The Gift Of Music

Let’s dance! And sing! Kids and music are like peanut butter and jelly: they just naturally go great together. Here are five albums that will keep little toes tapping in your house, now that it’s getting too cold for dancing in the streets.

“Morning Wish Garden” by The OHMies
Bailey Butterfly, Carlin Caterpillar and their friends take your child on an interactive journey to wake up Mr. Sun. That’s how their garden of wishes grows!

This is the group’s first full-length musical album with 10 original songs like “Grasshopper Hop,” “Wag Your Tail,” and “Shake ‘Em Off Shuffle,” all meant to get kids up and moving with fun, participatory activities that promote healthy, active living in an amusing and exciting way. theohmies.com

“ABC Fiesta” by Mister G
“Hola Amigos,” “Cocodrilo,” and “Bongo Bongo” are just a few of the 12 songs by this kid-friendly bilingual rock star. The album is an invigorating blend of Latin rhythms accompanied by a funky acoustic guitar, world beat-inspired celebrations of letters, words and reading in both Spanish and English, lilting reggae lullabies, plus tunes influenced by zydeco (a mix of Cajun music, blues, and rhythm & blues). mistergsongs.com

“The Sounding Joy” by Elizabeth Mitchell and Friends
Elizabeth Mitchell and a list of musical luminaries such as Natalie Merchant, Aoife O’Donovan, Amy Helm, John Sebastian, Dan Zanes, Happy Traum, including special guest Peggy Seeger, add their voices to pay tribute to Ruth Crawford Seeger, the modernist composer and an American folk music specialist.

This album is a spirited collection of 24 folk carols drawn from her 1953 songbook American Folk Songs for Christmas and celebrates the spirit of community and homespun traditions. folkways.si.edu

“Recess” by Justin Roberts
The latest album from the Judy Blume of kiddie rock is unrestrained, and explores the world from many perspectives – kids who love to play, proud yet exhausted parents, and a loyal pet dog — with gigantic electric guitars, intricate vocal harmonies, and catchy melodies. “Hopscotch,” “Recess,” and 10 other original songs will add energy to any day. The limited-edition CD Package includes a pop-up robot, and secret web links to craft activities and bonus media. justinrobertsmusic.com

“S.S. Brooklyn” by Lloyd H. Miller
Set sail on the good ship S.S. Brooklyn. The musician’s first solo album offers 16 songs based on his legendary sing-alongs. “Gowanus Canal,” “Brooklyn By Bike,” and “Carroll Street Bridge” encourage families to explore their neighborhoods and build a community, which is easy to do when everyone’s singing, clapping and dancing along with the music. As Miller says, “We’re all in the boat, we gotta get along.” lloydhmiller.com

“Everyone Together Now!” by Mil’s Trills
“Mother May I,” is the standout hit on this merrily chaotic debut album that deftly combines music from around the world: urban funk, blues, honky-tonk, and Calypso. Talk about a spirited rhythmic adventure. The album enlists the use of over 42 instruments, including a sousaphone, cuica, mellotron, even a blade of grass! These original, quirky and highly interactive tunes are an effective and fun tool for broadening horizons, building community, engaging parents and children, and teaching early music education. Mil’s Trills, aka Amelia Robinson, is a composer, Suzuki trained pianist, vocalist and self-taught ukulele-ist who charms audiences with her whimsical songs and enchanting voice. In stores January 26, 2014. ameliarobinson.co.uk/mils_trills

Chickenshed NYC

Chickenshed is an inclusive theatre company that began in the UK in 1974. Chickenshed NYC is a young organization bringing that same ethos and unique methodology to the USA. Chickenshed&rsquo;s mission is to create entertaining and outstanding theatre that celebrates diversity and inspires positive change. Chickenshed's model of Inclusive Theatre is based in the belief that everyone can flourish when everyone is included. At Chickenshed everyone is welcome, everyone is valued, and together we produce remarkable theatre. We want to break down barriers between people to create a world without labels and where differences no longer divide. At Chickenshed, support is given to those who need it, and given by those who can . We believe that creative activities, self-expression and performance should be available to anyone who has the desire, no matter their background or circumstances. We know that when everyone has the opportunity to shine, amazing things happen. Chickenshed NYC provides programming for little ones, children and youth through semester-long activities and performances.

British Swim School - Manhattan

The premier learn-to-swim provider for people of all ages, offering programs for children ages 3-months through adults.&nbsp; British Swim School uses gentle teaching methods and a survival-first approach to help people of all experience levels become safer, stronger swimmers. British Swim School&rsquo;s safe, fun, and effective instructional program has made it the preferred choice for parents and students for over 40 years. Come see the British Swim School difference!

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;