Our Favorite Children's Musician - Uno, Dos, Tres con Andres

*Images related to this post can be seen on my blog Where’s the Mama at http://whereisthemama.blogspot.com/

The kids and I have been to several musical performances by local children’s musicians in the DC area. We’ve enjoyed most of them, But the bilingual “Uno, Dos, Tres con Andres” takes the cake! It was the first performance I’ve seen where all the kids were engaged and the parents weren’t painfully watching.

The first show I attended was at a library; Butter Cheeks in tow. I was the first to arrive and my son made it known that my lap was his reserved seating. Andres made sure to introduce himself to my son and meet a few of the other kids. His friendly and laid back demeanor made him approachable and set the tone for a fun and enjoyable performance.

When the show started, Butter Cheeks continued to cling to me like white on rice, until... out came the scarves, elephants, a cow, and Juana the Iguana puppets. Suddenly my reserved child became a dancing machine. He participated in the conga line and absolutely LOVED Andres’ song “Salta” (jump). He was jumping up and down demanding that I do the same. As I looked around the room, all of the other moms and kids were also participating. I’d never seen this before!

What I found interesting and unique about this Colombian musician was his incorporation of geography in addition to the Spanish language and hand puppetry. He talked about the continents and different Latin American countries. He even brought out an ocarina (an ancient wind instrument) made of wood. I felt like my child was learning, which brought a whole new level of value to this show. Kids learned Spanish words for animals, numbers, body parts, and more.

As you can see, my four year old was just as engaged, if not more so, when he saw Andres. The only thing my boys and I wanted was more! If you are interested in checking out a show, you can follow Uno, Dos, Tres con Andres on Facebook,Twitter, and website 123andres.com.