Singalong Stories for “big” kids: a Music Together review

Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own. 

I’m finishing up a review I started in my previous post about Music Together Singalong Stories. Last post, I wrote about how much my toddler loves these. Now, I want to highlight how these same books engage my older kids, too. Older as in 5 and nearly 7 years old.

Their favorites:

five year old Middlest—Sandpiper, Ridin’ in the Car, and She Sells Seashells (see previous review here)

six year old Oldest—All Around the Kitchen and One Little Owl (see previous review here)

The storyline of these books is set to music, so the books are intended to be sung rather than merely read. Why is that important?

I’m no expert, but I’ve seen music hold my children’s attention riveted, while they’ll fidget through a typical read-aloud. Also, it helps my pre-reader really stay engaged on her own. She has the book memorized, every note of it. I hear her in her bedroom, singing through her books all on her own. (If you have a four or five year old, you know how important those four words are.) It’s a book that she can be independent with, a book with words no less, before she’s quite ready to read it by herself.

Music Together Singalong Storybooks review

Music Together Singalong Storybooks review

Then, there’s the pictures that carry multiple little story lines of their own. Every picture is a story in itself. The illustrations keep us talking about the book, stopping mid-song to point something out, practicing counting, or simply laughing at the characters.

Music Together Singalong Storybooks review

Last, there are the suggested activities at the end of a book. And what a perfect place for those suggestions. We finish a great reading time, and then—oh, wait! It says to make up our own song verses, or act out the actions in the song, or something similar. So what happens? We start the book again, reading it through with the suggested variation. And these activities are what seals it for my oldest. He’s big enough to read on his own, but now he gets to create, to act, to become part of the story and the action. He’s learning rhyme and rhythm. He’s learning creativity, and he’s learning to explore a book rather than simply read it and close the cover.

All Around the Kitchen activities
All Around the Kitchen activities

These are valuable lessons, lessons that, even though I’m a book-lover, I don’t think I would have thought of on my own! If someone asked me what books to include in a home library for their children, these would definitely be among my recommendations. I have never encountered a set of books before that so totally engaged my children, all of them.

The Music Together Singalong Stories are available as hardbacks ($13.95) or board books ($9.95) on the website or on Amazon. Visit the website to watch a video of one of the storybooks, listen to samples of the music, and read reviews from teachers, librarians, and language experts that rave about these books. 

(Note: My five year old helped with the taking of some of these pictures so that you could see us reading together. I’ve got such great little helpers!)

Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own. For more, see my disclosure policy.

Singalong Stories for Babies and Toddlers: a Music Together review

Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own.

Music Together Singalong Storybooks review

You should have been at my house when this package arrived, a big box of beautiful books—stories made from our favorite songs! We received the latest of the Music Together Singalong Storybooks for review, and my kids were stoked. As in, I didn’t know if I’d even get to open the box I had so many hands “helping” me.

We’ve enjoyed some of Music Together’s great Singalong Storybooks before, and I just can’t compliment them enough.  Even my littlest still totes around his favorite Singalong board book, Hello, Everybody, and has me read it three or four times in a row before wriggling out of my lap. Now, he’s got a few new favorites.

These books are beautiful, and they are ideal stories for babies and toddlers. The idea behind the songs and stories is to use music and activity to teach kids not just music and rhythm and harmonies (though that’s a wonderful part of the experience), but language and sound and creativity. The huge range of experiences that these songs and books provide makes them suitable for a wide age-range of children. I really wanted to highlight that, so I’m actually doing this review in multiple posts. I’ll be concentrating on my Littlest one today and focusing on the older two in an upcoming post.

To start off, Littlest is about 20 mo. and his favorites are Ridin’ in the Car and Sandpiper. How do I know a book is his favorite? When he has me read it to him multiple times in a single sitting, or when he brings it to me to read to him. Most of the time, Littlest reads books the way the normal toddler does: we get through maybe one or two pages of actual reading, flip pages back and forth (because the sound of a turning page is golden), and close the book. The whole process is maybe 30 seconds long before he’s on the search for a new title.

Music Together Singalong Storybook review

But not with these books. I’m telling you, these books are something special. For one, we already know and love the tunes. When I start the Music Together songs, I have kids running to me from all over the house. Littlest absolutely lights up. So when I pull out a book and sing the book to the tune he already loves, he’s captivated.

He listens to every page.

He stays on a page and talks to me about what he sees, babbling and pointing.

He lets me finish the book. Then, he bobs his head great big and says, ” ‘gin!” (Baby language for “again.”) We literally read a book through 3 or 4 times this way before he decides to move along.

Why the magic? These books are fun and beautiful, but I’m super-impressed with how Littlest responds to these books. They are perfect stories for babies and toddlers because of the beautiful illustrations, engaging characters, and THE MUSIC!

Music Together Singalong Storybook review

The books are sung, not read. Catchy tunes keep the little ones actively involved in the process of reading. They don’t sit passively; they engage with the story. Also, many of the books have pages of sounds instead of words: “brrrr,” “beep, beep, beep,” “vroom,” “nyrrr” and others. That’s right where he’s at developmentally. He loves noises: animal noises, car noises, plane noises, etc. Then, add to that fact the beautiful illustrations with so many fun elements to point out and talk about. The music, the story, the pictures, the activity suggestions provided in the back, all keep him totally engaged. (And the website is now offering free coloring pages to match the stories! Oh, the bliss!)

Ridin' in the Car
Ridin’ in the Car
Ridin In the Car activities
Ridin In the Car activities
Sandpiper
Sandpiper

We count. We talk about words he’s learning to say. We talk about faces the characters are making and make those same faces to each other.

Music Together Singalong Storybooks review

Honestly, it's hard to get good pictures with all the moving and grooving going on!
Honestly, it’s hard to get good pictures with all the moving and grooving going on!

He’s learning so much through these stories. And honestly, I think I am, too. I’m learning the fine art of reading to a toddler.

I highly recommend these stories for babies and toddlers and anyone who loves little ones. Story time will never the be same again. The Music Together Singalong Storybooks are available as hardbacks ($13.95) or board books ($9.95) on the website or on Amazon. Visit the website to watch a video of one of the storybooks, listen to samples of the music, and read reviews from teachers, librarians, and language experts that rave about these books.

(Note: My 6 year-old helped in the taking of some of these photos so that you could get a glimpse of us all snuggled up reading. I think he did pretty good for his photography lesson. Thanks, Helper!)

Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own.