For older toddlers, I love the Classical Kids series. Many try to tell the stories of many composers with their music in the background. Excellent. Song of the Unicorn is also a favorite in this household.

Here is a link that might be useful: Classical Kids at Amazon

Jack Hartman does some really neat songs for children at different ages. He does some really good ones that will help with blending sounds, making rhyming words, number concepts for preschool and kindergarten ages.

There are some older ones that you may still be able to find - Learning To Live Together series, and if you can find one that has the song Tooty Ta on it, buy it. That song is so cute.

Perhaps you are looking for something different but all of the above are ones we used while I was teaching, along with Raffi.

Thanks to the both of you! Just read reviews on Amazon. Both of your suggestions sound wonderful. I put them in my wish list so I won't forget.

well, not CD;s but DVD's. My son loved the classical baby series from HBO. He also loved the Disney movies Fantasia and Fantasia 2000. Gets him dancing. :)

The Beatles. Really. Toddlers love "the beat".

ML

My girls loved the Laurie Berkner Band. Fun songs, very upbeat and catchy and not completely annoying like so many children's songs tend to be (like on Barney).

Go to Youtube and search Victor Vito, my DD1's favorite.
Also, Moon Moon. My DS makes me sing this to him everynight before bed, along with the Froggie song. (Froggie went a courtin') I believe this is an old song that she sang on one of her DVDs.

Now that my girls are getting older they are into Taylor Swift and a lot of other songs I listen to. I tend to listen to country, but let me tell you, there is something just so unsettling about hearing your 8 year old belt out, "It's a quarter after 1, I'm a little drunk and I need you now" (Lady Antebellum) Aaahh, gotta love country music.

Boo, thanks. I am always looking for wholesome type gifts like DVDs too. I've made a list on my iPhone.

Thanks, Maddie. My kids loved The Beatles too. We ALWAYS played 'Yellow Submarine' while going through the car wash. They actually have The Beatles already.

Great idea, Polly! Tayler Swift is a favorite of our teens. I'm belly laughing, thinking of your 8 year old belting out those words to the song. That is hysterical. (Grew up with country music. My mother loved all the old Carter Family songs.)

I knew this group would not let me down!

Another vote for Laurie Berkner. Although my kids do love Barney too.

Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie made terrific children's records. My favorite is Pete Seeger's "Concert at Town Hall". Other good ones are Woody Guthrie's "Songs to Grow On for Mother and Child" and "Nursery Days". The Smithsonian Folkways Children's Music Collection is good, too.