Heart Week: Love Me Tender

One of my absolute favorites!! The lyrics are the same ones Elvis Presley sang, but the pictures depict the love between a father and a daughter. It is beautifully illustrated and so sweet! A perfect song for Heart Week!

Shark Week! Somewhere in the Ocean

This sing-a-long book includes fantastic illustrations of 10 different kinds of sea creatures. You can count them as you go and there is even a hidden number on each page the kids can find! The musical score in included in the book, so you can figure out the tune if you don't already know it. Worth the time to learn this song!

Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?

This book elaborates on a simple and favorite childhood song. The dog's owner scolds him and the dog runs away. He goes on a grand adventure and decides that home is the best place for him. Adoring, cute and a lot of fun to sing!

We're Going to the Zoo

I love this song! You can use it as a music and movement song before you share this book. Have the kids think of different animals at the zoo and what the animals might be doing. Make up your own lyrics for the animals they think of, and have them act out what the animals do. You can also have them act the song while you sing the book. The illustrations in this book are great! The illustrator captures the joy of going to the zoo and does a great job showing the animals acting their parts. This book promises to be fun for you and the kids in your life!

A-Hunting We Will Go!

This book is great for winter! The two main characters are children, all warm in their jammies and getting ready for bed. While they are getting ready, they imagine all sorts of fun scenarios with their stuffed animals as they gather them together for bedtime. Each page is rich with many things to look at and so much going on that you could spend a long time pointing out all the fun things to your kids.

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

This is sheerly for the fun of it! If you haven't heard this song before, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RBZz730ibU and hear the original version. It is silly and the kids LOVE it! There are enough Christmas sing-a-long picture books that I love that I will sometimes do two books, one at the start of the lesson and one at the end. After this book I sing a song that allows the kids to vocalize what they want for Christmas. I'll post that song on Monday! 

The Nativity Song

This is one of the most beautiful Christmas songs I know! It is a song that is sung by the children at my church, and all the music (lyrics, sheet music and audio files) can be found here: http://www.lds.org/music/library/childrens-songbook/the-nativity-song?lang=eng

The song tells the story of the Nativity and starts out: "This is the season, beloved of the year. Sing a rhyme, Christmas time soon will be here. Tell the true story of Jesus' birth, when, as a baby, he came to the earth." The verses that follow tell about each part of the Nativity: the new star, the angel proclaiming the birth, the stable, the animals, the manger, the shepherds, the wise men, Mary, Joseph and finally the baby Jesus. I just now discovered that this is in book form. I'm not posting it in my Friday book review because I haven't looked through it yet, but Simon Dewey is an amazing artist. I imagine the pictures in this book are wonderful!

Here is what I suggest doing with this song: Before you sing the book to them, bring a nativity set for the kids to touch and play with. Give each child a part of the nativity and have them hold it up during their part of the song. With older kids, you can have them solo the part of the song that their nativity piece represents. When everyone is taking a turn singing it's a great opportunity to get kids comfortable with singing alone!

The First Noel

Beautiful images and a beautiful song! What more can you ask? Also, if you get it with the CD you get to listen to a classic rendition by the king. (We are Elvis fans in this house!) I love books that show the nativity in picture form so my kids can better understand the birth of our Savior. And it's even sweeter that I get to sing to it!

Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire

I love the coziness of a fireplace at Christmas time. It is perfection to me to be cuddled up in front of the fireplace with my hubby or my kids watching the fire flicker and feeling so content. The melody of this song captures that feeling and this is a fabulous book to sing out loud as you experience the beauty of that moment!

Grandma's Feather Bed

This is a GREAT book! It is a silly song to sing and the illustrations are so fun! The book easily lends itself to discussions about families, how neat it is to get together, and the wonderful memories we can make. We may not have grandmas with huge feather beds, but we have traditions and moments that make our families unique. You could even make up a song about your child's memories of family times. This book is great all year-round, but especially fun to sing around Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Grateful

Grateful is my all-time favorite Thanksgiving book. The song is by John Bucchino, illustrations by Anna-Liisa Hakkarainen. This book includes a CD of the song sung by Art Garfunkel. The illustrations are mostly evening-related, perfect for snuggling in and singing this to your loved one, and helping them realized just how much they have been blessed with. In larger groups we have discussions about what things the kids are grateful for, and we discuss that even though there are things that do go wrong, there is so much good in all of our lives, so much to be the thankful for that if we focus on what we're thankful for our lives will be happier.

What a Wonderful World

One of my favorite Books to Sing is "What a Wonderful World", Lyrics by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, Illustrations by Ashley Bryan. Its colorful illustrations are fascinating to look at, and its simple melody leaves the kids singing long after you have sung to them. I love the message in this book. The lyrics promote unity amongst all colors and tongues, and the pictures show peace in many settings, set to a puppet show. It's one of my trusty stand-by's!