Toddler Tunes: Featuring Laurie Berkner

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Hi There! It's Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot and today we are starting a new feature on ABC & 123, Toddler Tunes, in which we will feature our favorite children's musical artists or musical related activities, instruments, or programs.


To begin with we wanted to share one of the most played musical artists in our house, Laurie Berkner! We have all four of her CDs and her DVD, all are well played. For those of you not familiar with her work, Berkner's music is so catchy and full of toe tappin' fun that you can't help but get up and get your grove on! It's upbeat, cheerful and features her well written original works and also a smattering of familiar childhood classics on each CD. But don't take our word for it, check out some of our favorite hits from Laurie Berkner and the Laurie Berkner Band.


"I'm Gonna Catch You" is our personal favorite from her collection, it's a fun way to incorporate singing about the days of the week into circle time in the classroom. Your students will really like acting out each day: jumping for Monday, pretending to sleep for Tuesday, shaking hands with the child next to them for Wednesday, etc. A fun extension activity is to make a kid illustrated book with a page for each day. Write the day of the week or line from the song at the top of the page and have your child illustrate a picture to correspond with each day in the song. It's from Under a Shady Tree, and the title track is also one we also know all the lyrics to.


"Bumblebee Buzz Buzz" from Buzz Buzz, try having the kids buzz around the room to this one. It's nice to have them buzz slower or faster during the different parts of the song. The CD also has "I'm a Mess" on it, a good song to play during clean up time.


"We are the Dinosaurs" from Whaddya Think of That, is just plain fun to stomp around to, don't forget to give your best dinosaur ROAR at the end!


"Rocket Ship Run" is from her latest release, which is also called Rocket Ship Run. We crouch down for the countdown and then leap up to blast off. This recording features five different versions of "Going on a Hunt": ska, blues, our personal the conga version, jig, and hand jive. It is fun to listen to how the song can be interpreted more than one way.

Be sure to check out Laurie's site Two Tomatoes Music, you can click underneath each album's song listing for all her song lyrics, perfect helpers for sing alongs! On her website, you can also access her Muscial Nightlife podcasts, very fun. We enjoyed shaking our maraca eggs to "I Know A Chicken" on her latest one. For more on the importance of music in early childhood, click here.

Update: Judging from comments we've gotten, we're not the only one, who love Laurie! Go read Teach Mama's review of Laurie too, click here!

If you have a favorite children's artist or if there's a song your child wants played over and over, we want to know about it! Give us a recommendation, leave us comment and share with us!

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