"Sing Loud!" - Melissa Green

Artist: Melissa Green

Song: "Sing Loud!"

Album: Sing Loud!

Description: There's not too much about the title track from Green's forthcoming (July 31) album or its video that would mark it as being "kids' music."  Maybe the lyric, "stomp stomp stomp."  Or, in the video, Green dancing, apropos of nothing really, between two large pieces of construction equipment.  But it is a shiny, shimmery piece of kid-friendly pop with a chorus designed to lodge in the brains of all who hear.  And the video is polished to match.

Source: YouTube

"The Happy Happy Whistling Song" - Billy Kelly

Artist: Billy Kelly

Song: "The Happy Happy Whistling Song"

Album: The Family Garden

Description: Whistling! Dancing! Music! General craziness!

Source: YouTube

"Grassy Grass Grass" - Elizabeth Mitchell

Artist: Elizabeth Mitchell

Song: "Grassy Grass Grass"

Album: You Are My Little Bird / Little Seed

Description: This video is actually a couple years old, made for HBO Family and Classical Baby: The Poetry Show.  But now with the impending release of Mitchell's Woody Guthrie tribute Little Seed, it's getting a new push.  Lovely computer-generated collage work.

Source: YouTube

"Summertime" - Orange Sherbet

Artist: Orange Sherbet

Song: "Summertime"

Album: Delicious

Description: Why, yes, it is the first day of summer.  So why wouldn't you post the delightfully animated parade of summertime fruits accompanied by the San Francisco band's playground chant?

Source: Vimeo

"The Hero in You" - Ellis Paul

Artist: Ellis Paul

Song: "The Hero in You"

Album: The Hero in You

Description: Ellis Paul performing his song mixed with news footage of a wide variety of heroes (Einstein! Ali! Ballerinas!).  The footage of Paul looks nice but the kids'll have more fun playing "spot the hero."

Source: YouTube