist's gore but nothing likely to really scare a kid. But that's just my assessment.


- Jeremiah

There's no better way to introduce preschoolers to Kant's moral imperative than Jo Ann Stover's If Everybody Did, an entertaining romp through the consequences of every person in the room engaging in the same minor misbehaviors after one child does a demo round. We have a love/hate relationship with morally instructive children's books, but we are learning over time that what makes them work well in our household is humor. From Jane Yolen's How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food? to Maurice Sendak and Sesyle Johnson's What Do You Say, Dear?, the use of humor puts everyone at ease while gently introducing real concepts that need teaching - in this case, helping kids conceive of the consequences of what would happen "if everybody did" what it is convenient or entertaining for them to do in isolation.

Some of the issues covered in the book might feel a little constraining for families with relaxed standards of physical behavior - it covers such issues as rough play, "changing your seat," and slamming doors - but the words are few and the illustrations are pretty hilarious if you ask Z and I, so it's easy to focus the "lesson" on the standards you actually care about enforcing. Consequences include doors falling off and crushing everyone, a sea of unseated children chaotically shifting positions around a room, and (for the action shown above) a pile of people laying like pancakes while the last of a dozen or so people gleefully leaps towards the dogpile.

Proof that this book is serving us well was close at hand recently. Jenni was sick with a cold and dropping used tissues on the floor (there was no trash can handy) and Z waltzed up and "corrected" her. "Mama, what would happen if EVERYBODY did that?"


Personally, this one cracks me up - Stover has an eye for details. The kid with his hands in his mouth makes me laugh every time.

You can pick up If Everybody Did on Amazon.com for about eight bucks. - Jeremiah