Wheels on the Bus
This simple board book format of the classic children's song, 'The Wheels on the Bus,' is a playful addition to any toddler's library. The brightly colored illustrations are fun while the repetitive song format encourages young ones to sing along. The bus appears to be traveling through a quaint French town in the mid-20th century and the characters add a layer of good ol' fashioned warmth and comfort that children will appreciate, even if they don't understand the background.
Singing this book to your child will not only make him or her smile but will open up a whole new side of books. Preschool-age children who more than likely know the words to the song by heart will gladly join and sing with you, while toddlers will appreciate just hearing your voice and looking at the pages. Perhaps you can even think of extra verses to add to the song.
On the Move!
This is a tremendously lively book that focuses on all means of transportation. It is filled with bright cartoon illustrations, and the pages include a hologram, which shows these modes of transportation in motion. On the Move! is also filled with a lot of bouncy rhymes, which makes the story move along jauntily as well.
It is exciting to see each hologram, and even the most squirmy children, will be transfixed by the movement on each page. Your child will also like feeling each hologram's rough textured surface. The book incorporates a lot of sound words, which will add some theatrical and exciting sounds to your reading. All of these factors combined, will make your child interested from beginning to end.
Early Early Childhood Songs
This is a very organic sounding album, as listeners will feel like they are in the room with Jenkins and the children. The first seven tracks are instrumental because they are intended to be a quiet listening period where children learn to recognize the songs on their own (making them personal) and perhaps hum along. The instrumental songs primarily feature the harmonica, guitar, and banjo. The next nine tracks are interactive mini-musical lessons. In Skip To My Lou, Jenkins plays the first verse on her mandolin and encourages the children to guess the title on their own. It takes the whole verse, but one child finally yells out the correct name. Jenkins then sings the whole verse with the children, including some additional verses your little one may not know yet, such as "Red wagon painted blue" and "Had one dollar, wish I had two." Jenkins teaches the children what a kazoo is, and what it sounds like, in This Old Man. She plays the whole first verse of the song on the kazoo and has the children guess what song it is. This is a great counting song, since the tune is repetitious and the lines always change to rhyme with the number, one through 10. In Pop Goes the Weasel, Jenkins introduces everyone to the sounds of the tambourine and wood block.
Your little one will very likely feel encouraged to join in especially when they hear the other children on the CD. Your child can sing solo in Mary Had a Little Lamb, or wait a verse and sing with the whole group of children They can yell out "Pop Goes the Weasel" at the right time with the rest of the group, or they can learn the Japanese version of London Bridges with Jenkins and revel in the accomplishment of singing a whole song in another language, ""Moi-she, moi-she, an-noh-nay/An-noh-nay/An-noh-nay." In Ba-Ba Black Sheep, Jenkins points out that the tune is the same as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, a connection that your little one may not have realized on their own yet. Can they think of another song with the same tune? How about the ABCs? In Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, one child is easily heard singing excitedly over everyone else, letting your child know that it's okay to sing louder if they know the words.
Dream Songs Night Songs: From Belgium to Brazil
The lullabies are derived from Indonesia, Brazil, Senegal, Belgium, Algeria, Israel, Cameroon, Occitania, Canada, Germany, Seychelles, Italy, and the United States. With only one song in English, the majority of a listener's experience will be the tempo, beat, and sounds. The library of instruments used is vast; the more commonly heard instruments are the electric, acoustic, and classical guitar, bass, upright bass, ukulele, mandolin, accordion, chimes, cow bells, flute, piano, bongo, and maracas. The newer sounds are offered from the flute-like ocarina, a type of tambourine called a pander djembe, a hollowed gord instrument from Cuba called a guiro, and drums from Brazil, the Middle East, and Argentina (rebolo, dumbek, and bombo, respectfully). The kalimba, considered a percussion instrument, is a soundbox with keys played with the thumbs; the berimbau is a sing-stringed percussion instrument; the anklung is a bamboo instrument popular in Southeast Asia; and the Kora resembles a harp in sound. Although the instruments vary greatly song-to-song, they all share a generally adagio tempo, happy but tender and relaxing. We Are the Boat begins and ends with the soothing sounds of waves, C'est La nuit mon petit ange creates a light and happy mood through voices singing staccato notes in French in the background, while Brecairola per la nena sounds slow and mysterious. Nade gau and O Sey'a are as upbeat of a lullaby you are going to hear.
Children have in impeccable ability to pick up on sounds and tempos, so don't be surprised to see your little one swaying his or her head to the beat or looking to you whenever they hear a new sound, wondering what caused it. With so many new cultural instruments being introduced, they will certainly not lose interest. The songs have repeating melodies, and often either begin with the title or repeat the title in the chorus, so you can sing a few words or at least hum along while you rock your little one to sleep. I noticed this particularly in the Israeli song, Tumbalalaika; the fun-to-say title repeats many times throughout the adagio song featuring piano, accordion, and children's voices singing in choir quality.
