Halloween Songs from Erin Lee and Marci

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.

It’s Halloween…our favorite time of the year! Creepy costumes, spooky stories, lots of candy…and, oh no! Another party has ground to a halt because somebody put dance music on and the only creepy dance music on hand was The Monster Mash! Brilliant, we love it, but all too frequently overused. Don’t let that happen at your party! There’s lots of monster music out there that’s perfect for dancing, stomping and sneaking. Here are two of our favorite not-too-terrifying tunes: Read the rest of this post »

Of Two Minds on an Album for Kids with Two Moms

Canadian musician Kate Reid, a self-described “homofolkie,” is working on an album for kids with two moms, according to an article in the Edmonton Sun:

Reid hopes to interview children of lesbian couples during her current Canadian tour. She says she will listen to their stories and turn their experiences into songs for the CD, titled Songs for Kids With Two Moms.

“I’m really excited about it and I think it’s going to be a really fun project in terms of doing the research and writing the songs and trying to create a body of work that expresses the experiences in their lives.”

While part of me thinks this is a commendable venture, another part thinks that this isn’t exactly what our kids need. Would my own son really find more interest in listening to an entire album about the varieties of two-mom families than listening to one about, say, trains, which happened to include a song or two featuring a boy with lesbian moms? Read the rest of this post »

Back to School Songs from Erin Lee and Marci

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.

Summer’s over and we’re all back to school. We’ve met some kids who are thrilled, some who have first-day-of-school jitters, and lots of kids who don’t know WHAT to expect. So whether you are psyched or psyched out, here are some tunes to help you through the first week! Read the rest of this post »

They Might Be Driving an Electric Car

No Political Roundup this week as I’m spending some extra family time prior to my son starting school in a few days. Instead, here’s a video treat for all of you environment-loving parents out there: “Electric Car,” a song from Here Comes Science, the brand-new kids’ album by They Might Be Giants.

Helen and I are unashamed geeks. With songs like “Meet the Elements,” “I Am a Paleontologist,” “My Brother the Ape,” and “How Many Planets?” you can be sure this album will join our collection.

Thanks to Brett Berk, aka The Gay Uncle, for alerting me to the new album. Brett is friends with TMBG manager Jamie Kitman, which gives him extra cool bonus points.

[Addendum: Stefan Shepherd of Zooglobble has a lengthy review of the TMBG album as well as the video of "I'm a Paleontologist."]

Songs About Friendship and Being Alone from Erin Lee and Marci

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 all three songs without leaving Mombian.

We’re just back from sailing to Alaska with R Family Vacations and can’t believe that it’s been two years since we met Dana on the cruise and began this blog. We’re kind of sad to be looking at our computer screens rather than gazing out our cabin windows at ice floes covered in seals. But life goes on, and we’re back to NYC, missing all the beautiful families we met or reconnected with on the sea. It’s fitting that this month’s topic is friendship . . . and being alone. Read the rest of this post »

Bad-Hair Songs from Erin Lee and Marci

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 all three songs without leaving Mombian.

Over the last two years we’ve explored some serious issues in this blog. We’ve talked about peace, tolerance, creativity and loneliness. We’ve talked about the importance of speaking your mind and standing up for others. So this month, we are bringing you songs about a very important, universal issue: Hair. We’re talking Bedhead. We’re talking Truly Terrible Haircuts. Read the rest of this post »

Spoken Word Songs from Erin Lee and Marci

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. This month, they take a slightly different tack with recommendations for some spoken-word tracks from favorite children’s artists.

Look for Erin Lee and Marci here on the first Monday of each month, or visit their homepage, www.gottaplay.org. (Yes, today isn’t Monday. Posting late this week because of Blogging for LGBT Families Day.)

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 all three songs without leaving Mombian.

Alas, one of the recommended tracks this month, Bill Harley’s “Why Kids Sing to their Parents” is not available as a single. The protagonist, you see, has two moms, though that’s not at all the main point of the tale, for which Harley gets bonus inclusion points. I may just buy the entire album, myself. Read the rest of this post »

Songs about Grandparents from Erin Lee and Marci

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.

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 all three songs without leaving Mombian. (I’m of the opinion that the Amazon screwup last month was indeed a screwup, but unintentional on the part of the corporation. See the statements from the Lambda Literary Foundation and prolific lesbian author and publisher Patricia Nell Warren.)

The very first children’s song Erin Lee wrote was “Grampa & Me.” We were doing a show to celebrate Grandparents’ Day, and for some strange reason almost every book, poem and song that we found featured gentle, patient, country-living, garden-growing grandparents. Now, of course, there are many wonderful grandparents out there who are just like that—but Erin Lee’s Grampa wasn’t one of them. He used to stand on his head until things fell out of his pockets, and whatever treasure fell out, she got to keep. And Marci’s Grampa used to cut her hair (not as a profession, but for fun—badly). Grandparents, just like families, come in all shapes, colors, sizes . . . and speeds. So here are some songs celebrating all sorts of Grandparents! Read the rest of this post »

Songs About Loose Teeth from Erin Lee and Marci

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.

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’m also trying something new this month, with a widget after the jump that will let you preview all three songs without leaving Mombian.

Our friend Alice lost her very first tooth at school – hooray! Then there was a fire drill . . . and the tooth disappeared. This prompted a major discussion about Tooth Fairy Rules and Regulations, which are very confusing and seem to vary from region to region. Erin Lee remembers getting a tooth pulled out at the dentist’s, only to have the dentist – a professional, mind you! – LOSE the tooth. And that tooth would have scored extra Tooth Fairy Points as she was deprived of the incredible joy of wiggling it around and grossing out her friends. Anyway, these are the songs that we recommended to Alice to commemorate, celebrate – and commiserate – this important rite of passage. Read the rest of this post »

Songs of Imagination from Erin Lee and Marci

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.

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.)

Little kids play pretend all the time – it’s a natural part of their growth. But when those same kids graduate to grade school they pronounce imaginary things babyish. Wrong! How can you create something – a story, an invention, a new law, a better society – unless you can imagine it? It’s important to imagine a world where anything – anything – is possible. You can’t change things for the better if you can’t picture things for the better – and for that you need an active imagination.

So here are some tunes to keep those imaginations charging: Read the rest of this post »