Musical Moods

Our family is in the mood for music.   Actually we are always listening to music, but today will be a little different!  After a few days of feeling cooped up in the house from the drenching rain, we are heading out to the Mondavi Center (in Davis, CA) to watch one of our favorite performers for kids, Dan Zanes.  There are a few favorite musicians that everyone in our family enjoys, so I thought I would make today's Blog a review of our favorite kids' music that my husband and I can tolerate too!  If you have a kid under the age of 10, you should get to know Zanes!   He does a lot of cover music, which the parents will be familiar with (think musicals of the past, such as Annie and Music Man).   He is a lot of fun, and the whole family will enjoy his music.  Search Amazon.com for dan zanes

My personal overall favorite is probably The Laurie Berkner Band. Maybe it is a feminine thing, though.    The music is fun, fast and the lyrics are original and witty.   Our family's favorite song is probably the Dinosaur song, but Victor Vito is probably a close second!  Search Amazon.com for the laurie berkner band


As a teacher of literacy, I closely examine music that also has connections to literacy for my children.   It is important that children are sent to school with a common background knowledge of fairy tales and nursery rhymes.  The teacher will rely in this background knowledge to teach other skills.   For this reason, I have to endorse the Wee Sings music series. As a family we only have a few of these, but I really love them for their content.  They are presented in a story format and include classic childern's songs that you and your kid will love!  Search Amazon.com for wee sing