Music… one of my favorite things

“We teach our children how to behave by: 1. What we allow. 2. What we stop. 3. What we ignore. 4. What we reinforce.”

Take a minute to think about this quote. It is really an indicator of what habits and boundaries we allow and don’t allow in our daily lives, also.

But today, let’s talk discuss music and videos/dvds that are exciting gifts!

I will give you a disclaimer, when kids are exploring and discovering music, this is one of those kid sounds that doesn’t phase me. Now a car thumping past my window or obnoxiously loud and vibrating my insides, I can lose my cool. So we all have a quirks.

With that in mind, here are the musical instruments that I believe any child should have in their music box 😊 (a couple or all😉)

Maracas or Egg Shakers
Bells
Tambourine
Harmonica
Rain Sticks
Rhythm Sticks
Triangle

Trustworthy brands for infants and toddlers are Hape, Halilit (especially shake jingle n roll; tambourine), Melissa and Doug, and Fisher Price. I will link some of my favorites for older children at the bottom of this post.

To go a tad further, these are incredibly fun:

Xylophone (Melissa and Doug, Fisher Price, and Mukikim (rock and roll- easy storage) all make quality products)
Drums (Mukikim make a rock and roll (easy roll up storage) drum set, or bongo drums)
Piano (Melissa and Doug make a great infant toddler piano, Mukikum makes a rock and roll junior and an original rock and roll piano- super easy roll up storage!)
Guitar- Loog Guitars – I have actually owned one of these, but have heard rave reviews and would love to try!

My next recommendations may cause an eye roll or two, and that’s okay. However, I do think there is some innocence stolen too quickly from our little ones. I do get a tickled at some of the nursery rhymes and songs from preschool, but there is a developmental essentials in these simple songs that are needful for children. One super simple example: Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. There are foundational skills: rhyming, counting, identifying, describing, so many basic skills in these songs. But you choose, you do you and your family. Another possible eye roll suggestion is the kids bop version of popular songs. This is not a “you always have to listen to kids bop” advocacy, not at all. I am a big believer in you have to expose/teach you kids to be prepared. I was listening to a media webcast a couple weeks ago and the speaker’s main point was this: media is exploding, the world is growing faster everyday, as much as you can be shoulder to shoulder with your kids. Not hovering. Just listening, playing, reading, etc along with them. Pretty simple yet brilliant advice.

Onto Music Favorites:

Praise Baby
Scripture Lullabies
Seeds Family Worship
Getty Family Hymns
Slugs and Bugs
Wee Sing
Kidz Bop

Storytelling/Spoken Word Favorites:

Ella Jenkins
Bill Harley
Jackie Torrence

My brother and I grew up on spoken word storytelling cassettes. These made days on the road fun. And to this day, we both can recall many of the stories! And now many are available on YouTube and streaming channels, no library card or rewinding needed!

Now, for my last set of recommendations, if you study the picture today you will see my niece is holding my little girl and they are watching Praise Baby on a travel DVD player. This is a very sacred picture to me because Lucy was just getting to the age that she would actually sit in someone’s lap (usually just my niece around this time) and really focus on the babies and the music. This dvd player and praise baby dvds had been watched by her and her brother more times than any of my family could count. In fact, in all our moving and settling back down we discovered we had almost four full sets of Praise Baby DVDs!

Why do I sharing this? Couple reasons: 1. I’ve never kept a kid that Praise Baby doesn’t calm. They may not stay completely still, although some do, but even I start breathing deeper when I hear it come on! 2. A Travel DVD player for babies and kids, you might ask? I had purchased this for my business, but it turned out to be something of great value with my niece and nephew and then my little one. Don’t write me off for what I am about to say… I understand there are many reasons to not have a tv in bedrooms. And yes, it’s best not to have any devices in the bedroom. BUT if you have struggled with any type of depression or trauma that disrupts your sleep patterns, hinders you for being able to sleep, then I believe you know what music or a calm dvd can do for your daily life. I was an aunt before I became a mom, and I most likely allowed them to slip by on a few things that I wouldn’t let slip with my little girl, but this was not one of those things. What helps you sleep well, we do in my house 😊 So this note may be more for grandparents, I know as my niece and nephew have gotten older and we have had to spread out over the house, which meant either multiple tvs streaming or travel DVD players with a selection of DVDs before bed, it’s much easier to draw lines of what they can watch if you just limit it to the travel DVD player. A plus side to this also is you can give your child some ownership and options with their own case of DVDs to select from. (tablets can be great, but they can also be tempting. And when children are going to grandparents or relatives or friends houses it can be hard for them to know boundaries. Also, some grandparents start snoozing before the child does😂. So this is just a tip that I have found very helpful.)

On to my recommendations:

Praise Baby DVDs – there is a whole series
Slugs & Bugs – a lot of different dvds and I believe this is also available on Minno TV (I will link at the Bottom)
Veggie Tales and What’s in the Bible – Also on Minno TV
Scholastic Storybook Classics – LOVE these! Sometimes you can find them on streaming channels, but if you find a set of them, you won’t regret purchasing them!
With most all our DVDs or digital movies – I will make a note (permanent marker on DVDs- digital movies I try to keep a list of and ages) of the suggested age that is listed on Common Sense Media. I find this helpful for the adults and kids, when in the moment of looking for something to watch together there doesn’t have to be arguing or time looking up if it’s appropriate or not.

Whether you are looking for some fun musical gifts or just some tips, I hope this post lightens your Christmas season. And maybe gets “head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees, and toes…” stuck in your head 😂 for a little bit, live out childhood again.

Life Book of the week: Charlotte and the Nutcracker: The True Story of a Girl Who Made Ballet History, by Charlotte Nebres

https://mybtoys.com/shop/parum-pum-pum

https://www.lakeshorelearning.com/products/music/musical-instruments/N/1789639908