As always, if I've listed you on here and gotten something wrong (or something not ready for primetime), let me know and I'll edit or delete it. And if you're not on here and think you should be, drop me a line, too, and I'll get you added for the next iteration.

The Bari Koral Family Rock Band: Anna And The Cupcakes (Feb. 14)
Bill Harley: High Dives and Other Things That Could Have Happened (Feb. 14)
++ Imagination Movers: Rock-O-Matic (Feb. 14)
Putumayo Kids: Instrumental Dreamland (Feb. 28)
++ Jazz at Lincoln Center: WeBop (Feb. 28)
Tim and the Space Cadets: Anthems for Adventure (February)
Doctor Noize: Grammaropolis (March 4)
++ Rockabye Baby: Lullaby Renditions of Dave Matthews Band (March 6)
The Good Ms. Padgett: ... Tells The Little Red Hen and Other Stories (March 20)
Recess Music: La Bella Stella (March 27)
Princess Katie and Racer Steve: Love, Cake & Monsters (March?)
Central Services Board of Education: Binary [tentative] (March?)
RhymeZwell: Robots on the Dance Floor (March?)
Gustafer Yellowgold: Gustafer Yellowgold’s Year in The Day (April 3)
The Pop Ups: Radio Jungle (April 3)
Mo Phillips: Monster Suit (April 10)
Caspar Babypants: HOT DOG! (April 17)
Sukey Molloy: I Am Happy! (April 24)
++ Lucky Diaz and the Family Jam Band: A Bit A Luck! (May 8)
Orange Sherbet: Delicious (May 15)
Hope Harris: Picasso, That's Who! (May 22)
Okee Dokee Brothers: Mississippi River CD/DVD (May)
Randy Kaplan: Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie (spring?)
The Funky Mamas and Friends: Pickin’ In The Garden (spring)
Elena Moon Park: Rabbit Days and Dumplings (spring)
Alison Faith Levy: World of Wonder (spring)
Ratboy Jr: Title TBA (late spring/early summer)
++ Recess Monkey: In Tents (June 19)
The Dirty Sock Funtime Band: Dirty Socks Come Clean (June 26)
++ Melissa Green: Sing Loud (July 31)
++ Lori Henriques: The World Is A Curious Place To Live (July)
++ Hey Dango: Blast Off (summer)
Charity and the JAMband: Title TBA (August)
++ Hullabaloo: Title TBA (Sept. 4)
++ The Diggity Dudes: Title TBA (Sept. 18)
Recess Music: Someone Else’s Shoes (September 25)
Andy Z: The Grand Scream of Things (Oct. 9)

Other expected 2012 albums: Ah-Choo, Peter Apel, Sugar Free Allstars, Renee & Jeremy, The Bramble Jam, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo (Make Believers), Bobby Susser (Wo), Eric Herman (2 albums: one music, one comedy skits), Keith Munslow (2 albums: one solo, one with Bill Harley), Wayne Potash, Alex and the Kaleidoscope Band, Shine and the Moonbeams, Yumza!, Rockabye Baby albums for Foo Fighters and Red Hot Chili Peppers ++, Elska ++, Ozomatli ++

Oh, sure, Jack's Big Music Show is still airing on Nick Jr. But it's been years since new episodes have been made. So it's a big deal that Little Airplane Productions (The Wonder Pets!, Small Potatoes) is partnering with Berkner to create Sing It, Laurie!, a new animated preschool TV series. The series is about a little girl named Laurie who loves to sing and play her purple guitar. In each 11-minute episode, Laurie, along with her dog Jamaica (Jam for short), will explore one theme, such as family, community, or nature. That's Laurie and Jam flying in the Wing Dinger, a "unique one person helicopter that's just the perfect size for Laurie and Jam." Each episode features Berkner's music, some of it newly composed for the show, some of it from Berkner's past albums.

The announcement noted that the educational curriculum was written by Dr. Christine Ricci (Dora the Explorer) and will focus on three core themes: creativity, curiosity and music appreciation.

What's missing, of course, is the announcement of a TV distribution agreement, so it'll be awhile before we'll see Laurie and Jam figuring out how to solve childhood obesity with a guitar and a helicopter. (OK, we'll probably never see that episode. Which is probably a good thing.) But given both Little Airplane and Berkner's track record, this has a better shot than any other kindie-musician-with-a-script of making it onto a TV channel near you in the next year.

