Tokyo Kodomo Club

, meaning Tokyo Children Club, is an early childhood education program published in Japan in an audio-visual format, distributed monthly on a record. The 7-inch record contained stories and songs, accompanied by a picture book that could be bound in a special folder. The early-childhood education program came in two courses: a 2-4 year old course and a 5-7 year old course. Each of the courses was designed to complete in 12 months. In addition on a quarterly basis, the Club sent out supplemental stories, songs and other music on a 12-inch record. The recitations on Side A were by , and on Side B, . The records were monaural recordings at 33-1/3 rpm. Presently, the recordings have gone out of print, making their procurement quite difficult.

Programs

The programs were designed to familiarize children with stories and songs from around the world, with emphasis on European orchestral works. Main story narration often featured Classical music as a background music in order to help set the tone of the story. The bullets found in the index to each lesson were color-coded: red for the main story, blue for the songs and yellow for the occasional extra story. In the original course series, the main stories and songs were bulleted with a star and the extra stories with a circle. However, in later course series, they switched their bullets to red circles, blue squares and yellow triangles, keeping the same color code as before.

General Courses

2-4 year old Basic Course

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Introduction: This is Tokyo Kodomo Club Story: Three Little Pigs	Song: Song: Cuckoo, Cuckoo Story:
2	Story: The Tortoise and the Hare	Song: Song: Song:
3	Story:	Song: Story:
4	Story: The Town Musicians of Bremen	Song: Song: Song:
5	Story: Little Black Sambo	Song: Story: County Mouse and Tokyo Mouse
6	Story:	Song: Song: Song:
7	Story: The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids	Song: Song:
8	Story: Momotarō	Song: Song: Song:
9	Story: Little Red Riding Hood	Song: Story:
10	Story: Kintarō	Song: Song: Song:
11	Story: Goldilocks and the Three Bears	Song: Story:
12	Story: Hanasaka Jiisan	Song: Song: Song:

2-4 year old Graduation

Side A	Side B
Baron Munchausen	Little Women

2-4 year old Graduate Course

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Story: Hansel and Gretel	Song: London Bridge is Falling Down Song: Song: Song:
2	Story: Pied Piper of Hamelin	Song: Song: Story:
3	Story: Emperor's New Clothes	Song: Song: Song: Song:
4	Story: Jack and the Beanstalk	Song: Do-Re-Mi Song: Story:
5	Story: The Three Wishes	Song: Song: Song: Song:
6	Story: The Honest Woodcutter	Song: Song: Story:
7	Story: The Dog and the Shadow	Song: Song: Song: Song:
8	Story: The Snow Maiden	Song: Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree Story:
9	Story: King Midas Has Donkey's Ears	Song: Song: Song: Song:
10	Story: Cinderella	Song: Song: Story:
11	Story: The Adventures of Mouse Deer	Song: Song: Song: Song:
12	Story: Ivan the Fool	Song: Song: Story:

5-7 year old Basic Course

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Story: The Happy Prince	Song: Song: Frère Jacques Song:
2	Story:	Song: Song: Song:
3	Story: Puss in Boots	Song: Story:
4	Story:	Song: Song: Song:
5	Story: Seven Stars (Russian Folktale)	Song: Story:
6	Story:	Song: Song: Ten Little Indians Song:
7	Story: Snow White	Song: Story:
8	Story: Issun-bōshi	Song: Song: Song:
9	Story: Urashima Tarō	Song: Merrily We Roll Along (song) Story:
10	Story: Pinocchio	Song: Song: Song:
11	Story: The Golden Goose	Song: Story:
12	Story: The Giant Corn (American Folktale)	Song: Song:

5-7 year old Graduation

Overture Collection
Side A	Side B
Light Cavalry Overture Overture to Marriage of Figaro Die Fledermaus Overture	Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila 1812 Overture

