Badger Loves Jazz: Reading (and Listening) to Duck Ellington and Ella Elephant

By Justine C. Tajonera

I had a lot of fun last night, playing the CDs of Ella Elephant Scats Like That and Duck Ellington Swings through the Zoo and reading the books to Badger. They were great learning tools, just like Charlie Bird Counts to the Beat, and a great way to help Badger learn how to read.

The Ella Elephant book was cute because I could lead Badger through some nonsense words and just focus on the sounds that they made. I pointed out the letters and their sounds and how it would all sound if we put them together (sound recognition). Plus, Badger got to listen to Ella Elephant make the scat sounds and relate them to musical instruments.

Duck Ellington was also really cute because I realized that Badger recognized some of the animals from Charlie Bird Counts to the Beat like the turtles and the seals! And Vier and I just enjoyed the swing sound.

I guess it made an impression with Badge because before I left for work, he wanted me to read Ella Elephant to him first. I hope Badger will have a genuine love for reading books.

(Jan. 13, 2010)

Badger and Charlie Bird: Engaging Your Child On All Levels

by Justine C. Tajonera

Lately, we've gotten sick of listening to Badger's CD, "Charlie Bird Counts to the Beat." He got it as a gift from his Tita Ines. It was part of a set: a lovely and colorful board book and an accompanying music CD. It's under this book series called "Baby Loves Jazz." We got it a long time ago but we never really appreciated it until now since Badger can already talk.

He loves it to death. He counts to it and he kind of sings to it (in his cute off key way). I couldn't believe that he actually loves the jazz beat. After countless road trips listening to Barney, it was refreshing to hear something different (and something that an adult could appreciate as well). The thing with our toddler is he loves repetition. He can't get enough of Charlie Bird.

I would recommend the whole set up to other parents: interact with your kids on different levels. What's nice about Charlie Bird is that there's a book that he can refer to so he sees different colors and animals and then there's the jazz beat that he can hear and relate to each picture in the book. That way, he's fully engaged. It's also great that the numbers are also spelled out so now he's interested in the way the numbers are spelled and it's going to lead him to his first reading forays one of these days.

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