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All About Wordplay: 5 Fun Songs For Kids

By Will Stroet of Will's Jams

Apr 7, 2016

Two of my all-time favourite things are music and wordplay.

As a former teacher, a parent and a songwriter and performer for kids, I find that both are great fun and amazing tools for learning.

Kids love music and they love having fun with language. When you combine the two, there's no end to the fun and learning that can be had.

Wordplay is both the title and the theme of my new album set for release on April 17 (you can pre-order the album now on iTunes or my online store).

Here's a list of my five favourite kids’ songs with wordplay—starting with the title track from my new album!

1. Wordplay - Will Stroet

This is a song full of puns, spoonerisms, silly rhymes and my first ever rap.

My daughter’s cameo in the rap verse is one of my favourite music video moments ever!

We’ll be releasing more music videos from my new album in the coming weeks, so check back on my YouTube channel.

2. IM4U - Al Simmons

Al Simmons is a legendary Canadian children’s performer and this song is my favourite.

The entire song is letters and numbers that can be pronounced as words or parts of words when combined with others. His live performance of this song is hilarious!

3. Word Crimes – Weird Al Yankovic

I have been a fan of Weird Al since I was a young lad. This song from his latest album is pure gold for all lovers of wordplay—not to mention high-school English teachers!

4. Alphabet of Nations – They Might Be Giants

This song is not specifically a wordplay song, but it sure has a lot of fun with the alphabet and the names of countries around the world. This band loves playing with language in its songs!
 

5. Penguinese - Recess Monkey

I bet you don’t know how to speak penguinese?! If you want to learn about it, check out this music video by Recess Monkey from Seattle. There's some cool wordplay in a language that I’d never heard of before this song!


Join Will Stroet for Wordplay CD release concerts in Vancouver! 

April 17 at 11 a.m. (sold out) and 4:30 p.m. at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. More details >

Kids’ CBC fans will receive $3 off tickets by ordering online with this link.

Will and his Backyard Band will be touring Ontario during May with public shows at Mississauga’s Arts for Life Children’s Festival on May 1 and shows at the Ottawa International Children’s Festival from May 11-15.

For more about Will, visit www.willmusic.ca and connect with him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @willstroetmusic. Will’s Jams airs weekday mornings on Kids’ CBC at 7:25 AM & 9:25 AM and is available on Kids’ CBC’s YouTube channel