Schoolhouse Crew Review: Happy Kids Songs

You may be familiar with Dr. Mac for his songwriting on the hit PBS series Jay Jay the Jet Plane.  He has teamed up with Brian Man and several singers and musicians to put together Happy Kids Songs, a fun way to boost children's character, and social and emotional skills. As a member of the Schoolhouse Review Crew, we received the following items to use and review:
Friends and Sharing (set 1) Happiness and Attitude (set 5) Manners and Character (set 6)
And
Happy Kids Song Workbook: Hands on Activities to Build Character, Social and Emotional Skills

Happy Kids Songs were written with children 3-8 in mind, but it can be enjoyed by children a little younger and older as well.  The songs are not just made to entertain but to help children learn important tools for living.  There are 8 different albums available with 5 songs on each album. Albums can be purchased in either mp3 or iTunes (mp4) format.  The albums cost $4.95 each or you can purchase individual songs for .99 each. Each of the albums also have bonus activity pages to go along with the songs, or you can purchase the printed out copy of the Happy Kids Songs Workbook for $12.56 with all of the activities for all of the songs.  
Happy Kids Songs Albums Include:

Manners and Character-H-O-N-E-S-T-Y, The Magic Word, Quirks, The Golden Rule, Six Little Kids

Happiness and Attitude-Shake It Out and Dance, Who Knows What's a Kudo?, I Don't Understand, Be Good to Yourself, Better Together

Friends and Sharing-Sailing on the Seven C's, Everybody Wants to Find a Friend, Sharing Friends, Happy as Happy Can Be, Together

Skills and Bullying-Bye, Bye Bully, Follow and Lead, Same and Different Too, Let Me Play Too, The Gift of Giving
Feelings and Fears-Big Kids Know How to Cry, That's What a Dad Would Do, Go Away Bad Thoughts, Let Em' Out, Tell Someone
Practice and Success-Reach Out, The Carousel Song, What You Can Do, Practice, It's About a Sunrise
Respect and Responsibility-We're the Chorus, Give it Back, Diplodocus, Clean up Time, Soldier of Peace
Talking and Listening-Talk it Out, Say Whatcha Gotta Say, At the Same Time, Talkin about Talkin, Don't Say Maybe You can listen to some samples on this page.
I listened to Happy Kids Songs with my 3 and 5 year old daughters.  Each album downloads as a zip file and then you extract the files so you can play the songs.  Due to our slow internet connection it did take awhile for the albums to download, but once I got them downloaded we were good to go. The songs are upbeat and have very catchy rhythms and lyrics (beware you may find yourself singing them at the strangest times.)  They all have a great message to them.  You certainly do not have to worry about any inappropriate content sneaking its way in to these songs. Children will be able to relate easily to many of the situations presented in the songs.  There is a great variety of both adults and children singing and a wide range of instruments and music styles used which is sure to appeal to and keep the attention of many children.  Some of my girls favorites were Shake it Out, Sailing on the Seven C's, and the Magic Word.
The workbook contains the lyrics to all of the songs and also a variety of activities to go along with each song.  Activities range from drawing, to coloring, to mazes, word searches, dot to dots, and more.  These pages make a great companion to the songs.  
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, click on the banner below.