I discovered when I tried to link to this post this week that I’d never posted it.  So I’m sorry I’ve unwittingly been holding back on sharing some of my favorite resources!

Something I hear asked regularly in Christian parenting communities is what music is beneficial for building their kids’ faith.  I have written here about credal music, but apparently I’ve failed to mention anything else — so here’s some of my favorite Christian children’s music.

There’s a lot of good music out there.  I don’t in any way want to imply that what I’m listing here is all there is.  But I want to share some of our favorites, that we find edifying spiritually, enjoyable for the kids to listen to, and good enough in musical quality that they don’t drive us adults nuts.  (In fact, I personally enjoy listening to a lot of our music that’s technically meant for the kids.)

Amazon Playlist: Christian Children’s Music

We actually have most of this music on a single Amazon playlist.  (Most of it is free with Prime; a few songs may be only available with Music Unlimited.  A very few are songs we purchased.)  This makes it really easy for the kids (or me) to be able to just say, “Alexa, shuffle playlist ‘Kids Theology,'” and have the music start.

If you have Amazon Prime, you should be able to just grab our playlist and use it as a starting point.  (You can copy it and then add and delete as desired.)

Note that we do play it on shuffle, because otherwise you get all the catechism questions back-to-back, before you get to anything else, and that’s kind of boring if it’s not what you’re going for.

The Music

Now let me talk about what’s on that playlist, so you know why we picked it, or in case you want to listen to it by another route — as well as a couple options that are not available for streaming on Amazon.  Most, if not all, of the streaming options, you can also buy if you’d prefer to just own the mp3s.  (We’ve purchased several of these albums, even though we usually stream them, both so we have them and to support the creators.)

I’ve made note of which ones are available with Prime or with Music Unlimited, but please note that this is accurate as of this writing, and may change over time.

• Ask Me WhOo – This is pure catechism set to music.  It uses the Children’s First Catechism, which I like because it’s pretty simple and, therefore, doesn’t get into a lot of areas of doctrinal dispute.  There are one or two questions about baptism that Baptists will probably want to skip.  (Vol. 1 is available with Prime; Vols. 2-3 are available with Music Unlimited)
• The Ology – This album is a series of songs is intended to coordinate with the book of the same name.  These tackle some important — and sometimes difficult — points of theology in a child-friendly fashion.  One of my favorites is Totally God, Totally Man. (Available with Prime)
• Slugs & Bugs – Slugs & Bugs is, to me, somewhat reminiscent of VeggieTales.  The songs are a mix of just plain silly, and serious/deep.  The silly ones can be super-fun (who can avoid smiling at Ninja?), but for this particular playlist, we stick to a few of the serious songs: God Makes Messy Things (Beautiful), Beautiful Girl, Sweet Baby Boy, God Made You Special, and May the Lord Bless You and Keep You*. (Available with Music Unlimited)
• Seeds – Seeds Family Worship produces a large number of albums comprised of pure Scripture songs.  Particularly the “Seeds of…” series is really good.  (Some of the newer ones, that aren’t part of that series, are different styles of music that you may or may not like as whole-family music.)  (Mixed – much is available with Prime; some is available with Music Unlimited)
• Shai Linne – Shai Linne does straight-up rap which, in general, is not a favorite in our household.  However, we do like Lyrical Theology (Part 1 available with Prime; part 2 with Music Unlimited).  These are almost like theological confessions, and the rap genre suits them, in similar fashion to rote repetition of multiplication tables.  (The wordsmithing in these is just fabulous, too!)  Also, his Jesus Kids album is a bit “lighter” in musical style, and quite theologically sound.  (Available with Prime)
• Rich Mullins – We love Rich Mullins, for lyrics that are deceptively simple.  That is, they are often much deeper than they seem at first blush.  (He also was an amazing musician.)  Our family has a whole collection of Rich Mullins music, and could have easily put all of it on our kids’ playlist, but we stuck with just a handful that are particular favorites or especially good for littles.  Screen Door (my personal favorite), Creed (for covering the basics of the faith), Step by Step (our favorite for littles), Sing Your Praise to the Lord, If I Stand, Awesome God, Let Mercy Lead, Calling Out Your Name, Hold Me Jesus, and Allrightokuhhuhamen.  (Fun side note: my son used to sing that as “all right, okay, karate men. haha)  (Mixed – many are available with Prime; some with Music Unlimited)
• Keith & Kristyn Getty Kids – Keith & Kristyn Getty are responsible for recording some of the best modern praise music.  (Especially in their collaborations with Stuart Townend!)  They have a handful of albums in a Getty Kids Hymnal series, and we like these for our list. (Available with Music Unlimited)
• Rain for Roots –  These albums are based on Scripture (but aren’t straight Scripture).  They vary a bit, because they aren’t all by the same artist, but overall they have a pretty folksy sound.  I really love Do Not Worry.  (Some available with Prime, others with Music Unlimited; Do Not Worry is via Unlimited)
• 100 Hymns & Praise Classics – I originally bought this set years ago as a set of 4 CDs, but it’s now available streaming.  It is not part of my main playlist (I have them on another playlist because I could never figure out what to say to the Echo to get them to play, otherwise), because the style is…very different from everything else.  These are straight-up choir recordings, so it’s not really my kids’ favorite thing to listen to.  But I like them for teaching hymns, because most of the major classics are included — and they’re sung like you’d sing them in church.  A lot of standalone hymn albums have a lot of “embellishment” to the hymns, musically, so they’re hard to sing along with, and these don’t have that issue.  (Available with Music Unlimited)

