I am preparing a Top Family Music Tunes of all time and want your suggestions. Tunes can be from traditional kid's artists like Dan Zanes and Morgan Taylor (Gustafer Yellow Gold) or regular rockers who write or record kid friendly tunes like Taj Mahal and The Roots. You can even throw in tunes that aren't kid specific at all, if your kids really dig it. My kids love Cold Play's "Life In TechniColor!

I always preface with "my daughter is only two..." and thus here is a list of songs that are really popular in our house:

Barenaked Ladies - Raisins and 7,8,9
Laurie Berkner Band - I'm Gonna Catch You, Song in My Tummy
Trout Fishing in America - Bob and Bob, 18 Wheels on a Big Rig
Justin Roberts - Meltdown
Sandra Boynton - Barnyard Dance (or pretty much anything!)
John Lithgow - A - You're Adorable
David LaMotte - Grandma's Featherbed, SS Bathtub (which also has a book)
John Ondrasik - The Hoppity Song
Blind Mellon - Three is a Magic Number

My musical taste is eclectic, my wife's taste is pretty plain, and our daughter just eats up all sorts of music! Our perfect day was a local Folk Festival where we saw everything from traditional Brazilian to Celtic, from Square Dancing to Rock.

I look forward to hearing from others!

Awesome thanks Rob.

This is a great topic! I would love to see more songs - I wish I had something to contribute but right now "The Wheels on the Bus" is the big hit in our house.

Just keep "7 is the new 14" off the list.

Here's a red flag that I might not be getting this parenting thing just right.

The odd song that my kids loved as toddlers:

Wilson: "Maria (Shut Up and Kiss Me)" by Willie Nelson

Riley: "Airstream" by Fastball

Cooper: "Tailspin" by the Jayhawks

Not much explanation for why these are the songs they picked. But there you go.

Although a few days late for Halloween, 'Looking for Dracula' by Charlotte Diamond is a favorite of my kids year round.

And of course, 'All the Single Ladies' by Beyonce is good for helping them get the wiggles out.

People think it's hard to find kid friendly music that adults will like but really it's not.

They Might Be Giants have a collection of kids music which is actually really good. We have "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Come the 123s," and our son loves to get down to the tracks. They have another one called "Here Comes the Science" but we skipped out on that one as one of the songs speaks about how everything came to be and lets just say we're religious, and we just felt it best to leave that CD alone. We also listen to our normal music around, kid friendly of course. John Mayer, Journey, etc.

There's another kid band called "Milkshake" that my wife stumbled upon. We got the CD for our one year old and dude, I can't stop singing the songs. Their song "You Did It" is highly addictive and is one of our son's favorites. I was at work singing about toys being all over my floor and how I can't see it, and my co-workers were looking at me like "Uhm, are you okay?"

Here's a few that imediately come to mind:-

Danna Banana - Take it Outside/Vehicle/John Banana Milkshake
Trout Fishing in America - Alien in my Nose/18 Wheels/Hair Had a Party/The Window
Gustafer Yellowgold - Butterpond Lake and that whole album..thanks Daddy Brad for the recommendation
Abba - Dancing Queen/Lay All Your Love On Me/Mamma Mia
Peter Himmelman - My Green Kite/Feet
Jack Johnson - Upside Down/People Watching
High School Musical 1,2 and 3 - pretty much all of it!
Dan Zanes - Let's Shake/Moonlit Town/I Don't Want Your Millions
The Dream Jam Band - Jumping to Conclusions/Look Around/Nicky Nicky Knock Knock
Hot Peas 'n Butter - Deep Down
Madagascar II soundtrack - I Like to Move It
Hannah Montana - pretty much all of it!

As my wife and I have not had our child yet, I can't say what works in our house, but we have been searching for kids' music that we'd listen to ourselves. What we've found so far has been quite promising. Our favorites include classic children's albums by Woody Guthrie, Johnny Cash, Pete Seeger, and even Leadbelly. I also enjoy the stuff being done by contemporary alt & folk rockers like Lisa Loeb, Elizabeth Mitchell, Frances England, Dan Zanes, Jack Johnson, and They Might Be Giants. I can't wait to share music with our child. Now if I could only find a early ska/reggae kids' album, I'd be all set.

halldur: Try this one from Ziggy Marley.

Family Time

Also check out Reggae Playground from putumayo kids www.putumayo.com/en/putumayo_kids_catalog_item.php?album_id=211

Excellent suggestions guys, thanks! The ultimate for me would be a collection of 60s ska songs geared toward kids. I may just have to make one myself. But in looking at your suggestions, I ran across a collection of reworked Bob Marley songs aimed at kids put together by Ziggy called 'B is for Bob.' Very nice.