What should we be listening to in the car?

[Flowerface]

We are bored of all our in-car listening and getting restive! I have an animal mad 4 year old, and an 18 month old. Some mixture of story and song would be good, the little one gets bored with pure story, though also useful to have for when he goes to sleep. Any thoughts?

They Might Be Giants - the children's CDs. 123s, ABCs, Science. Good musical tunes that feel like pop music, but accessible pre-school or primary school literacy and numeracy.

Honestly.

We got from Yorkshire to Cornwall this summer with our 4.9 yo and 19 month old listening to Roald Dahl stories on cd. Those CDs go with us everywhere!

I've no idea, I am the driver so it's radio or a CD of my choosing. Have honestly never thought to get something for my poor neglected children. Bad mother alert!

second Roald Dahl and also Julia's Donaldson's stories which always have a song.

It's self-interest really Foxy, otherwise I have to constantly mediate fights or try to pass them books and toys they've flung on the floor without mowing down hordes of innocent passers by...

Great suggestions, thanks. We do have Julia Donaldson. Once the neighbour's children all filed out of the house to watch, in awed (aka horrified) silence, my performance of the nut growing into a tree. "Small, brown, hard round....[etc]". It was mortifying.

Radio 1 usually. And I burn CD's of non-sweary 'pop' music, they get their one direction and little mix, I get the stones and kayne west.

I'm driving so I get to choose, it's the only chance I get to listen to music these days. I'd go loopy if I had to listen to kiddie songs.

Current favourite here for my 4yr old DD is Bon Jovi...

In DP's car, she asks for 'the ar-hoo song', by which she means Warren Zevon's 'Werewolves of London'. We might stop playing some of the other tracks on that album soon...

It can just be music for them to sing along to. Fun stuff that won't drive you mad. We purposefully chose not to play children's music in the car from the start as we didn't want the long distance nightmare that is 'Wheels on the Bus' repeated ad nauseum.

DCs can listen toBest ofQueen for hours.

But for the animal theme, the BBC audio of Johnny Morris reading the Just So Stories is fab.

We put our iPod on shuffle and vote on each track - play or skip

Radio 1 here too. Never did me any harm...

Hear hear, MrsWembley! DD's first favourite song was Blur's Song2 (she joined in with the "woo-hoos") and we just listen to anything non-sweary of mine. She quite likes Roots Manuva too..

For non-naff kids music, try Raffi or Putamayo. For a mix of stories and songs, we had the Sticky Kids CDs. They drove me a bit mad after a while but the kids loved them.

Classic FM if I want toddler to nap, KISS if I've given up trying

Whatever you do, do not think it would be 'amusing' to play your DC your ancient "Jumpers For Goalposts" CD of football anthems. Your DS may become obsessed with Keith Allen's fucking "Vindaloo" and request it over and over, every sodding journey. (Thanks DH)

We have the Best of Queen on a loop here, too, Quangle. The DCs love it.
Other than that, it's Radio 4 if I'm feeling grown up, or Radio 2 for singing along to.
The DCs love listening to music on cDs or Radio, and I'm always amazed at their ability to recognise songs they've only heard a couple of times in passing.

Oh yes, think we've got all the Raffi, and we also did the amazing Johnny Morris Rudyard Kiplings. DD can now recite the Whale's Throat ("really truly twirly whirly eel") but it's too talky for DS.

I admire all those who never got sucked down this road in the first place, and therefore have never been in the hell of 'three hour journey with 2 minute song on continuous repeat'. Especially when the song in question is 'the Pelican's beak holds more than his belly can'. If I had my time again... But I fear the cat is out of the bag.

Guns n roses, iron maiden or metallica :)

DS is 4 and we either have Radio 1 or my CD's. He likes Imagine Dragons at the moment because he says one of the songs sounds like the theme tune to Mouk from Disney Jnr. He also likes Bastille, The 1975 and Fun.

fredkiller my boys love Vindaloo. And Firestarter by the Prodigy

Hmmm we listen to all sorts! Abba, classical music, The Beatles (their current fave), the radio, One Direction, Seasick Steve, Andrew Lloyd Webber... The list goes on. I'm sure my haphazard approach to exposure to music is probably dangerous and uneducational or something!

What JumpingJackSprat said! Enter Sandman puts DD beautifully to sleep.

My dss adores iron maiden. Unfortunately his mum listens to manufactured pop so we are waiting to see whose taste he will be more influenced by :D