This recording features the adorable tiny voices of toddlers, ages two, three, and four, singing classic children's songs. Hearing other toddlers sing will help your little one feel comfortable joining right in, whether you're in the car, at home, or at a play group. The instruments heard include pennywhistle, keyboards, slide guitar, banjo, ukulele, Jews harp, bass, drum, and the recorder.

Your little one will recognize most - if not all - of the songs on this album, but hearing them sung by their peers will add a whole new twist. Some of the little singers have the same speech quirks your little one may experience; one toddler sings with confidence in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, while another sings so shyly in John Jacob Jinglheimer Schmidt that she whispers her whole verse. The singers slow down for the less-familiar French words in Frere Jacques, and Little Red Caboose includes singers who have some trouble pronouncing 'r', which is common for toddlers. Humor is also present in many songs, whether it's the cartoonish voices answering the young singer in Where Is Thumbkin, or the little girl accidentally saying pink and yellow sheep instead of Ba Ba Black Sheep. The playful heckling the children give the singer of Apples and Bananas is extremely adorable, like when they ask "Opples! What are Ooples?!" and giggle, "Would you please pass the ooples?" I particularly enjoyed the twist at the end of Way Up High In the Apple Tree, when, after naming an apple, cherry, and mango tree, the final verse involved a pickle tree!

Many of the songs already have well-established motions that go along with them, such as I'm A Little Tea Pot, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Peanut Butter and Jelly. If your little one doesn't already know the hand motions, now is a perfect opportunity to teach them. The Wheels on the Bus is another great interactive song, creating opportunities for you and your little one to add more verses. Can your child come up with more items, animals, or people that could go on the bus? What noise or motion should accompany it? Monkeys on the Bed is also a fun song encouraging movement - just be sure to encourage jumping in place, rather than on the bed, or they may end up like one of the monkeys!

My two year-old-friend, Kyle, told me that this is his favorite CD because, "They (the young singers) sound like me." There is one singer on the album, a young boy, whose voice Kyle particularly likes and joins in whenever he’s singing. He leads the first verse of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, so that is now Kyle's favorite song, even though he has a hard time pronouncing the name. When Kyle sings, it sounds more like "John Jacob g-g-hamma smit."

--Audra

Toddler Sing Playtime is the first release in the Toddler Sing series. Kid Rhino is the children's entertainment division of Rhino Entertainment. Music for Little People is an award-winning producer of children's music. It has won 140 awards including 3 Grammy® nominations and was a gold record for "Toddler Favorites." Their music has been featured in the movie Down In The Delta, on the television series "Clueless", Lifetime's "Any Day Now" and various television commercials, as well as many custom compilations, software programs and publishing add-ons.