Christmas Ideas #2: Kids Galore! 4 Great Presents for your little ones

Christmas feature number 2 is a special for kids. If you're looking for something entertaining, educational, fun, or all of the above, take a look at these great gift ideas.


Keller Williams brings two new gift ideas out, just in time for Christmas. Here is a little blurp on Keller Williams:

Long considered one of the most unique and prolific performers in all of rock and famed for his awesome multi-instrumentalist skills, Keller Williams has won the hearts and imaginations of a seething tide of young adults. Over the last seven years, Keller has sold more than 275,000 CDs, and he plays approximately 100 shows each year.   Major festival appearances in 2010 include Telluride Bluegrass, Mile High Music Festival, All Good, Smilefest, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and more.

1) He recently released his 16th album -the first ever for family and kids, titled "Kids". This album is geared towards 3-7 year olds and features a wide assortment of fun songs with names like Hula Hoop To Da loop, Taking a Bath, Horseback Rider, and many more. Its an assortment of 14 fun and hilarious songs with a runtime of 35 minutes that your child can relate to and would love singing along to. Okay, I am clearly not a kid anymore but I truly enjoyed Keller Williams songs as well. They were fun and hilarious and I know my SO's nephews would be more than happy to dance and jam to these tunes! Check out a free download of his song at Keller Williams' Kids' site.


2) Along with his first ever CD for kids, he also came out with his first book titled "Because I Said So" based off one of his CD tracks. Here's the synopsis for "Because I Said So":

Because I Said So is told through the eyes of “L’il Keller,” who begins by asking, “Mommy, can I have some pink flamingos?”  The little fellow soon learns the important life lesson that you can’t always have what you want, and there isn’t always a good reason why.  “You can't have an alligator, tractor, giraffe or hippopotamus, cause I said so!"  Enhanced by the cleverly drawn illustrations of Virginia artist Bill Harris, Because I Said So is humorous, colorful, heartfelt, and wise.  Included with the book is a CD containing the song "Because I Said So.”

This was an absolutely adorable book, I had a great time reading it. The graphics were cute and fun and would make a great bedtime story for kids aged 2-8. Its an easy read too at 33 pages but with the storyline, I'm sure both parents and kids would enjoy the story. I would definitely recommend both of Keller Williams items to a friend and think they would be great Christmas gifts to any kids.


If you're interested, check out this list of family shows for Keller Williams and see if he's in your area. He has a full schedule of evening shows for adults as well as a number of matinee shows for children and families. Here's the list of currently confirmed family shows:
Saturday, Feb 5: Park West, Chicago IL
Saturday, Feb 12: Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA


Buy It: Both Keller Williams CD "Kids" ($9.99-14.99) and Book "Because I Said So" ($20.00) are available online at Keller Williams kids' site. You can also find videos, a free downloadable song, a goat cam, and a goat orchestra there. Fun stuff!


3) Deborah Poppink, better known as DidiPop, is quickly becoming one of LA's hottest kids' musicians. Not only does she hold a degree from UC Berkeley in Sociology and Music, she is a muscic teacher, performer, and helped compose music for shows like the Jack and Jill TV show and The X-Files.  

  

DidiPop has come out with a brand new CD. I'm not sure about you, but winters back home can get to -40C, yes Celsius, sometimes even colder. For my American friends, that works out to be -40F which is pretty hard to imagine. :) So, DidiPop's new CD "DidiPop Goes to Hawaii" sounds like a perfect vacation! This CD is a musical travelogue that was inspired by DidiPop's actual visits to Hawaii with her own family and with winters like the ones back home, this CD brought me to a hot, tropical, Hawaiian destination. This CD brings your whole family to your Hawaii and allows you to enjoy various adventures such as the initial plane ride through 'Wowie Gazowie', eat 'Coconut Candy', and take a ride on the 'Sugar Cane Train'. Its guaranteed fun for the kids and easy and enjoyable for them to sing along and use their imaginations. I love the creativity of this CD and how it actually incorporates learning about the Hawaiian alphabet, mangos and the hula in it. So, not only are kids learning in the background, they are also having fun singing, dancing, and using their imagination on a trip to Hawaii through 13 great tracks.  This CD is best suited for ages 2-8 with a runtime of 33 minutes.


Buy It: DidiPop's CD "DidiPop Goes to Hawaii" ($14.99) is available on her website as well as iTunes. 

4) Last but certainly not least is some monkey business, well, Monkey Monkey Music Videos by Meredith LeVande. 

Meridith LeVande is an award-winning children's musician besides her impressive CV. She has undergraduate degrees in Women's Studies and English, a masters degree in music, and you would never guess this next one, a law degree! She came out with her debut album Monkey Monkey Music 5 years ago and it was a Parenting Magazine "pick". Her DVD, Monkey Monkey Music: The Videos with Meredith Levande came out just today but even before its release, it already won an endorsement from Kids First: The Coalition for Quality Children's Media as well as a 2010 NAPPA Honors Award. I watched this DVD and oh my god, the songs are so catchy that even I wanted to get up and move to it so I am absolutely positive that this is yet another Christmas gift that the little ones would love. You wouldn't believe me, but my SO has been singing "Let's go down to Chinatown" for the past 15 minutes since I watched that particular music video. So, if you can get an fully grown adult male to be singing and dancing, you can bet a 2-5 year old child would love singing, learning and dancing to these upbeat music videos. Its a great way to subtly include education within music and fun. I love it because kids learn quicker that way when they have fun. This DVD further has optional lyric captions so that children can learn to read earlier. Packed full with 15 music videos with a run time of 36 minutes, this is another great stocking stuffer.


Buy It: Monkey Monkey Music: The Videos with Meredith LeVande ($19.99) is available at amazon.com, cdbaby.com, filmbaby.com and her website. You can also check out some music videos from the DVD on her site. Trust me, you'll be singing it for the rest of the day. 


There you have it, 4 great stocking stuffers for the little ones and I thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. Even at my age, my SO I wanted to and in fact, were singing along to these songs so I am sure my SO's nephews will do the same.


Disclaimer: The product/s mentioned above have been provided free of charge from the manufacturer or PR firm for the purposes of this review. Opinions expressed belong to Whirlwind of Surprises and are NOT influenced in any way. Please view my full disclosure.

Until next time,

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