Stuff We Like: Summer Playlist for Kids

Summer is the perfect season for throwing open the windows, cranking up the tunes, and dancing around with your little ones. Need to freshen up that playlist? Here are a few of the kindie rockers we love (many from the NYC area) and their great (read: smart, catchy, danceable) new music you can groove to this summer:  

1. Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights: Bandwagon

We nominate NYC-based Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights' "Are We There Yet" as your summer road trip anthem. "I Love New York," also on the group's new Bandwagon album, is playlist-worthy, too. The album is geared toward kids ages 2-9 (buy at joanieleeds.com and other major music sellers). This is the fifth album of original music for kids from the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter, and it was funded in part through a Kickstarter campaign. For past albums, Leeds has won an Independent Music Award, a Gold Parents' Choice Award, and a NAPPA Gold Award.

2. Miss Nina: Sha Doo Be Doop

Brooklyn musician Nina Stone, a.k.a. Miss Nina, makes music emphatically for "kids first," but we swear you'll happily bop along to "My Hula Hoop" and "Ridin' in My Car," two truly summery songs on her new album, Sha Doo Be Doop.  Also worth a listen: "Wild Things," an interactive ode to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, in which kids can gnash their terrible teeth, roll their terrible eyes, show their terrible claws, and get up and jump when the "wild rumpus" starts. As with most of Nina's music, the album is mostly inspired by children's books, and it's recommended audience is kids ages 1-6. (MiniMonster, $12.98; available at mymissnina.com and other major music sellers) 

3. Milkshake: Got a Minute?

This is the first new album in four years from the Baltimore-based, Grammy-nominated kids' band. Got a Minute? is the fifth CD from Milkshake, and it features 33 tracks, most of which clock in at 2 minutes or less and all of which are recommended for ages 4-9. The uplifting, Irish-folk sounding single "We Just Wanna Have Fun" will get everyone stomping and clapping to the beat, while the group's mellow, instrumental "Seabreeze" is the perfect way to wind down after a day at the beach. Band founders Lisa Mathews and Mikel Gehl (once bandmates in the indie rock group Love Riot) are the parents of tweens, and their kids make guest appearances on the album: Mathews daughter, Jesse, plays and sings her original song "One Day," while Gehl’s son, Eric, plays drums on "One of a Kind," and they both sing in the kid choruses of "Workin' Kid Blues" and "Hiccup." (Milkshake Music, $12.98; available at milkshakemusic.com and other major music sellers)