A Truly Jazzy Album for Children

Audio

Sooz: I Wanna Iguana. Soozaroo Music. CD: $14.98. Cassette: $9.98. (800) 443-4727 or https://www.jazzworld.com/Education/Sooz. One of the best new children’s releases of the year. Educational music isn’t rare, but when it comes with this kind of hot, jazzy musicianship, it’s a find. Award-winning saxophonist-singer-songwriter Sooz gives irresistible rhythms to songs about books, kid conflicts, space, moms and friendship. Don’t miss the gospel-style “I’m Hooked,” the child-affirming “Little Hands” and the lovely, deceptively simple “The Arrow and the Song”--words by Longfellow.

A Musical Tour of the Wildlife Waystation. Bear Claw Productions. CD: $15; cassette: $10. (818) 342-0501; (818) 763-4226. Bouncy animal tunes by Tickle Toon Typhoon, Tim Noah, Dan Crow, Sooz and other children’s artists, with part of album’s proceeds to benefit the Wildlife Waystation of L.A. County. The educational and comic songs are interwoven with a “tour” through the animal rescue and refuge center, with host T-Bone (co-producer Tim Arem, who conceived the album) and kid pals who learn animal facts from Waystation founder Martine Colette.

Raffi: The Singable Songs Collection. Shoreline Records/Rounder. 3-CD set: $30. 3-cassette set: $20. (800) 443-4727. “Baby Beluga” may not be included in this 20th anniversary collection by the velvet-voiced children’s music superstar, but other trademark tunes abound: “Down by the Bay,” “Shake My Sillies Out” and “You Gotta Sing,” to name a few of the more than 50, never-out-of-date selections.

Video

Donna’s Day Wild Animals Preschool Activity Kit and Video. Time-Life Kids, 30 minutes. $16.99. (800) TIMEVID. Donna Erickson, host of “Donna’s Day,” the award-winning PBS series on creative parenting, supplies materials and video tips for companionable togetherness in this new release. In her comfortable, cheerful style, Erickson demonstrates the how-to’s of four easy-to-follow projects--a “Mighty Lion Mask,” “Wild Cat Picture Frame,” “Safari Finger Puppets” and “Animal Matching Game.” Patterns, paper, felt, glitter and everything else needed are in the kit.

Erickson shows how parents and children can combine fun with art, because the most important thing being created, she says, is the memory of shared time.