There are two albums of Baby Jamz so far, and I'm crossing my fingers that volume three is in the works. These are full CDs of nursery rhymes with a hip hop twist, executive produced by Solange Knowles. Beyonce is a guest on volume one with a gorgeous version of Silent Night (which I am reluctant to play at the library because of possible religious connotations... but still, it's gorgeous). I like to play these albums before and after storytime as people are milling around, because it's a good opportunity to share my favorite early childhood brain development fact: children who know 5 nursery rhymes before 5 years old will be better readers later in life. It's great exposure to nursery rhymes without driving the grownups in the room crazy with the same squeaky song over and over and over and over and over..............
She has been around for decades, and has been one of my favorite children's musicians since I was very small. I especially like Ella Jenkins for her multicultural approach to children's music, and the way she explains what different instruments do and how they do them. Her jazz and blues background come through in a great way in her music, and the call-and-response style is a wonderful way to keep kids engaged during storytime. The most amazing part is, she's now 93 years old and still an active member of the musical community!
I love Emily Arrow because she writes songs based on picture books. It's so great to read a book in storytime, and then sing the song based on that book with the kids. This is especially fun during theme storytime; it gives you at least one built-in song that applies directly to your topic.
The Kiboomers
The Kiboomers make music geared toward preschoolers, and they have at least one song on every topic you can imagine. A lot of their songs have a short narration at the beginning, which isn't for everyone, but if you have issues with it the narration ("Hey everyone, are you ready to touch your toes?") is easily edited out. Their YouTube channel is where I found out they have an entire Hanukkah album--like I said, they sing songs on every topic!
Laurie Berkner
We love, love, love Laurie Berkner at our library! When I have a last minute storytime plan, I know I can throw in a few Laurie songs and the kids will stay engaged and have a great time dancing and acting out all the silly situations. Personal favorites, as you can tell if you read almost any of my storytime plans, are "The Goldfish" and "One, Two Hands," but she has a LOT of great ones.
Mr. Jon and Friends
Mr. Jon is a wonderful children's artist. He's one of those guys who only needs an acoustic guitar, his soothing voice, and his dynamic stage presence to put on a really great show. If you're looking for background music for a children's program, or a really great and original version of classic songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It," look no further than Mr. Jon.
(We're really hoping he will come to our library to perform during summer 2018, so keep your fingers crossed for us!!)
Raffi
Like Greg and Steve, Raffi is another one of those classic, "who doesn't love him?!" artists. He's also another one that I went to see in concert as a preschooler, and grew up loving, so now I want to spread the gospel. Like Mr. Jon and Friends, Raffi's music provides a great mix between background and interactive movement songs. I also love using Raffi in Baby Lapsit for lap bounces; it's the perfect combo of babies liking his voice and a bouncing beat that makes you want to move!
Sesame Street
I don't need to introduce Sesame Street to anyone, probably. We're at the point where four or more generations have grown up with this show as a staple of their childhood. Sesame Street continuously comes out with amazing, interactive, learning-based songs that I love using in storytime. My favorite era of Sesame Street music is the late 80's through early 2000's, but they're constantly turning out A+ content.
Super Simple Songs
Not only are these great songs, but they make fun little animations to go along with them! You can download the music to use during storytime, or project the animations (all available on YouTube) if you're doing a larger dance and music based program and need somewhere to focus the kids' attention. I especially like Super Simple Songs because they have music on a variety of themes, and are consistently putting out new videos and downloadable music.
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