Children’s musician Erin Lee Kelly bring us the next of her regular posts with thematic recommendations for kid-friendly music, plus activities to make the songs an interactive experience for the whole family.
Look for more music suggestions from Erin Lee here on the first Monday of each month, or visit her homepage, www.erinleemusic.com.
Also, if you’re in the Philadelphia area, catch her and her new “Up Past Bedtime Band” at World Café Live’s Peanut Butter & Jams on January 22nd.
I’ve created links to Amazon for the full albums (click the album 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.
I first met Dana—and Mombian—on a summer cruise with R Family Vacations, the amazing vacation company for GLBT families (and friends and neighbors and cousins!) It was my third cruise with R Family, so by then I had figured out how to navigate the ship without getting lost, sunburned, seasick, or locked in the Deck 7 Bathroom.
Yes indeed, I got stuck in a stall en route to Alaska and remained there for the better part of an afternoon until I was rescued by four boy scouts. Now as boy scouts, these kids had been trained to “keep the victim (me) calm until help arrives.” So, while my rescue was underway, one of the boys said reassuringly “Don’t worry! When we get you out, this will make a terrific song!” Apparently I did not concur, as he calmly and in a very capable manner continued on: “If you’re too embarrassed to write about this, you can write about what happened to me. I was on a field trip and got locked in the bathroom and they got me out. Can you imagine? On a FIELD TRIP! And I’m just fine now. You’ll be fine, too.”
Well, they got me out and I have lived to tell the tale—and his tale too, of a field trip gone awry. You never know what may happen on a field trip, but beginning to end, they are always an adventure. Here are some of my favorite tunes about field trips.
“Field Trip
I met the Imagination Movers on that same cruise to Alaska. I passed Smitty in the hallway and said “Aren’t you one of the Movers? I saw your show and loved it!” and he replied “Aren’t you the singer who got locked in the bathroom? I heard the story and loved it!” Sheesh.
Anyways, the Movers know that as far as trips go, half the fun is in getting there. They are excited to go to a new place, but just as excited to take what they hope is a super-long bus ride. They sit in the back as everyone knows “the bumps are bigger in the back of the bus”! Bump and bounce along to this terrific tune.
“Sack Lunch
While the Movers are bouncing in the back of the bus, think about all those poor little lunch sacks getting bounced on and squished and sometimes forgotten altogether in the excitement of a class trip. This catchy little tune is a first person narrative from the lunch sack’s point of view. Separated from his owner, stuck with all the other lunches, he wonders what is happening:
I’m kind of squished, is somebody leaking in here?
I hear the kids play I spy, they sing a song
They get truck drivers to honk along
Where are we going, does anyone have a clue??
I’m Stuck in a Bathroom Stall
A field trip goes awry in this 1950’s style tune about a student who separates from her buddy and finds herself stuck—in the bathroom! Getting stuck gives the narrator ample time to reflect — could she have done anything differently? Could she have been nicer to the Field Trip Buddy that she was assigned? Will anyone even notice she’s gone?
Here’s an activity to get these tunes off the iPod and into daily life: Plan a field trip! It doesn’t have to be with your class—go with your family or your friends. Pack a sack lunch (don’t squish it), plan the route and the means of transportation, plan what you’ll do when you’re there—and remember to go the bathroom FIRST!