31 Days of Great Children's Music: The Merry Goes 'Round


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Welcome back to 31 Days of Great Children's Music!  This is the big posting challenge I'm participating in that involves blogging every day in October covering just one topic.  It's also where you'll find some super suggestions for children's songs the whole family can enjoy.  

Find the Other 30 Days Here


Jewel's pleasant, soothing voice and a mix of both original songs as well as some standard favorites fill this album and make it a great choice for your music library.  Most of our favorite children's songs around here tend to be of the lively and silly sort, but this mellow album provides a refreshing change to our typical playlist.  

This CD is a good compromise for those times when you're not wanting pure background music, but still trying to keep the little ones on the calm side - like when you're winding things down in the evening before bedtime or gearing up for naps in the afternoon.  Although it ranks lower on the Gv Danceability Scale than most of the others I'm posting about, it still produces plenty of moments of swaying on the couch with a stuffed buddy or two.

I love the concept and clever lyrics in Sammy the Spider, but my favorite song is easily In My Room.  This track could totally be my theme song - I can't even count how many trips I have taken around the world through the magic of reading books in my room!

I also love how many different musical styles are included on this album.  These range from the bluesy Snooze Button Blues to the channeling of the Andrews Sisters in Supermarket Song to the country flavor of Bucky the Bull to Only Shadows with its old-time gospel vibe. 

And I really enjoyed Jewel's lilting version of And the Green Grass Grew All Around.  I talked about this song on Day 7.  Both artists bring their own flavor to this song, but hers is just so pretty.  Which one do you like better?

Activities

  • It's no secret that I love rainbows, so Give Me the Rainbow provides the perfect excuse to wallow in all things Roy G. Biv.  Throw a rainbow party or check out these 40 fantastic rainbow activities - perfect for a rainy day!
  • Take a field trip to the supermarket!  This one is always a favorite among the elementary set, but it can be pretty enjoyable for the parents, as well.  Just see what fun this trip to Publix was for Sweet Phenomena.  
  • Explore the Northern Lights while listening to Just Like the Penguins Do.  (I spent far too much time exclaiming irritably "Northern Lights and penguins?  Penguins are at the South Pole, not the North Pole!"  This apparent error perturbed me so much, I had to do a bit of research and I thankfully discovered that Aurora Australis is the name for these lights in the Southern Hemisphere.  Whew, everything's fine now.)  One idea is to get this book and then head over to my friend Pam's blog for a few activities that go along with it. 
  •  After listening to In My Room, take your own trip around the world through books.  Find an extensive list of great books to get you started over at Delightful Children's Books.
  • Create a map for Sammy the Spider to use to get from the bathroom in your house to the kitchen.  Use graph paper for this, or just draw the map freehand.  I always used this book for mapping lessons in my classroom:
 Or, check out some of these fun Geography ideas over at Imagination Soup.

To Watch

Take inspiration from My Favorite Things and watch this classic movie

To Read

Look!  Books with Sammy Spider as the main character!  There are a ton of colorful books in this series.  Here are just a few:


Did you have any clue that Jewel has created so many albums full of children's songs?  Do you feel her voice is best suited for lullabies, or for more upbeat songs?  I'd love to hear - leave a comment or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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