Looking for some help to pass the time while driving in the car? Do you have a long road trip planned for the holidays?
Last summer my friend with two boys kept telling me about this truck CD from the library that her boys love. I had never checked a CD out from the library. I finally remembered to check it out one day, and we were hooked. Then we started checking out several CDs at a time. I stocked up for a long trip across the plains of South Dakota last summer and again for a trip to Branson this fall. My boys love finding a great CD. Not all the ones we have checked out have been hits with my boys, so we just move on to the next one.
CDs really make car trips go quicker. We listen to them when we are running errands or, well… anytime we are in the car. I don’t let them (except on RARE occasions) watch a video while driving from here to there – we save that for longer car trips. Even then I make them listen to music or books on tape for a set amount of time first. We usually don’t even get out of our development before my oldest asks to listen to some songs.
They also make great gifts. My sister-in- law thanked me dearly for the CD we gave my nephew since she now had all those songs in her head!
I love exposing the boys to different types of music (I even made them listen to a Josh Grobin Christmas CD the other day when I needed a bit of adult music!). My oldest can be pretty picky about music. It has to have a good beat to win him over. But when a song does win him over, he has been known to put it on repeat in his CD player all afternoon during quiet time. He will even memorize what number each song is on the CD, and when we check it out again months later, he can still tell me which number his favorite song is.
Here are a few of our favorite CDs that we have checked out from the Ankeny library.
Snacktime by Bare Naked Ladies
Yes, you read that right… Bare Naked Ladies. I didn’t know who put the CD out when I placed a hold on it a few months ago. When I saw who the band was my first thought was, “Well, my boys should love this since I am guessing it will be rockin’,” and I was right. Hands down, this CD is my favorite and has some of the boys’ most favorite songs. Oh yes, it is a rockin’ CD that won’t drive you crazy like many kid’s CDs. Like all CDs, there are a few songs we don’t care for, but we just skip them. Most of the songs are just the right length, too – not too short and not too long to hold the kiddos attention.
Animal Alphabet Songs A-Z by David Polansky
This is a fun CD that has 26 songs: one short song for each letter of the alphabet and a correlating animal for that letter. So the first song is about alligators for the letter A. We all enjoy this CD and we each take turns picking our favorite song to play. My favorite is the Yak! The songs are short and sweet! My seven-year-old played the skunk song on repeat one day pretty much all day long!
Cars, Trucks, and Trains by Jane Murphy
This is such a great boy CD. I gave this to my nephew for his birthday. This CD make the perfect gift or stocking stuffer for boys! Not much else to say about this CD except it is a favorite in our home or car!
Choo Choo Soul DisneyMy three-year-old grabbed this CD the other day from the library. If your kids are fans of the little Disney shorts then they will enjoy this CD. Even if you don’t watch Disney, this is still a fun CD with a great beat! The CD we checked out from the library also had a DVD with the music videos of the songs.
What kind of Cat Are You? by Billy Jonas
This is fun and different than your typical children’s CD. One of our favorite songs is about Mt. Saint Helen. One day, the song turned into a great little homeschool lesson. I can’t say we love all the songs on this CD, but there are several fun ones the boys love to listen to over and over.
Check out your library for some fun CDs for your holiday travels. Grab several in case some of them aren’t quite what you were expecting!
Do your kids love to listen to music? What are some of your favorite CDs? I would love to find more!
Images of CDs are taken from Amazon.
