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The newest record, out April 2025. Twelve songs with his band, the Not Ready for Naptime Players, about getting mad (“Fire-Breathing Dragon”), getting lost in your own imagination (“Party in My Head”), Saturdays and ice cream. Two are personal: “Long Walk Home” is about being a dad, and “Everything from Here” is about having one.

Power pop from his five-piece band, plus jazz horns, 80s synths, strings and a harp. A thread of inclusion and acceptance runs through the twelve songs, which include “I Have Been a Unicorn” and “If You Should Dig.” The title track, about a distracted kid, has three pre-choruses. Nominated for the Grammy for Best Children’s Music Album.

Written after he became a father. Ten quiet songs about the joys and fears of a new baby, from wondering about the future (“Maybe She’ll Have Curly Hair”) to the first signs of independence (“When You First Let Go”). His wife, Anna Steinhoff, plays pizzicato cello in place of bass. Nominated for the Grammy for Best Children’s Music Album.

Sixteen songs from nearly 20 years of making music for families, drawn from eight albums, Great Big Sun through Recess. Pitched as a gift for a new fan, it has “Willy Was a Whale,” “Henrietta’s Hair,” “Pop Fly,” “Meltdown,” “Trick or Treat” and “School’s Out (Tall Buildings).”

An all-acoustic record, cut live in the studio: ukuleles, banjos, upright bass and handmade percussion, played by Chicago musicians including Robbie Fulks and Nora O’Connor. Twelve songs meant to bring in the summer whatever the season, from “Must Be This Tall” to “Valentine (I Don’t Wanna Be Yours).” Nominated for the Grammy for Best Children’s Album.

The cast recording of his first musical, the Grimm fairy tale retold with a rock score for Chicago’s Emerald City Theatre. He wrote the music and lyrics, and Ernie Nolan wrote the book. Here their mother has disappeared, Hansel sets off into the forest to find her, and streetwise Gretel follows. Jack Ball and Alissa Walker sing the leads.

Songs about freedom, by his own account, played as pop rock with a few sweet ones mixed in. There’s hopscotch, a secret robot, and “Otis,” a fan favorite about elevators. The CD comes with a pop-up robot in the packaging. Nominated for the Grammy for Best Children’s Album.

His first record of nighttime songs, and one of the two albums he calls his favorite (the other is Wild Life). Ten slow songs in chamber arrangements, played by members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with some 70s soft rock and bossa nova in the mix. “Polar Bear” swaps the guitar for a cello.

Childhood as kids live it and parents remember it: trick-or-treating, sleepovers, snow days, a school fire drill, getting lost. The band plays it big, with pounding drums, vintage guitars and French horns. In “Trick or Treat” the candy goes in alphabetical order, from a memory of his brother sorting candy. His first Grammy nomination, for Best Musical Album for Children.

The title track follows a distracted outfielder, and “Henrietta’s Hair” imagines all the creatures living in a girl’s unbrushed hair. Also here: “Giant-Sized Butterflies” and “The Backyard Super Kid.” Four of its eleven songs later made his Greatest Hits. His own liner notes call the sound more Fountains of Wayne than Romper Room.

Thirteen songs from the kid’s side: sidewalk chalk, sandcastles, a new baby sister, the monster under the bed. The title track admits parents melt down too, and ends by borrowing a line from Modern English. In “More Than Just a Minute,” sixty seconds feels endless to a boy waiting on his mom.

The companion record, made with producer Liam Davis: twelve songs retelling stories from the Hebrew Scriptures. Noah builds the ark, Moses stands at the burning bush, and Daniel calls the lion like a cat (“Here, Kitty Kitty”). “Why not sea monsters” is a line from the opener, “Why Not a Spark?”, where God keeps getting ahead of himself during Creation.

A side project with his longtime producer, Liam Davis. Twelve original retellings of New Testament stories, mostly midtempo and acoustic, from a funny take on the loaves and fishes to a portrait of the good Samaritan. Songs include “Bigger Fish to Fry” and “Walking on the Lake.” A companion record covers the Hebrew Scriptures.

His fourth record for families, and the loudest yet, written with a drummer and a trumpet in mind. “Day Camp” is a punk anthem and “Picture Day” rocks just as hard. It opens with “Airplane of Food” and closes with “Suppertime.”

The title track’s kid wants no part of naptime (“Don’t even start with those carpet squares”). “Brontosaurus Got a Sweet Tooth” is a concert favorite, and “Three Days” is about a kid who refuses a bath to hold on to three good days. Parents’ Choice later named it one of the 25 best children’s recordings of the past 25 years.

His second record, and his first Parents’ Choice Gold Award. It has some of his most popular songs, “Willy Was a Whale,” “One Little Cookie” and the title track, plus “Giraffe/Nightingale,” the first of his own songs he played for preschoolers. It has no chorus. The four-year-olds learned every word anyway.

Not a kids’ record. A solo album for adults, made between Great Big Sun and Yellow Bus and produced by Liam Davis. Minneapolis City Pages called it “an exquisitely beautiful breakup album.” Eleven songs, including “Ruby Red Shoes,” “Tiny Thread” and the title track.

The first one. He wrote many of these songs while teaching at a Montessori preschool by day and playing in an indie-folk band at night. Quiet and folky, about apple trees, raindrops and a favorite pair of old pajamas. He wrote “Apple Tree” because the class was studying apples. Sesame Street Parent named it the Best Gift of ’98.