Joel Plaskett - "Fashionable People" (from Kids' CBC) [YouTube]

Goofy, and kinda cute, even if you don't know the pretty-much-not-kid-friendly original. Though I'd been vaguely familiar with the show (it even has a CD of songs), I hadn't paid too much attention. My loss, I suppose.

As I watched this video and dug deeper into the Mamma Yamma archives, I got not only a YGG vibe, but also a Sesame Street feeling. That show's been inviting musical guests onto its street pretty much from the get-go forty years ago. Admittedly, it's generally gone for more mainstream musical guests than Brobee, Foofa, Toodee, and the rest have on their own show, but they've occasionally dipped into slightly more off-center artists. (See: Feist.)

In fact, Mamma Yamma has her own Feist-ian equivalent, with Kathleen Edwards reworking her kid-unfriendly (albeit pretty awesome) "Cheapest Key" into a very kid-friendly (and still pretty awesome) song "Eat the Alphabet". (Sorry, for some reason it's cutting off early, but you get the point. If you want to listen to a live version, Bill played it before at Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child, perhaps he'll do so again, hint hint.)

And here's one more complete one to finish this off. Any show that features Tegan and Sara gets a thumbs up in my book.

Tegan and Sara - "Alligator" (for Kids' CBC) [YouTube]

One of them was Edukator Jr. Now, they're a band that clearly didn't spend too much time pushing the album (that's a Myspace link, for example, and not a particularly up-to-date one at that). But as EPs go, their self-titled debut is pretty good. It's squarely in the preschool/early elementary education wheelhouse and its subject matter -- songs about ABCs, brushing teeth, taking naps, etc. -- is nothing that hasn't been done before but it's wrapped in a shiny, mostly indie-pop sheen that stands up to repeated listenings.

Don't believe me? Well, you can check it out for yourself here, or just use this widget to listen to it or download for the price of an e-mail.

This is good reason.

Before it was an acclaimed iPad app (or at least simultaneously), The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore was also a short animated film co-directed by author William Joyce (The Guardians of Childhood series and much more) and Brandon Oldenburg.

To say too much would ruin the joy that's found within the roughly fifteen-minute movie, but it celebrates stories and books and movies and includes both goofy slapstick and tugged heartstrings. I'm not surprised that it picked up an Academy Award nomination for Animated Short Film. It is worthy of Pixar's short film work, which is no small praise from these quarters.

I've embedded it below, but it would be doing a disservice to the movie if you didn't go here and watch it full screen, or, even better, watch on your TV via Roku or Apple TV.

The animation's OK (a bit static, but it'll do in a pinch), and the groove on this retelling of the story of Humpty Dumpty is pretty funky, but, like I said, it's all about the stinky face. How often do you get to learn about the stinky face in a musically-appropriate manner?

Groove Kid Nation - "Humpty Dumpty" [YouTube]

Now, given that the book is 20 years old, and some of the pictures inside appear to be at least twice that, one could be forgiven for dismissing the book. But it's a totally charming book, probably the best "introduction to instruments" book I've ever seen.

Author Rosemarie Hausherr organizes the instruments by instrument group (winds, strings, keyboard, and percussion), and features many different types of pictures and settings. There's just enough detail to make it interesting without overwhelming -- the recorder is a long, hollow piece of wood with eight holes, played by blowing into the whistle mouthpiece, with a "warm and cheerful sound."

While the text style and the design of the book remain remarkably consistent throughout (and the subtle logos representing each of the four instrument groups would look modern today), that's offset by the diversity of musical and photographic styles and subjects. Classical music, sure, but bagpipes? CBGB (yes, that CBGB) is thanked in the credits, so I can only assume the picture for the electric guitar (strings section) is from a gig there. The kids in the pictures reflect a fairly diverse crowd, spanning many races and featuring more than one child with disabilities playing (or experimenting with) instruments. It's nothing fancy, but it's great at keeping kids interested without trying too hard to do so.

The book appears to be long out of print, but Amazon has several copies for little more than the cost of shipping and I'm sure it's available elsewhere. (That's an Amazon affiliate link, by the way.)

What Instrument Is This? is a great book for preschool and elementary school classrooms, as well as families looking to introduce a visual element of music into their homes. Definitely recommended.

