See You On the Moon! Songs for Kids of All Ages (Paper Bag, 2006) - $13.98

The title track of this collection is the Great Lake Swimmers' meta-kids-song "See You On the Moon," in which the singer fantasizes about growing up to be an astronaut, a farmer, or perhaps a rock star. CBC Radio 3 named it one of the best Canadian pop songs of 2006, and the rest of the record follows suit, with fresh tracks by Canadian and American indie darlings. Low's Alan Sparkhawk offers up a live recording of the charmingly sincere "Be Nice to People with Lice." Sufjan Stevens contributes the French Christmas carol "The Friendly Beasts," rendered with horns and harmonies in his signature style. Detective Galita's "Baby Brother" and Mark Kozelek's "Leo and Luna" are short, sweet little ballads; Rosie Thomas's "Faith's Silver Elephant," about her fantasy pet, is charming. Be warned, there are a couple of misses here — including Broken Social Scene's mournful version of "Puff the Magic Dragon."

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Putumayo Kids Presents African Playground (Putumayo, 2003) - $13.99

It's no easy feat to create an excellent singalong CD comprised mostly of languages your listeners don't speak. African Playground accomplishes this with a lively compilation, full of ever-shifting rhythms that are perfect for dancing. The songs, from multiple regions of Africa, include Angelique Kidjo's "Batu," an exuberant declaration that you don't need money to be happy, and "Barco de Papel," featuring the gorgeous vocals of Tethe Alhinho. The prominent use of African instruments — a talking drum on "Laba Laba," a mbira on the English-language traveling song "Kalimba" — is a treat for Western ears, as is the Mahotella Queens' African-language variation on an overplayed kid standard, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Putumayo's typically stellar liner notes offer a glimpse into African life, printed lyrics, and a pronunciation guide for each artist's name.

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PLAY (Desoto, 2007) - $13.98

This is one weird album — and we mean that in the nicest possible way. Anna Oxygen kicks things off with "Born to Shake," a dancehall tune meant to get kids on their feet. Then Channels and Damon Locks shift the tone to retro-tinged dance pop with "Always Check for Holes," a song that begins and ends with the page-turning bell from the read-along records of yesteryear. "Nell the Elephant" is a circus polka that alternates with a head-banging jam; the Supersuckers' "Rubber Biscuit" is goofy high-adrenaline nonsense; "Picnic" adds some Buddy Holly-style guitar riffs to the mix. Mudhoney, the most recognizable band on the album, rocks the intro-to-punk anthem "I Like to Make Noise" with the undeniably awesome refrain "I like to make noise and break things!" Plopped incongruously into the middle of all this is a sweet little Kurt Weill song called "Green Up Time," arranged with tambourines, bells and whistles. We can't make heads or tails of PLAY, but we're having fun trying.

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Jazz for Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle and Shake (Verve, 2004) - $10.99

You won't find any selections from Bitches Brew on this record — "jazz" refers strictly to jazz standards, sung by luminaries like Louis Armstrong and great half-forgotten artists like Slim Gaillard. Ella Fitzgerald opens the album with "Old MacDonald," sung like Gershwin wrote it and "e-i-e-i-o" is a riff she invented on the spot. Louis Jordan's Merry Melodies cartoon of a song "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" leads into the ridiculously overdramatic "Yes, We Have No Bananas." Gaillard gets two kid-friendly tracks, including "Potato Chips" ("crunch, crunch, I don't want no lunch, all I want is potato chips"). Other notable songs are the hilarious "Mumbles," a lively blues song with only incoherent mumbling for lyrics, and Blossom Dearie's "A Doodlin' Song," with its terribly dated name-dropping (Guy Lombardo? Perry Cuomo? Wha?) and timelessly catchy melody.

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