*I can’t seem to find this song for anything, and I’m not sure why.  It’s on my playlist, but it not only doesn’t come up in a search; it doesn’t appear on the list of songs for the album the playlist says it’s on.

I personally am not a fan of Songs for Saplings, although I know that’s a company that would show up on many lists similar to mine.  The musical quality is just not, in my opinion, at the same level as these others.  The content is solid, though, so you might like them.

Scripture Music When I Was a Kid

There are also a few album sets I remember listening to when I was a child, that I would still recommend today, in whole or in part.  Most of these are set up like musicals, so different families might have different comfort levels with the storylines that run through the “drama” portions of the albums.  But the song content, in most cases, is pure Scripture, which is why I like them.  (There are verses I could tell you today that I know because of these albums.)

• G.T. & the Halo Express – G.T. is an angel, and the angelology in the dramatic portions of these albums is, admittedly, a bit questionable.  But the songs on these albums are straight Scripture.  These are some of my favorites, especially Joshua 1:9 and John 1:1-2,14.  Check out samples here. (Not available on Amazon)
• Kids Praise – If you grew up in church, you might be familiar with these, too.  These are the albums with “Psalty the Singing Songbook.”  The songs on these are mix.  Some of the lyrics are straight from Scripture; some are not. (Much is available via Prime and/or Music Unlimited)
• Colby Music – Colby is kind of the “tech” equivalent of Psalty the singing songbook.  Colby is a computer (a robot, really) that can play music.  The drama part is a mixed bag — not all the children are kind.  (You know how those kinds of stories go.)  The songs are a mix.  A few of them are Psalms.  Others are not Scripture, but there’s a heavy focus on exaltation of God.  Someone has uploaded the start of the first album here, so you can get a little taste.  (It’s a little embarrassing if you look up some of these on YouTube and see the television segments.  These are so. 80s. hahaha  Cheesy to the nth degree.  We only ever listened to the audiocassettes as kids.)  (Not available on Amazon)
• First Sunday Singalong – If you want some of the “Sunday School classics,” this might be a good option.  It’s a little shallow, in my opinion, in comparison to most of the others I’ve listed, but it does have most of the old Sunday School standards.  When my grandfather died, my dad wanted all the grandkids to sing Jesus Loves Me at the funeral, as a way of honoring the legacy of faith my grandfather left — and we discovered that my kids didn’t know the song.  So there’s a place for covering the traditional, even if it isn’t all that deep.

Do you have favorites?  Share in the comments!