Music and Happiness
Music is magical. It can quickly change the atmosphere. The right music can boost your happiness levels. It can help make mundane tasks less monotonous and bring life to a party. It can get you up, moving, singing and enjoying life more.
Science shows that “when we 1) anticipate and then 2) actually experience a pleasurable response while listening to music, our brain reacts in distinct and specific ways to release the “feel-good” chemical dopamine.” Psychology Today
Music and Family
But in a family, it can be hard to agree on the same music, especially when there is a wide range of ages for the kids. I mean, my 3-year-old’s favorites, which are “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, make the teenagers in the house run for cover. Or at least to find their earbuds ASAP. And vice versa.
Thankfully, there’s a lot of great music out there and we’ve been able to find some common ground so we can enjoy music when we’re together as a family. We spent some time compiling a Kid-Friendly Dance Music Playlist as we sat around the table one night at dinner. We each took turns and played clips of songs we thought should make the list. Then we voted. The majority ruled so everything on this list has the “appropriate for kids” seal of approval* from me, and the “fun to listen to” seal of approval from at least 3 of the 5 kids.
(*I’m pretty conservative with what I consider appropriate. To the best of my knowledge, the lyrics of these songs aren’t crude or crass or immoral. BUT I generally DO NOT watch the music videos so I can’t vouch for those. I tried to use lyrics videos in this playlist when they were available. I usually just get the music going and switch to a different browser window so I can hear the music but I don’t have to have a favorite song of mine completely ruined by an awful video that I can never unsee.)
So from our family to yours, here are 36 of our favorite kid-friendly, danceable songs compiled into a convenient playlist. For those times when you need a little pick me up or a little extra oomph for:
- A summer pool party
- Getting ready in the mornings
- Cleaning the bathrooms
- Washing dishes
- Folding laundry
- Organizing closets
- Putting toys away
- Or just because
Kid-Friendly Dance Music Playlist
(The video link below will play the entire playlist. If you click the upper lefthand corner (3 lines and a little triangle icon), a drop-down menu will appear and you can skip to the songs you most want to hear.)
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- The Champion – Carrie Underwood
- Happy – Pharrell Williams
- Can’t Stop the Feeling – Justin Timberlake (this is one music video I do like, so fun to see all different types of people dancing their hearts out.)
- Baby – Justin Bieber
- The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens
- Kidz Bop: Pompeii
- It’s a Beautiful Day – Jamie Grace
- It’s Always a Good Time – Owl City and Carly Rae Jepson
- Whip My Hair – Willow Smith
- Despicable Me – Pharrell Williams
- Kidz Bop Cups (when I’m gone)
- Rockin Robin – Bobby Day
- Top of the World – Imagine Dragons
- Kidz Bop Party in the USA,
- Better When I’m Dancing – Meghan Trainor
- A-B-C, Easy as 1-2-3 – ABCMouse.com
- Kidz Bop Shake it Off
- Firework – Katy Perry
- Kidz Bop – Shower
- Colors – Jason Derulo
- Never say never – Justin Bieber
- Hannah Montana Hoedown Throwdown Miley Cyrus
- Kidz Bop Sugar
- Purple People Eater – Sheb Wooley
- Dynamite – Taio Cruz
- I like to move it move it – Madagascar Soundtrack
- Hair Up – Justin Timberlake
- Jamboree – The Okee Dokee Brothers
- Fight Song – Rachel Patten
- Roar – Katy Perry
- You’re Welcome – Jordan Fisher (from Moana)
- Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
- Rise – Katy Perry
- Thunder – Imagine Dragons
- Something to dance for/ TTYLXOX Mash UP -Zendaya and Bella Thorne
- What Makes You Beautiful – One Direction
- I Just Wanna Run – Downtown Fiction
Try This Small Thing Today:
- Turn on the playlist and get moving with your kids!
Let’s Chat:
What songs does your family love? What songs would you add to the playlist?
Enjoying Small Things Over Time?
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May 30, 2018
I am loving this list of music! We have many of them already, but will certainly need to add to our collection with some of these! The kids love to listen to music all the time! Thanks for compiling this list! #WanderingWednesday
May 30, 2018
Glad you found something to add to your collection. Thanks for hosting #WanderingWednesday!
May 30, 2018
It would be nice to have a whole play list! So far the only thing my son wants to hear is the Lion Guard soundtrack. I would be happy if I never heard it again…lol
May 30, 2018
Lol! I feel your pain! There are so many songs the kids love that I would be happy to never hear again, like the Gummy Bear song. Thankfully this playlist is one we all can agree on.
May 30, 2018
We share some of the same songs and will enjoy checking out the others. My 6 year old created a Spotify playlist when he was 2.5 years old and it now has over 700 songs on it! He knows more about music than I do and on his first afternoon at playgroup when asked what he’d been doing that morning he said ”listening to Rizzle Kicks on my playlist”!
May 30, 2018
Wow! Over 700 songs, that’s amazing! I’m going to have to check out Rizzle Kicks now because I have no idea what that is. Haha. Spotify isn’t available in the country where we live, nor is Pandora, so we have to do music old school style – YouTube and CD’s.
May 30, 2018
Such a good list! I love having a playlist the whole family can listen to, but I am horrible about updating ours. Definitely adding some of these! #WanderingWednesday
May 30, 2018
So glad you found something to add. 🙂
June 2, 2018
I love this idea! We had a wide range of ages for our kids and there was always lots of eye rolling when the “little kid” music was played. They quickly forget that we had to endure Barney endlessly when they were little. hahaha!
June 6, 2018
Hahaha, Barney! So true how quickly they forget how much they loved the “baby songs” too.
December 1, 2020
I really appreciate your efforts put into this blog post. You have shared an amazing list of songs. It’s awesome and interesting. Keep it up!!