Children’s musicians Erin Lee and Marci bring us the next of their regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.
Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org.
I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album image or name), plus links to Amazon MP3 downloads, when available, for those who want only the singles. (Click the song name.) I also have a widget after the jump that will let you preview most of the songs without leaving Mombian.
This blog is being written from two completely different locals: Marci is in her hometown in sunny Florida and Erin Lee is in her hometown in Canada. Erin Lee’s been there six days…and it’s snowed for six days! So, of course, snow is going to highly influence this month’s column.
“Cool to Be Uncool
“Put on our sweaters, put on our jackets
Our hats and mittens too
We’re headed out now, it’s really chilly
It’s cool to be uncool”
Every family seems to feature one member who never wants to get dressed for inclement weather. Erin Lee once insisted on wearing a bathing suit in November, and her mother insisted she pair it with a turtleneck sweater. But this infectiously boppy song from the Jimmies makes even bad weather fun. Sing it loud as you’re pulling on all those layers.
“Snow Shoe Shuffle
Rebecca Frezza is already dressed for the snow and is dancing around in snowshoes—she’s obviously much more coordinated than we are! However, you don’t have to actually be wearing snow shoes to soft shoe around and groove to this jazzy dance number.
“Flakes are fallin’
They’re piling up high
Mounds of white like marshmallows
Or coconut custard pie
Nowhere we can go, nothing we can do except strap on our old snow shoes”
And speaking of dancing, here’s our song for February:
“Snowdance
Our narrator would defintely be hanging out with Rebecca doing the Snowshoe Shuffle, but unfortunately, there is a severe lack of snow on the ground. So our intrepid narrator takes a cue from the traditional Rainmaker figure and becomes a Snowmaker, doing a festive dance in order to make it snow one dismally green February. So, if there’s a sudden case of unexpected snow in Florida, you can probably assume that is was Marci behind it!
Get this song off the iPod and into your life. Here are some tried and true activities to accompany Snowdance.
Do Something New: Dance! How might a snowflake move? A snowman? An ice skater, hockey player, figure skater, speed skater? Help make it snow!
Talk About Something New: Research Rainmakers in various cultures. Why do cultures call on Rainmakers to bring rain and why might they need them?
What other variations on Rainmakers can you come up with?
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