Most afternoons, I pop Alden down on his playmat and turn up the volume on his iTunes playlist.  We have a few playlists on the go: one for sleeping, one for sing-alongs and one for “music this kid should learn to like” .

First up, our afternoon sing-along playlist.  It’s not super complete – I did a quick downloading frenzy one afternoon when Alden was napping and chose as many songs as I could find that weren’t too hokey or annoying.

• The Corner Grocery Store – Raffi
• Baby Beluga – Raffi
• Six Little Ducks – Raffi
• One Elephant, Deux Éléphants – Sharon, Lois & Bram
• “A” You’re Adorable – Sharon, Lois & Bram
• Cookie Jar – Games Sharon, Lois & Bram
• Hey Daddy – (There’s A Hippo In My Tub) – Anne Murray
• Teddy Bears’ Picnic – Anne Murray
• Animal Crackers – Anne Murray
• Love Somebody / A Bushel and a Peck – Sharon, Lois & Bram
• I Am a Pizza – Charlotte Diamond
• Ten in the Bed – Sharon, Lois & Bram
• Waltzing Matilda
• Bud the spud – Stompin’ Tom Connors

For bedtime or quiet time, I bought the Sharon, Lois and Bram “Sleepytime” album as well as Melissa Errico’s “Lullabies and Wildflowers”.  I’m fond of the Errico album because the music doesn’t scream BABY LULLABIES, it’s sort of a good balance between “granola mom” and “folk”.  I also added some Anne Murray to the mix – how can you have a playlist without Anne??  Impossible.  To the sleepytime mix, I’ve added her “Hush little baby”, “Sleepytime” and “You needed me” tunes.  In fact, most of the songs from her There’s a Hippo in My Tub album could be added to this mix.  I love this album.