My mom and I were running errands today, and she mentioned she’d had a very hard time finding singalong books to read to small children (baby/toddler/preschooler). It’s pretty easy to find ones where it’s one book devoted to one single song, but what she’s looking for is each page with its own classic children’s song, to sing one after another. She’d like these for reading (singing) to children, but also for getting the songs into her head so she has them stuck in her head when there is the sudden need to sing to a child and she is scrambling to think of a children’s song.
I bumbled around on Amazon for awhile, finding books such as the Priddy line—but some of them have no reviews or very mixed reviews, and they don’t have lists of what songs.
We looked at Target and found Nursery Rhymes (yet another from that Priddy series), and I liked it from just looking at it briefly but you can see some complaints in the reviews: evidently it uses the version of the old woman in the shoe in which she whips them all before she tucks them in. Though, even though I am not crazy about that myself, I don’t think I would have gone as far as the review-leaver, who used “shocked” to describe her reaction, and concluded that the book was “inappropriate for anyone.” How are we going to describe actual shock or inappropriateness-for-all-of-humanity, if we are going to use it about things such as this?
Where was I? I guess what I am looking for are titles of children’s song books you’ve found, the kind where there’s one song per page.
the wee sing books were the ones that i remember from my childhood and have been keeping an eye out at garage sales for, i am not good at remembering kids songs, but i know that these are the ones that we always sang when i was little. classics!
http://www.weesing.com
oh i am sorry, that website sings at you! here is the link straight to the book that i remember… (this link doesn’t make noise at you unless you ask it to)
http://www.weesing.com/single_product.cfm?product_id=23
Most of our books are packed away because we’re moving (and I’m 9 months pregnant. Someone save me). However, we have a general nursery rhymes book that I find myself singing along with- a lot of the classics have been put to a tune, i.e., Three Blind Mice, Ring Around the Rosies, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Mary Had a Little Lamb, etc.
Walmart. Twinkle Twinkle and Other favorite nursery rhymes and This Little Piggy and other favorite action rhymes. By Tiger Tales. Between the two of them they have about every nursery rhyme you could think of.
I have actually used this book/CD in my classroom. I simply skip over that particular song and use the rest. It is possible for your mom to do the same if any other book you find is unsatisfactory.
I just got the Wee Sing Book and CD collection. It has 4 cds (Rhymes, Songs and Lullabies (2) and Musical Games, Rhymes, and Silly Songs (2).
The book included has the words to all the songs, music, and directions for the games.
I bought it at Border’s, so that might be a problem now. It was $9.99.
Just checked- Amazon has it for $5.99.
Jan– Within 30 seconds of reading your comment, I’d ordered it and had it shipped to my mom! Thank you for the suggestion!
I like this one, our copy is torn to shreds. It is simple but sometimes I add to it if the spirit moves me. It has all the classics, hey diddle diddle, baa baa black sheep, hickory dickory, little Bo peep, miss nugget, Mary/lamb, my black hen, three little kittens, one two three and little boy blue. http://www.amazon.com/My-Take-Along-Mother-Goose/dp/0760753008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311463495&sr=8-1
Joanne- Thanks! I ordered that one for her, too!
I should have said “Jan AND BECKY”—both of you mentioned Wee Sing! And it’s on its way to my mom now!
There’s also The Library of Children’s Song Classics. It’s on Amazon. You get the musical scores with those; which is helpful for someone learning the songs for the first time.
My daughter loves the full-sized board book My Sparkling Nursery Rhymes. And the ‘sparkling’ part is not glitter, the bane of my existence. Maybe a dozen nursery rhymes/songs, one on each page. $4.09 used – mine has no signs of wear after years of frequent use.
http://www.amazon.com/Sparkling-Nursery-Rhymes-Rob-Hefferan/dp/1581172958
My favorite is Childhood Favorites for Easy Piano – it has over 50 and has served us well over the years.
http://www.amazon.com/Childhood-Favorites-Piano-Minstrel-Press/dp/1585606294/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1311516998&sr=8-1
Usborne makes a children’s song book and it is internet linked so you can go online to hear the tunes for any that are unfamiliar…
Check out this link for a precious rendition of an “old school” Arlo Guthrie song. Arlo and Woodie Guthrie’s children’s songs have the catchy beats and nonsense lyrics that children love. I think Amazon has their songbooks, too. http://www.missdisgrace.com/2011/07/this-is-sort-of-thing-you-do-when-youre.html
I see from the comments that you already have a book, but this one was given to me. It is more “instructional” for adults who don’t know nursery rhymes off the top of their head (perfect for me) but I like that it comes with a CD that you can sing along to, in case you forget the tune (also me).
http://www.amazon.com/Humpty-Who-Course-Nursery-Rhymes/dp/0761143688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311549927&sr=1-1
It is called Humpty Who? by Jennifer Griffin
-jlm
Wee Sing Silly Songs! Awesome!
For whole families, we have loved and USED and USED our “Rise Up Singing” songbook. It has all the lyrics to every song ever, like songs you learned at camp or school, and patriotic songs, and songs from musicals, and silly songs, and folk ballads, and union songs, and everything. It has the chords written in it for if you want to play piano or guitar, but mostly just the lyrics. We keep one at home and one in the car.
http://www.singout.org/rus.html
Add another vote for the Wee Sing Collection. I grew up with them, with Wee Sing Silly Songs being my favorite. Now I want the CDs since I’m not sure I still have my old cassettes!
I have two favorites that I kept throughout the years long after my daughter outgrew them… she is 15 and still remembers them fondly!
I’m Still here in the Bathtub, and Silly Songs for Silly People. Both have some traditional songs, mixed with some really cute/wacky/fun ones. I think both books include the sheet music so you can figure out the tune for the ones you don’t know.
Here’s a thought–how about Peter, Paul, and Mary songs (“Blowing in the Wind,” “Light One Candle,” or “Puff, the Magic Dragon”?) My Mom sang those songs to my sister and me when we were little, and we still managed to grow up to be taxpaying contributors to society instead of “dirty hippies.” (In fact, we BOTH married Republicans! GASP!) When my son was little, I used to sing him to sleep with “Dream a Little, Dream of Me” from the Mamas and the Papas. I don’t remember a whole lot from my early childhood years, but, strangely, I know the words to “Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves,” “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” It is quite possible that I had a strange and non-traditional childhood. The only thing I remember about “Ring Around the Rosie” is my mother telling me that song was all about the Plague/Black Death and the “pockets full of posies” were kept to tolerate the smell of Death and Rotting Bodies. Consequently, my kids were raised on Shel Silverstein instead of Mother Goose.
We’re huge fans of Priddy books in our house, though my son doesn’t really seem to care much about that red nursery rhyme book that you posted. It’s nice that it comes with a CD in case (like me) the adults in the family don’t know the tunes for the rhymes.