Mary Lee helps make Halloween fun instead of scary for little ones in her album 1, 2, 3 - Boo! The title track will be enjoyed even by the youngest listener, as the 'boo' is sung high and non-threatening, and it tells all about the fun of trick-or-treating. Dingle Dangle Scarecrow shows how silly a scarecrow can be, with lyrics like, "I'm a dingle dangle scarecrow, with a flippy floppy hat. I can shake my hands like this, and shake my feet like that!" Can your little one dance like the scarecrow? Six Ghosts/Funeral March of the Marionette is a counting song, where one less ghost is lurking in the door's shadow each verse, but is presented in such an upbeat tune that listeners don't even think to be frightened. Two songs on the album, Do Colores and Dia De Los Muertos, are sung entirely in Spanish. Do Colores includes easy Spanish words for children to learn, such as el gato (cat), colores (colors), and me gusta (I like), while Dia De Los Muertos explains a bit of the original Spanish holiday, which the American Halloween is modeled after; "It's a day of sweet remembrance, when our loved ones come to call."
The majority of the songs encourage interactions, whether singing or dancing along, or both. For example, the beat in Hay, Sine-ne! is kept by clapping hands, which is easy for children to recognize and imitate. The final verses consist of silly lyrics like, "Oo ah, oo ah" and "Hidey hidey ho." Old Mother Hobble Gobble is presented in the always-popular call-and-response style, making it very easy for your child to learn the words. Also, with no music in Old Mother Hobbel Gobble to distract from the words, children are fully encouraged to act out the words; "Stretch to the sky, spin around, jump up and down, sit right down, just as I do." Goin' On a Hayride is another upbeat interactive song, singing about wiggling and giggling, jumping up and down in a hay piles, and dance directions to, "Shimmy to the left and shake to the right, shake and shimmy all day and night." You can also take some time to talk with your little one about Halloween and how it is celebrated in your family. It is a great opportunity to bond with your child by helping them think of what to dress up as and building a costume.
My niece received this CD prior to Halloween last year, when she was three. It was the first year she really understood that you get to dress up and hand out candy. She requested the CD often in the car by asking, "Can we hear the Boo CD?" Her favorite song was the Dingle Dangle Scarecrow because her mom had taken her to a scarecrow farm for children that year, where she had a blast.
--Audra