The video's for "Violet," one of several great tracks off his great 2010 album The Reluctant Graveyard. And, yeah, a snowball fight is actually kinda thematically appropriate. Keep the video in mind for this year's "Storm of the Century."

Jeremy Messersmith - "Violet" [Vimeo]

The Joy of Books [YouTube]

Along with business partner Richard Ellis (that's him on the right, Dobbis on the left), myKaZootv and myKaZoo Music are attempting to bring a wide variety of music videos in one centralized (and curated) place as well as seeing if the idea of a kids' record label can be saved. Their label's first release, Farmer Jason's Nature Jams, comes out February 7, and the myKaZoo website will be up and running this month. They've got ambitious plans in a field that has seen many ambitious plans -- and seen many of those fail.

Dobbins chatted with me this week about his introduction to kids music, why he thinks myKaZoo is good for the genre and not just his artists, and one inspiration for the site's name.

Zooglobble: What are your earliest musical memories?
Rick Dobbis: I grew up with a sister six years older than me. She was a huge, huge rock 'n' roll fan. This was the early '50s, so folks like Elvis Presley, Connie Francis. My sister was a huge Connie Francis fan -- my father once brought her an autographed picture of Francis and she just about died.

My father... the name "myKaZoo" isn't specifically named for my father, but he was an amateur kazoo player. He opened for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes at an annual show three years in a row.

My first kids record was the theme from Davy Crockett. My first album was "A Taste of Honey" by Jimmy Rodgers.

How did you get into kids music?
Well, Rick Chertoff, who's a distinguished producer, he and his wife and others formed Dream Jam Productions to do stuff related to music and movement. It'd primarily been focused on books. We were sitting talking one day, and we asked, "why don't we create our own music -- good music that shares the values we're trying to convey?" That struck a chord with me, so I worked with them and that's when the Dream Jam Band came into being.

I worked with every genre over my career, and internationally at a particularly good point, a great time to open my mind. It was new, and new is healthy. There's some wonderfully creative content in the genre. It's also under-resourced and underrepresented in the marketplace.

This is probably imprinted in the brains of probably millions of kids and their parents. It's the motto of New Orleans' Imagination Movers, and as mottoes (and band jingles) go, it's a pretty darn good one.

The band's popularity is due in no small part to their Disney Junior series (and, yes, new episodes are coming in 2012), but anybody's who seem 'em live (even folks like me who weren't in their target audience) will testify to the fact that they're going to have a career long after they stop making music and video for the Mouse.

In fact, in 2011, they signed a deal with Razor & Tie, and next month -- February 14, to be exact -- Razor + Tie will release the band's new CD/DVD Rock-O-Matic. I've listened to a lot of the album, and I can guarantee a few tracks will be concert favorites. Luckily, the band's embarking on an 80-date concert tour starting in early March (details here) so you'll have plenty of opportunities to put my guarantee to the test.

The album was made available for pre-orders yesterday; besides the CD, it also includes a DVD, which the Movers promise includes "skits that recall old-school Movers comedy heroes like Monty Python and the Monkees" and more.

But perhaps you'd like to hear one of those new songs before February 14? Well, then, I'm proud to present the world premiere of one of those instant concert classics, "Everybody Sing." I apologize in advance for getting this stuck in your brain for the rest of the day.

Imagination Movers - "Everybody Sing" [YouTube]

Photo credit: Adams Photography

But it's not Van Halen and David Lee Roth.

It's The Wiggles (yes, they were inducted into an Australian Hall of Fame just last year), who announced today that original Yellow Wiggle Greg Page would be returning to the band, with replacement Yellow Wiggle Sam Moran stepping aside.

For those of you who are wondering what I'm actually talking about, a little more than 5 years ago Page stepped away from the band due to serious bouts of fainting and lethargy. He was replaced by Moran, who had been a dancer with the band and Page's understudy.

And now today, in some bizarro merging of All About Eve and Star Is Born rewritten with a happy ending, Page wants to return, and Moran has agreed to step aside. (The reason appears to be that Page has recovered medically and perhaps is not doing great financially.)

But just because all is well within Wiggle-land doesn't mean the rest of the community agrees. Within just three hours of the announcement on the band's Facebook page, over 3,000 people wrote to express their view on the matter. "Sam for Green Wiggle" seemed to be the consensus.

