Crew Review: Music Together

When the older girls were toddlers, we took a mommy/toddler class that included lots of fun action songs. The girls loved it and we were sad when it ended. I've thought about looking for something similar for Little Bit, but we travel so much now, that it hasn't seemed practical. We would miss too many classes with our traveling.

So when we got the chance to review Music Together I figured that would be the best of both! We received the Music Together Family Favorites CD and the Family Favorites Songbook for Teachers. The songbook is so much more than just a songbook, it is a manual for teaching a toddler/preschool music class. Before each song it gives basic suggestions for how to introduce and use that song. After each song there are a couple more pages with suggestions for using the song with different ages (infant, preschool, etc.), special needs children, etc.

Even though Sassy and MiniMe are older, we included them in our fun.  I had good intentions of getting pictures of the girls enjoying the action songs but I never wanted to interrupt what we were doing to take the picture, so I'll just tell you about what we did.

We all sat in a circle on the floor, or, on some of the gorgeous, not too hot days recently, on a blanket in the yard. We started with the welcome song, then did 3 to 6 other songs, a mix of ones we had done before and new ones. Some of the songs are action songs, others use instruments. We already had some instruments, maracas and shaking eggs and some little toy drums. When we needed things we didn't have, we looked around the house. Wooden spoons make great rhythm sticks, an empty oatmeal container makes a good drum, if you can handle the loudness, so does a kettle. . . So we didn't have to buy anything extra to go with this. If we hadn't had maracas, dry beans in small Tupperware containers work well.  However, the site does sell instruments if you prefer.

So, what do we think? Little Bit thought it was great fun, the older girls, while obviously not the target audience, participated willingly and didn't complain, which says a lot LOL. I think the CD would make a fun CD just to listen to whenever, the songs are fun & catchy, it would also be a nice "supplement" to have if your child is taking a Music Together class. For an actual class, like the songbook lays out, an actual pianist would be ideal. If MiniMe had been taking piano lessons longer I would have made that her job. Since we didn't have a pianist, I wish we had an accompaniment type cd without singing, or that the CD included accompaniment only tracks as well. Often the book suggested letting the children make up words, or otherwise modifying the songs, which was hard to do with the cd having words. Alternately, you could memorize the songs well enough to sing without accompaniment but my singing isn't good enough for that LOL.

This would be a great product for a family with several little ones (the classes are listed as being from babies through age 7, so anywhere in that range would work well, older siblings may enjoy joining in too, like my 9 yr olds did), or for the younger kids at a homeschool coop. Alternately, anyone with young kids, looking for a cd of fun kid songs could just get the cd. Music Together also offers classes, you can check here for classes in your area.

You can purchase the cd for $14.95, or an mp3 download of the album for $9.99 and the songbook for $29.95, or you can get the CD and songbook together for $39.95, you can find the combo on this page.  AND You can use coupon code "Schoolhouse" for $2 off your purchase.

Be sure to check the crew blog to see how other reviewers used this product.

Disclaimer: I received one or more of the above mentioned product at no charge as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.