Celebrated Canadian children's music artist Raffi sings about all the animals children know and love through a mixture of original songs, classic childrens melodies, and even a cover of the Beatle's hit song, Octopus's Garden! These 14 tracks are upbeat sing-a-longs which are great for playtime. Instruments heard include guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin, clarinet, tuba, trumpet with and without a mute, and various percussion instruments.

Learning about animals is a common interest and fun activity for little ones of all ages, so why not sing about them too? Many of Raffi's Animal Songs feature the piano and guitar, while the trumpet and funky keyboard sounds are heard in Octopus's Garden. The unique sound of a muted trumpet is displayed in Baby Beluga, and delicate harmonica flourishes are even heard in the album's only lullaby, Irene, Goodnight. Raffi also whistles the whole first verse of Eensy Weensy Spider, and the sounds of ocean water moving and whales 'talking' at the beginning of Baby Beluga is a fun surprise. Perhaps the most fun sound of all - children singing along - is heard on Goin' to the Zoo, Who Built the Ark, and Down By The Bay. Anansi and Tingalayo are island influenced, and sing about a clever spider who wants some mangoes (Anansi) and a donkey with some fun and easy-to-learn lyrics; "Me donkey fast, me donkey fast, my donkey come, and me donkey go" (Tingalayo). Many of the songs contain silly lyrics and humor your little one will understand and enjoy, such as in Down By the Bay when Raffi is calling out the main rhyme of each verse and finally ends up singing, "Did you ever have a time...when you couldn't make a rhyme?"

Considering the main motif of the album, animal sounds are abundant throughout the tracks, supplying ample opportunities for your little one to jump in on the fun even if they don't know the words yet. In Over In the Meadow alone they can 'quack' with one duck, 'glub' with two fish, 'whistle' with three birds, 'ribbet' with four frogs, and 'buzz' with five bees! Perhaps just like the little one at the end of the song, your child will laugh "just to hear such fun." The repetition and rhymes in lines like, "Going to the Zoo zoo zoo, how 'bout you you you, you can come too too too" make learning the song fast and fun. You can also encourage your little one to listen to the lyrics and imagine what they are singing about - or even take it a step further and act some of them out which will delight your child. Just think of the entertainment possibilities in Here Sits a Monkey, the story of two lovesick monkeys, "Oh, here lays a monkey under the chair, chair, chair. He lost all his loves that he had last year."

I first listened to this album with my one-year-old friend, Mosley, during his play time. He had a blast watching me dance around and sing along to the lyrics. For whatever reason, I bent my arms and flapped them whenever Raffi sang "quack quack quack" in 6 Little Ducks, which really impressed Mosley so he smiled big and started joining in. He was giggling and imitating me for the rest of the song after that, so I started being even sillier to see if he would copy. The harder I laughed, the harder it made him laugh, and we finally ended up just collapsing on the couch together exhausted from all the fun.

--Audra

Raffi Cavoukian, a renowned Canadian performer, began his career in children's entertainment in 1974. Wearing many hats, he is a music producer, author, entrepreneur, presenter, and the founder of Child Honouring, a vision for global restoration. The Washington Post has called Raffi, "the most popular children's entertainer in the English-speaking world." His CDs, books and videos have sold over 15 million copies in Canada and the U.S.

Raffi has won multiple awards for his music, videos, and books. Some of the more prominent music awards include the Juno Award, Best Children's Album (1994), Platinum Award for Baby Beluga, a Platinum Award for Singable Songs For the Very Young, Best Seller awards, and multiple more Gold and Platinum Awards for his individual songs and records.