They Might Be Giants have been on the music scene for over 20 years. In the past few years, they began creating music for children. “Here Come the ABCs” is just such a creation. This video takes you throughout different parts of the alphabet and introduces letters to your child in a creative, musical way.
The video begins with John and John introducing the video – as puppets. Most of the video is either animated or performed by puppets like John and John or their friends, the Deeply Felt Puppet Theater. The video for the song “Q U” is actually performed by two people, one with a Q for his head and the other with a U. The song boasts, “Q-U, they’re often a pair. They quote sounds together like ‘quick,’ ‘quack,’ and ‘quill.’” This just gives you an idea about the type of entertainment and learning that you and your child will find on this DVD.
A unique aspect of this DVD that teaches children about the ABCs is that the songs do not go in alphabetical order. There are a few segments that list the alphabet in order, but there is more to it than that. Instead of a song about “A” then “B” and so on, they are all mixed. In fact, some of the letters are grouped together in songs like “L M N O” and “D & W.” This approach can be quite beneficial to your child by allowing him/her to recognize the letters as individual shapes and sounds, and not just something that they have memorized. For example, in “D & W,” the letter “d” is described as, “…half a circle, half a moon, an apple slice.” “L M N O” explains, “L-M-N-O are four letters. L-M-N-O are not one.”
Whenever I turn on this video for my daughter, she turns to me and smiles once she sees the John and John puppets. As soon as the music begins, she is dancing around the room. One of her favorite videos is “E Eats Everything” which shows an animated lower-case “e” eating tables full of food. The song also describes what the other letters in the alphabet “eat” as compared to “e.”
“Here Come the ABCs” will be so loved by your child that s/he may not even realize that s/he is learning while having fun.
They Might Be Giants are John Linnell and John Flansberg. Some of their more well-known works include theme songs from the television shows “Malcolm in the Middle” (for which they won a GRAMMY Award) and Playhouse Disney’s “Higglytown Heroes.” For more information about “Here Come the ABCs,” please visit GiantKid.net.
The “Here Come the ABCs” DVD is available for purchase at Target, Barnes and Noble, and other retailers for approximately $13. “Here Come the ABCs” is also available on CD for approximately $11.
Songs and segments included in “Here Come the ABCs”
Here Come the ABCs
Alphabet of Nations
E Eats Everything
Flying V
I Am a Robot
Q U
Go for G!
Pictures of Pandas Painting
D & W
Fake-Believe
Can You Find It?
Introducing the Vowel Family
The Vowel Family
A to Z
Letter/Not a Letter
Letter Shapes
Alphabet Lost and Found
I C U
I Am a Robot (type B )
John and John Introduce
Who Put the Alphabet in Alphabetical Order?
Rolling O
L M N O
Introducing C is for Conifers
C is for Conifers
Fake-Believe (type B )
A to Z (type B )
D is for Drums!
Introducing ZYX
ZYX
Goodnight My Friends
Here Come the ABCs!
Introducing Bonus Tracks
Clap Your Hands
Here in Higglytown (Theme to Playhouse Disney’s “Higglytown Heroes”)