ABC and 123: A Learning Collaborative: Toddler Tunes: Featuring Laurie Berkner

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

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!

13 comments:

  1. Amen to Laurie Berkner! She was my sanity when my girls were younger. She was first introduced to us via Jack's Big Music Show - as babies my girls would stop crying if the show came on. My husband & I used to sing Laurie's song to put the girls to sleep! She is still often heard around here - Thanks to her DVD and CD! She is awesome and gave PJ & I some sanity!

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  2. Ps - My girls are currently into the Disney Princess soundtrack and they love the Dirty Sock band, and Jump Arounds (seen on Noggin)

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  3. Ahhh, Laurie!!! Thanks to Ms. Berkner and crew my two year old actually said "bumble bee" before mommy. He still runs around the house buzz, buzz, buzzing!!! I even find myself singing to myself when the boys are not around.

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  4. Signing Time songs are a big favorite at our house.

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  5. These songs are fantastic! My 18 month old son just sat here for 1/2 hour watching the music videos!

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  6. My daughter loves her music!! Bumblebee Buzz Buzz was one of the first songs she sang herself! (She is 18 months.)

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  7. oh no, now i am going to have those songs in my head all day!! lol she is great for childrens music but the songs sure do get stuck in your head!!!

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  8. We love Laurie too! Froggy Went A Courtin' and Victor Vito are two of our favorites. Oh and Lu and I love singing Moon Moon Moon when we see the moon. We also love Dan Zanes and They Might Be Giants. It is so great that there is such good kids music available today.

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  9. we shared our laurie b love awhile back and are always up for some jammin' with her band!

    amy

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  10. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Laurie B. My kids are constantly singing thier rendiditon of Boots. B O (O) T S brown boots. In my brown boot in my brown boots I splash around in my brown boots... They always miss spell it leaving out 1 o. :) We also have a game of playing chase as we play I'm gonna catch you, you better run, I'm gonna getcha here I come...

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  11. Love love love Laurie Berkner! Last summer we had the Victor Vito CD on a 8 hour car trip....that night both my husband and I were singing her songs in bed to eachother...they are so catchy. I love that its hippie singer songwriter music. I would listen to it even if I didn't have a 2 year old!! Love her!

    And I am looking forward to some new musical suggestions!

    Check out Elizabeth Mitchell too.

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  12. We Love Laurie, too! She's all my daughter will listen to! When we get in the car, all I hear is "Warie, Mommy! WARIE!!!" Haha! We sing Moon Moon Moon every night, and I often play her songs on the guitar for my kids. Most of them are very easy to play :-)

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  13. Oh man -- we LOVE Laurie Berkner! When I play her music in my preschool co-op class, all the kids just go crazy for it!

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