Hot Potatoes: The Best of the Wiggles

If you've had a preschooler within the past 20 years, you probably already know. They are Australia's top earners and your child's first "pop idols." They go on tour all over the world (although they haven't recently been in my neck of the woods - the closest has been Cincinnati, Ohio, and that's a little far to take a 2-year-old on a road trip).

The group's members are Anthony Field, Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook, and Sam Moran, who replaced Greg Page as the lead singer in 2006 when Page had to retire due to health reasons. That's Greg in the yellow shirt in the above picture.

Hot Potato
Can You (Point Your Fingers And Do The Twist?)
Fruit Salad
Rock-A-Bye Your Bear
Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car
Wake Up Jeff!
Wiggly Party
Captain Feathersword Fell Asleep On His Pirate Ship (Quack Quack)
Wiggle Bay
The Monkey Dance
Get Ready To Wiggle
Go Santa Go
Dorothy (Would You Like To Dance?)
Ooh It’s Captain Feathersword
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport
Dressing Up
Move Your Arms Like Henry
Lights, Camera, Action, Wiggles!
Do The Owl
The Zeezap Song
Play Your Guitar With Murray
Rockin’ Santa!
To Have A Tea Party
Here Come The Chicken
Getting Strong!
Murray Had A Turtle
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
I’m Dorothy The Dinosaur!
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing
Dr Knickerbocker
The Shimmie Shake!
Over In The Meadow
Wags The Dog Is Chasing His Tail
Monkey Man
Hot Poppin’ Popcorn

This is a "greatest hits" compilation that includes 35 songs. Most have Greg as the lead singer, since he was with the group longer. Sam is featured as the lead singer on the final 9 songs and in the live performance of "Ooh, It's Captain Feathersword."

Most of the songs were actually written by The Wiggles themselves. Field, Fatt, and Cook were all members of rock bands in the 80s before they went back to school to become preschool teachers. In fact, two Wiggles songs ("Get Ready to Wiggle" and "The Monkey Dance") used to be performed by The Cockroaches, the Autralian pop band that Field and Fatt were both members of, although the lyrics were changed slightly to make them more kid-friendly.

In this hub, I've decided to just mention a few of my (and my daughter's) favorite Wiggles songs on this DVD that really is fun for the whole family.

Really simple lyrics and a repetitive, catchy tune ensure that this is a song that will stick in your head for hours, if not days!

Hot potato, cold spaghetti (who eats cold spaghetti, really?), and mashed banana (buh-NAH-nuh, with the Australian accent). I sometimes worry that my two-year-old will learn to say "banana" incorrectly, but so far, she's managed to keep her Kentucky accent intact.

Another food song with a repetitive tune that gets stuck in your head.

Since The Wiggles are educators as well as entertainers, they know how important it is to teach children about good nutrition and get them interested in it at a young age. I can't think of a better way to do than to put together lyrics like, "Fruit salad. Yummy, yummy!"

Good thinking, Wiggles!

My daughter loves, loves, LOVES this song. And I love the fact that it gets her up and moving.

She learned the motions months ago - before her 2nd birthday. That's how easy it is to follow along with this song. Granted, her movements aren't as smooth as an older child's would be, but she'll grow into that as her coordination gets better.

For now, I'm just thrilled that she's up and moving and learning how to get her little body parts to work together in a cooperative way.

But this song doesn't just teach the monkey dance. It also teaches kids how to do the tiger and the elephant, complete with sounds.

I love listening to my little girl try to imitate the elephant sound, which really defies all attempts (at least by me) to put into English words. The monkey sound is just "ooh ooh ahh ahh." And, of course, the tiger roars.

Again, really repetitive, but not in an annoying way. It's so fun!

My daughter loves this song, and the YouTube video of it, which is different than the one on the DVD. The DVD uses a live performance of the 70s-flavored song, complete with roller skaters - one of which is Jeff Wiggle!

I think my daughter prefers the YouTube video because it shows a live owl. She loves seeing the actual animal. She requests it often when she sees one of us on the computer.

When my daughter first started watching The Wiggles about a year ago, Anthony was her favorite Wiggle (I think because he kind of looks like her dad). Now Murray is her favorite, but I'm not really sure why. Still, this is one of her favorite songs because he's featured in it.

It really is a good kid's song, although it's a little confusing for adults. "Murray called the doctor, the doctor called the nurse, the nurse called the lady with the polka-dotted purse." Why call the lady with the polka-dotted purse? Obviously, for lyrical purposes because "purse" rhymes with "nurse," but contextually, it doesn't make any sense at all!

Obviously, this was not originally a Wiggles song, and I'm not really sure why they decided to cover it, but they did a really, really good job. And I love the fact that they got Leo Sayer to perform it with them in this video. Classic!

This used to be one of my daughter's most requested songs, but I think she's getting tired of it now. It's still one of my favorites, though, so that's why it's on this list!

Another Sam song, and it's a really good one because it teaches counting!

"One ducky, two fishes, three birdies, four froggies, five bees."

And, of course, since the song is all about animals, and the people are all wearing animal costumes, this song is a big hit with my little girl. In case you haven't noticed by now, she really, really loves animals!

The Wiggles performed this song along with fellow Australian Jamie Redfern. It's a wonderful old-fashioned sort of song with a really catchy tune, like most of the other Wiggles songs.

And I really can't think of a better song to end the DVD. By the time we get to the end of it, it always leaves me wanting more (kind of like eating real popcorn!), and I usually have to replay it a few times for my little girl, who requests it by name - "Popcorn!"

I can't recommend this DVD enough. It's got everything a kid could want - music, bright colors, activity - and the songs are short enough to hold a very young child's attention span.

My daughter has been watching (and loving) The Wiggles since before she was even a year old, and she's STILL not tired of their music. And I have to admit that I'm not tired of it, either. Even my husband, who really only listens to Southern Gospel music, agrees that, "The Wiggles are cool!"

You cannot go wrong buying this DVD for the small child in your life!