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Caspar Babypants
What is it If you ever wanted to hear the band The Presidents of the United States of America play Beatles covers and nursery rhymes, then have I got the band for you. Chris Ballew, the lead singer and basitarist of P.U.S.A. has a side gig as Caspar Babypants and has put out eleven albums […]
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Sandra Boynton
[amazon_link asins=’0689823223′ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’77d14b2e-0854-11e8-a8f4-75e1b5145d38′] Sandra Boynton has had children’s books in print for the past 40+ years, ever since publishing “Hippos Go Berserk” in 1977. Her distinctive and very recognizable illustration style may be more familiar from her many, many calendars, coffee mugs, and cards. By her own estimate, she has drawn between […]
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StoryBots
What is it Storybots is a series of 100+ educational music videos featuring animated and/or puppet robots. They cover subjects such as the planets, dinosaurs, the alphabet, and more. The production quality is very high and the videos are very entertaining. Who is it for Kids of all ages can get something from the StoryBots […]
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Andrew & Polly
[amazon_link asins=’B013WUASNI’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’13c7f284-10f6-11e8-a064-690d995f6afc’] This duo came out with one of the catchiest songs of the year in 2015. Years later, one of us (parents) spontaneously starts singing this song. Their music is catchy and funny and everyone loves it. From their website: Andrew & Polly compose and produce songs and score for […]
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Lucy Kalantari
[amazon_link asins=’B00K6RNP5O’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3e16db52-10f4-11e8-9682-d9a0e4e8d142′] Whether with TV shows, music, movies, videogames, or books, a challenge is finding stuff that the kids like that we parents can also enjoy, or at least tolerate, even when it’s just the noise we hear on a device from across the room. This is especially true with music […]
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Steam Powered Giraffe
[amazon_link asins=’B0086JZPNO’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’2bb5338a-10e9-11e8-b7e0-d3656075f555′] It has been fascinating to watch this band evolve over the past ten years. From busking at Balboa park in San Diego to a huge theatrical production on a constant nationwide tour. From their website: Steam Powered Giraffe is a musical project from San Diego, California. It was formed […]
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KidsTV123
We try to restrict ‘screen time’ to weekends and when we do let the kids use our phones or the iPad we try to limit video usage to PBS Kids, Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime. YouTube is a special case because of the quantity of ads, but also because of the content of the ads, […]
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Schoolhouse Rock
[amazon_link asins=’B00005JKTY’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’51a85cf2-424e-11e7-a6ad-49cc3733402e’] [amazon_link asins=’B00000DGSW,B00000DGSW’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’5c994f03-424f-11e7-a947-b91f18b3e938′] Schoolhouse Rock was a big part of my childhood. ABC would show the ~3-minute cartoons during ad breaks on Saturday mornings. “Conjunction Junction” was probably the most memorable for me. But then the 70s ended and the series was mostly unavailable until Disney […]
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Philadelphia Chickens
This is a unique book. Sandra Boynton (most famous for desktop calendars and coffee mugs with phrases such as “Don’t Let the Turkeys Get You Down”) wrote a musical and got performers (Kevin Bacon, Eric Stoltz, Meryl Streep, etc.) to sing the songs on the included CD. The CD is about 48 minutes long and […]
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Smithsonian Folkways Children’s Collection
[amazon_link asins=’B000001DOB’ template=’ProductAd’ store=’matchstickkidboo’ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’bd3df570-3fc9-11e7-98b0-394ac395dc6c’] This was a Christmas gift and a surprise huge hit with the kids. We had it in the car for a long road trip to their grandpa and nana’s house and we ended up playing it over and over and for weeks later. It is one of very few […]