Here’s a little tidbit about me: I love to sing. I totally geeked it out all through high school and college in multiple choirs, glee clubs and a capella groups. I know, I’m so cool. Anyway, since I love singing and music in general, there’s only so much annoying children’s music I can take (read: *very* little). When I listen to a song, it’s very hard for me to not sing along, and I’d prefer singing along to something that isn’t tinny and screechy and accompanied by the xylophone and triangle…and songs sung by grown men in colorful spandex or grown-ups in animal costumes are also not my favorite — you’d be surprised by how much children’s music falls under those categories!

When Lil’ CB first came home, I didn’t know much about children’s music aside from the kids’ music I played in my classroom (and I was not about to listen to that at home, too!), so just played the Toddler Radio station on Pandora. I quickly learned that there was a lot of stuff I *didn’t* like and slowly but surely found some children’s songs and artists that I not also tolerated, but also enjoyed. Here are some of our favorites that you might enjoy, too:


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1) For the Kids: You will probably recognize many of these artists and many of the songs on this album. They are all very well done (my personal favorite is Sarah MacLachlan’s Rainbow Connection) and a fun way to combine adult artists with children’s music. 2) The second album For the Kids, Too! in the series is also great, too!

3) Laurie Berkner, Best of Laurie Berkner Band: There are some of Laurie’s songs that I could do without, but overall, they are catchy and fun. My personal favorites are “Victor Vito” and “I’m Gonna Catch You” and Lil’ CB could listen to “BOOTS” on repeat for dayzzz.

4) Elizabeth Mitchell, You are My Little Bird: Elizabeth Mitchell is, hands down, my favorite children’s artist. We even saw her in concert a few weeks ago and got to meet her! Her voice is beautiful and renditions of classic folk songs and her own original songs are just lovely. Her versions of “Lovely Day” and “Three Little Birds” are just perfect and I love that these non-traditional children’s songs have now become some of Lil’ CB’s favorites. It’s hard for me to pick a favorite album, but I’d say this one and 5) Sunny Day might just tie for number 1 in my book. Fun fact: Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb met in college at Brown University, where they formed a band with Duncan Sheik. Elizabeth and Lisa also worked on a 6) children’s album together which is excellent!

7) Lisa Loeb, Camp Lisa: Speaking of Ms. Lisa Loeb, her own children’s album is quite good, too. The album is definitely sillier than Catch the Moon (with Elizabeth Mitchell), but it’s not overly saccharine.

8) Barenaked Ladies, Snacktime: The Barenaked Ladies are pretty silly even in their adult songs (I mean, hello, the name of their band is BARENAKED LADIES), so of course their children’s songs are very silly, too! But they’re silly in a funny, tongue-in-cheek way, not in a I’m-going-gouge-my-eyes-out-if-I-hear-this-song-again kinda way.

9) Jack Johnson and Friends, Sing-A-Longs and Lullabies for the film Curious George: I know I’ve mentioned before that Lil’ CB loves Curious George. In fact, the Curious George feature film was the first movie that Lil’ CB was able to sit through and understand and enjoy. The music from the film is done by Jack Johnson and is all on this album. If you like Jack Johnson, you’ll enjoy this album because it sounds very similar to all of his other music!

10) Ziggy Marley, Family Time: This album sounds just how you’d expect a Ziggy Marley kids’ album to sound, and then some. There are some great guest singers on this album and the music is just fun!

11) Putumayo Presents, Sing Along with Putumayo: This is another compilation album with various artists singing different songs. There are several different similar albums from Putumayo Presents, but this one came up on our Pandora stations a lot and we love many of the songs on here, especially “I Love You a Bushel and a Peck!”

12) Rockabye, Baby!, Lullaby Renditions of Journey: Yep, you read that correctly: Lullaby Renditions of Journey! These are sweet, all instrumental versions of some of Journey’s greatest hits, and amazingly, they are very soothing to listen to. The best part is that there are Rockabye, Baby! lullaby rendition albums for lots of different artists, including U2, Madonna, Queen, Bon Jovi, and lots more!

Of course, along with these songs and artists that came up on the Toddler Radio station, so did a few other non-children’s songs, which also became some of Lil’ CB’s favorites. Some songs that he loves to bop along to are Ingrid Michaelson’s Everybody; Michael Franti’s Say Hey (I Love You) and The Sound of Sunshine; Amos Lee’s Sweetpea and The Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun. Oh, and also Justin Bieber’s Baby and Carly Rae Jepsen’s Call Me Maybe. Don’t judge us.

Who are your favorite children’s musicians? How about your LOs’?