[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXPHQlZDI2o[/youtube]
These two energetic baby books by Sandra Boynton will add much rhythm and dance to baby’s first library. “A cow says MOO, A sheep says BAA, Three singing pigs say LA LA LA,” begins MOO, BAA, LA LA LA. The story reads in the rhythm of a march and ends with an invitation for baby to join in. A mother I know who was a dancer loved to read these books to each of her three children as a way to introduce rhythm and share her passion for the performing arts.
Boynton’s beloved barnyard animals appear again in The Barnyard Dance. The cow and horse square dance with their friends as the reader issues the calls such as stomp, clap, bow, twist, strut, spin, prance, and swing. This book has the energy and dynamics of an old-fashioned square dance for everyone– “with a neigh and moo and a cockadoodle doo, another little promenade two by two.” The above video from storybookreadalong’s youtube channel will teach you the rhythm. Dance out the movements when you read the story and baby will love it!
Moo, Baa, La La La: by Sandra Boynton. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984).
The Barnyard Dance: by Sandra Boynton. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993).