Musical Monday: 100 Songs

We are so very excited today to kick off a 3 week series of Musical Monday posts authored by our guest, Vanessa from Silly Eagle Books.  She has put a tremendous amount of time and effort into compiling a fantastic musical resource for all of us, which we hope you enjoy!

As parents, we've all experienced moments where we've sang a lullaby or hummed a tune to comfort our crying child. Maybe you are a musical person and already have an endless supply of tunes and lyrics at the tip of your tongue, but if you are like me, then maybe you max out your song knowledge at Twinkle, Twinkle and the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

It's not that I don't know any more songs, it's just that when I find myself bursting out into a spontaneous singing session with my daughter, I often end up only remembering half the lyrics or only a portion of the tune! I sing the few lines that I know and end up humming the last few bars before dwindling off and mumbling something like, "Um...yeah. I don't know anymore."

Fortunately for me, three-year-olds are endlessly gracious and forgiving. She doesn't care that I don't know all the words, she just loves that I sing. And I love singing with her! My voice isn't great, in fact, I think it would probably be described as pretty terrible, but somehow that doesn't matter when we're together. We just belt out tunes at the top of our lungs and enjoy every off-key minute of it!

To make the most of our singing sessions, I started checking out songbooks from our local library. I discovered that there are quite a few exceptional sing-along picture books out there along with some wonderful illustrated traditional songbooks.

These books have extended and enhanced the way we experience music in our daily lives. Every night, we spend a few moments before bedtime snuggled up together singing from our songbooks. I've rediscovered childhood favorites like the old folk songs my Dad used to sing to me and found new ones that I've never heard before.

Obviously, the printed lyrics are a life-saver for me--now I can sing the entire song correctly from beginning to end, but the real surprise has been how much the illustrations have enhanced my daughter's enjoyment and understanding of the music. Adding that visual element to the songs has helped her drink it in and love and remember the songs all the more.

Like I mentioned earlier, I have been checking out songbooks for the past several months. I wanted to share my list of 100+ songs to sing with your child (and the books to go with them) with you. I hope that it will serve as a resource and maybe give you a place to start in your search for books that you can sing with your child. Here is just a sampling, from the middle of the list, labeled Camp Songs:
58. Make New Friends Illustrated by Nan Brook

59. Camp Granada by Frane Lessac

60. Rise and Shine
61. Peanut Butter and Jelly
62. Worms
63. Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
64. Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh
65. Found a Peanut
66. Little Bunny Foo Foo
67. Taps

In the next couple Musical Monday posts Vanessa will share with us some practical advice for incorporating music into daily life and the benefits of music as a teaching tool.  You won't want to miss it!

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