Laurie Berkner

Laurie Berkner's platinum-selling, award-magnet music may be written for kids, but even adults have a hard time resisting the rousing chorus ("Hey Victor, hey Freddie, let's eat some spaghetti!") of her contagiously goofy "Victor Vito." That's because the former rocker's sunshine-y vocals and folky/funtastic style goose everything from the sing-along silliness of "Pig on Her Head," to the foot-stomping fantasia "We Are the Dinosaurs," to the nice-and-clean kid rap "I'm a Mess." Stomp into Next Steps for more magic Berkner music for kids.

Rocker by night, pre-school music teacher by day, Laurie Berkner got the inside angle on how to move kids with music and keep their parents sonically sane. So while moppets are boppin' to the egg-scramblin' jamboree "I Know a Chicken," it's easy for Mom and Dad to get into the tune's locomotive-blues groove. And when it's time to send the little darlings off to dreamland, Berkner's take on the long-loved lullaby "All the Pretty Little Horses" helps reconnect parents to their own sweet and snuggly bedtimes. Drift away into Deep Cuts for more Berkner sounds to sing and share.

Kids' music can be about way more than nonsense and nursery rhymes. Laurie Berkner likes to teach tykes that music can be a fun form of self-expression, whether she's getting them in touch with their own arm-waving, hip-shaking life force on "My Energy," or celebrating the little individual in everybody with "I'm Me and You're You." Meanwhile, "Running Down the Hill" nurtures young imaginations by painting a picture of a singing flower's fancy-free point of view.

Backed by music-school know-how, rock-band bona fides and a pre-school teacher's feel for what little ones like, Laurie Berkner makes music that kids and grownups can all get behind. With three full playlists in our Laurie Berkner Essentials to choose from, there's a song for all of your little one's ever-changing moods, from the sheer silly fun of "The Goldfish," to the warm-and-fuzzy good vibrations of "Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)" to the get-it-all-out self-expressions of "The Story of My Feelings." And hey, if anything can get them to eat their cucumbers and zucchini, it's gotta be the "crunch, a crunch, a crunch, crunch, crunch" of Berkner's fresh and delicious "The Valley of Vegetables."