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We gathered all the children's audio projects we could find that released this year, popped them in the player, and narrowed down the stack to our top dozen favorite albums for Christian kids. Some are straight music, some contain stories and songs, and some are, well, just a whole lot of fun.

We concentrated on releases that focused mainly on the pre-'tween set, with a couple of notable exceptions that are designed for kids but can be lots of fun for the whole family. We came up with a spectrum of music and fun for the tiniest of tots, the preschool set, and elementary kids. Many of our choices stuck mainly to a couple of tried-and-true formulas: 1) modern worship songs sung by kids, for kids; and 2) instrumental and softly sung lullabies for the littlest listeners. However, there are a few brave new offerings that dared to try something new. Here is our Top 12 list for 2005:

Various Artistsp
Sparrow/EMI

Turn Up the Fun! Christian Hits for Kids, which hits stores on Dec. 27, is a by-kids, for-kids collection of the most recent top Christian radio hits, like Switchfoot's brand-new "Stars," Building 429's "Glory Defined," tobyMac's "Gone," and Joy Williams' "Hide." The two-disc collection has 13 songs and comes in split-track, so kids can sing along with the voices or pop it into the karaoke machine and perform all by themselves.

Steve Green
Sparrow/EMI

Both of Steve Green's Bible memory music albums have effectively been teaching kids Bible verses for years—and that never goes out of style. Now the albums have been reissued and come packaged with DVDs at less than $15 for the combo. Each disc contains at least 20 memory verses set to music, from Matthew 7:12 ("Do to Others") to the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), and from "I Can Do All Things" (Philippians 4:13) to "When a Child" (Proverbs 20:11). The easy-listening music and lots of repetition make Bible learning fun.

Various Artists
Worship Together/EMI

Here I Am to Worship for Kids 2 has 10 familiar modern worship songs performed by adults and kids. This collection includes modern praise songs like "We Bow Down," "Filled with Your Glory," "Awesome God," "Famous One," and "No One Like You." What sets this album apart from other modern worship albums for children is that the music itself is not "dumbed-down" too much. It may be children's voices that are singing, but the orchestrations sound a lot like the originals. Ten songs for less than $10 that children and adults can listen to together—can't be beat!

Adventures in Odyssey
Tyndale

For "Adventures in Odyssey" fans, this album is a terrific treat. The ever-eclectic, oh-so-intellectual Eugene lets down his hair on this hilarious project, the first musical recording for the oddball genius. Eugene croons and strums his way through his college-vocabulary-laden versions of "My Dog Has Fleas," "Have You Ever Been to Odyssey?" "The Moonlight, A Tuba, and You," and "I'll Never Sneeze Again." Eugene has been the center of so many Odyssey storylines that it is fun to hear him this time around in the center of the singing spotlight.

VeggieTales
Big Idea/EMI

It's hard to have a best-of in Christian children's entertainment list without a heaping helping of vegetables somewhere. This list is no exception, as VeggieTales introduced a great Christmas album this year called The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree. It has 17 songs that range from familiar Christmas classics like "O Christmas Tree" and "The First Noel" to silly VeggieTales originals such as "Puppy Love" and "Candy Line Blues." It then veers away from the silly side to the true meaning of Christmas as Junior sings the tender "Was He a Boy Like Me?" Wynonna Judd makes a special appearance on "It's About Love."

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