Five years ago, I finished off the piece by essentially wishing Page "get well soon," so I'll finish this piece by saying, "welcome back."

Also, a kick-butt rock tune (it's from their fine 2011 "adult" album Join Us).

And a celebration of life.

All of that in a two-and-a-half-minute video. Unless you think the phrase "when will you die?" will prompt questions from your kids that you just don't want to deal with (and, hey, I'm not judging) totally appropriate for the kiddos.

They Might Be Giants - "When Will You Die?" [YouTube]

Inspector Widget: Maybe this is just the blogger/website operator in me, but the biggest trend of 2011 to me was the full flowering of web businesses designed to make it incredibly easy for artists to share their music with the world. Unlike the trainwreck that Myspace was from almost the beginning, these new entities let artists share (and sell) their music with a minimum of fuss and distraction. I'm talking about websites like Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Noisetrade, and Topspin. Now, all of these entities existed prior to 2011, but there was a definite increase in the usage of these entities by the music world in general, and kids music joined right in. Rather than making listeners come to the artist, these embeddable widgets make it easier than ever to meet potential fans where they are -- on Facebook, on Twitter, or on music sites that know a good thing when they hear it. (Ahem.)

Widgets Aren't The Only To Have Your Music Heard: 2011 wasn't just the year of the widget, there were lots of other innovative ways kids musicians got their music out in front of fans both current and potential. One of my favorite (and potentially most important) is from The Bazillions, who have established their own Roku channel to provide instantaneous streaming of their videos to literally millions of households. (Details here.) But iPhone apps, iPad apps, Kickstarter campaigns, and circus collaborations were other ways that kindie musicians tried to reach folks who might not have thought of kids music beyond the big box artists.

Two Heads are Better Than One: Sugar Free Allstars and Secret Agent 23 Skidoo. Little Miss Ann and Suzi Shelton (with an assist from Baze and His Silly Friends' Marc Bazerman). Recess Monkey and Dean Jones (collaborating on the next Recess Monkey album, In Tents. Just a handful of the individual song collaborations between artists whose collaborations might not have occurred just 5 years ago when the scene was a lot more scattered and solitary. Collaboration has always occurred, of course -- folks like Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer and Bill Harley have reached to make music with others for a long time. But connections happen so much faster now that I expect that such collaboration will soon become the rule and not the exception.

Fourteen Heads Are Better Than Two: I mentioned this concept last year in the wake of Kindiependent, the Seattle-area cooperative promoting six local bands. But other areas continue to create their own support groups. Besides AMFM in LA and Let's Play! in San Francisco, which both formed in 2010, the Windy Kindie Chicago Cooperative set up shop this year. And the most active cooperative is probably KindiePDX in Portland, Oregon, which teems with activity, advice, and, well, support.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention kinDIY, the self-organized wiki-style site (founded by Bill Childs and Susie Tennant, and which I'm an administrator of) designed to help kids' musicians navigate the complex world of kids music.

Ending the Damn "Finally": Jeff Bogle at one point this year suggested a simple piece of action that he thought (and I agree) would go a long way towards increasing the visibility of kids music -- having musicians suggest to their audiences other musicians they might enjoy. In my words, it's up to musicians to end the damn "finally." You know, those "finally"s that say, "Finally, kids music the whole family can enjoy." That statement is a lie, shows ignorance on the part of the speaker, and worst of all, it conveys the idea that the kids music genre is incredibly small when just the opposite is true. Musicians need to convey to their audience the truth, which is that they are part of a long-standing tradition of making music for families that has never been as vibrant as it is today. Some artists have done that in the past, and more are doing it today, but there's room for a lot more. Even if you're not collaborating with anyone else on record or on stage, it's time to share the love more broadly.

Lee has been a little bit quiet on the kids' music front since then, though he's been keeping himself busy out and around Nashville and tour-managing some acts.

Even better (from these admittedly biased quarters), Lee's been starting to play kids music around Nashville with a band he's put together called Yumza!. In talking with Lee, I'm pretty hopeful that the rest of the country will here the new songs pretty soon.

In the meanwhile, use this widget to grab six of the songs (including "Grab a Balloon") from Stephen Scott Lee for the price of an e-mail and zip code. I promise you that you'll find at least a couple songs to love.