GRAMMY Nominees the Battersby Duo, music educators with 30 years of experience, wanted to write a “Musical How to Handbook” that teachers and parents could trust to both educate and entertain. And so their new album, A Bakers Dozen, winner of Creative Child Magazine’s ”2014 CD of the Year Award,” was born.

Fun, friendly, and happy, ABD oozes with pertinent lessons for two- to seven-year-olds. Kicking off with the catchy and upbeat “Skipping Along” and finishing 35 minutes later with the musical musings on the “Passing of Time”, the album’s 13 songs deal with every subject known to a preschooler (and a few extra silly ones, like elephants’ toenails). Coloring, playing, counting, bouncing, swimming, swinging, baking, “being nice,” and feeling happy are at the heart of this wonderful new kids’ album that has been described by Parent’s Magazine as “a joyous collection of music for the young and the young at heart.” Mr. Tim and Miss Laura make up the musical partnership that is the Battersby Duo.

Here Mr. Tim explains why music such as theirs is such an important developmental tool for children: “As the BatDuo, we’ve been working with “preoperational stage” age groups for 30 years and have happily watched kids learning from our music for decades. Early childhood, up to age eight and primarily the years before children enter formal education, is a time of remarkable physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. One of the breakthroughs in that area is music’s benefit for language development, which is so important at the preoperational stage. Watching a child develop new motor, cognitive, language and social skills is crucial to a Child’s development. However, it is also important to realize that the rate at which these milestones are reached can vary. Learning to read and write doesn’t start in kindergarten or 1st grade. Language and literacy skills begin at birth via everyday interactions: sharing books, telling stories, singing songs, and talking to one another. Parents, grandparents and teachers play a vital role in preparing children to become self-confident and motivated learners… and listening and loving music contributes to that success.”

When it comes to childhood cognitive development, it would be impossible to avoid mentioning the work of psychologist Jean Piaget. It’s important to note that Piaget’s research was limited (in the fact that he conducted it mainly on his three children, creating a theory that described the stages that children pass through, in the development of intelligence and formal thought processes). Whether you agree or disagree with him, he conducted his research in the relative infancy of ECD around 1927, and has remained vastly important for young parents and educators, to use as a tool to gauge normal development in their own kids. Based upon his observations, he concluded that “children are not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. “

Albert Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only a genius could have thought of it." Piaget created a theory of cognitive development that described the basic stages that children go through as they mature. One of the key concepts in Piaget's theory is the use of schemas. According to Piaget, schemas are cognitive frameworks or concepts that help people organize and interpret information. As experiences happen, this new information is used to modify, add to or completely change previously existing schemas. For example, a young boy may have a schema about a type of animal, such as a cat.

According to his schema, cats are furry and have four legs. When he first encounters a dog, he might initially believe that the animal is a cat. Once he learns that this is actually a dog, he will revise his schema for cats and create a new category for dog. The 13 songs on A Bakers Dozen, are, funny, articulate intelligent, and age appropriate.

It ‘s clear that with their long performance history, impressive knowledge of children, and degrees in Sociology and Literature, that The BatDuo are seasoned veterans are most grateful for the “2014 CD of the Year Award from Creative Child”