Sing, sing a song!

It's so important to sing with your children, from birth on up. Not only are songs a part of our cultural heritage, but you are teaching language and vocabulary when you sing to/with your child. Notice that when you sing, you enunciate your words more clearly, and you say them more slowly than when you speak. This is ideal for young learners of language.

A Treasury of Children's Songs: Forty Favorites to Sing and Playis such an essential book for children! There are 40 songs with words and music, including such classics as "Red River Valley," "Home on the Range," and "Shenandoah," as well as childhood favorites like "London Bridge," "Lazy Mary," "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "The Mulberry Bush." The songs are illustrated with art from the Metropolitan Museum.
There are so many picture books with just one song--kids love to see illustrations as you sing to/with them. How about Take Me Out to the Ballgame or There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly?
If I were buying books for a new baby today, this would be first on my list:A You're Adorable--a popular song from the 1940's that goes on to "B-you're so beautiful" and right on through the alphabet. Just what the new parents will want to sing to their baby!
And I love this book and CD! Lullabies: An Illustrated Songbookis also by the Metropolitan Museum, and also has illustrations from famous artwork, with classic lullabies to sing to the littlest listeners. Lullabies: A Songbook Companion is a CD with beautiful arrangements of these songs.