5-7 year old Graduate Course

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Story:	Song: Song: Song:
2	Story: Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox	Song: Song: Story:
3	Story: The Lion That Wore Glasses	Song: Song: Song: Song:
4	Story: Ugly Duckling	Song: Song: Story:
5	Story: The Canterville Ghost	Song: Song: Song:
6	Story: Little Lord Fauntleroy	Song: Song: Story:
7	Story: Gulliver's Travels	Song: Song: I've Been Working on the Railroad Song: Doctor Eisenbart Song:
8	Story: The Merchant of Venice	Song: Song: The Old Gray Mare Story:
9	Story: Heidi	Song: Song: Song: Song:
10	Story:	Song: Song: Story:
11	Story: Bluebeard	Song: Song: Song: Song:
12	Story: Noah's Ark	Song: Song: Story:

Quarterly supplements

Seasons series

Unit	Side A	Side B
	Song:	Song:
	Song:	Story:
	Song:	Song:
	Song:	Song:
	Story: The Little Match Girl	Song:
	Song:	Song:
	Song:	Song:
	Song:	Song:
		Song: Jingle Bells
		Song: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
		Song: Joy to the World
		Song: O Tannenbaum
		Song: Silent Night
	Song:	Singing lessons
	Song:	Story:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:	Story: Thumbelina
	Song:	Singing lessons
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:

The Purple Flowers

Side A	Side B
Song: Bear Climbed over the Mountain	Song:
Song:	Singing lessons
Song: Mary Had a Little Lamb
Song:
Song:
Song: Brahms' Lullaby
Song:

Let's sing with Dad

Side A	Side B
Story (1)	Story (3)
Story (2)	Song:
	Song: Sur le pont d'Avignon
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:
	Song:

Uncle's Pastures

Side A	Side B
Story:	Story:
Song: I've Been Working on the Railroad	Song:
Song:	Song:
Song:	Song:
Song:	Song:
Song:
Song:

Kodomo Concert Hall

The Kodomo Concert Hall series were recordings of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.

Unit	Side A	Side B
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 1:	1. Tchaikovsky: Mazurka 2. Strauss: Radetzky March 3. Bizet: Carmen, Act 1, Prelude 4. Rodgers: Do-Re-Mi	1. Brahms: Hungarian Dances 2. Schubert: Three Marches Militaires, March No. 1 in D major, 2nd movement 3. Bizet: L'Arlésienne, Suite No. 2, 4th movement: Farandole 4. Strauss: Tales from the Vienna Woods
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 2	Swan Lake
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 3
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 4	A Musical play: Maya the Bee
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 5	The Nutcracker
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 6	Peter and the Wolf
Kodomo Concert Hall No. 7

Uncle Kōji's Story Bag

Story Bag No. 1:

Story Bag No. 2:

Story Bag No. 3:

Story Bag No. 4:

Story Bag No. 5:

Story Bag No. 6:

Story Bag No. 7:

Story Bag No. 8:

Sing in English Group

The Tokyo Kodomo Club issued two courses of children’s songs in English for the Japanese audience in the series. These songs were sung by Esther Ghan and her children. The course was designed similarly to their Japanese courses, where the lesson units were distributed monthly on a record. Each of the courses was designed to complete in 12 months, with the course set spanning two years. For the older children, in a set of six lesson units and a Christmas supplement were provided. It also spanned over two years.

Let’s Sing English Songs (1)

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Ten Little Indians	(same as Side A)
2	Are You Sleeping ?	(same as Side A)
3	London Bridge	(same as Side A)
4	Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?	(same as Side A)
5	A Tisket, a Tasket	(same as Side A)
6	The Bear Went Over The Mountain	(same as Side A)
7	My Bonnie	(same as Side A)
8	Sailing, Sailing	Lovely May
9	The Mulberry Bush	(same as Side A)
10	Mary Had a Little Lamb	(same as Side A)
11	Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star	(same as Side A)
12	Hush, Little Baby	(same as Side A)

Let’s Sing English Songs (2)

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Six Little Ducks	(same as Side A)
2	Three Blind Mice	(same as Side A)
3	The Little Skunk	(same as Side A)
4	Simple Simon	(same as Side A)
5	Brother, Come and Dance with Me	(same as Side A)
6	Sweetly Sings the Donkey	(same as Side A)
7	Billy Boy	(same as Side A)
8	Row, Row, Row Your Boat	Merrily We Roll Along
9	The Muffin Man	(same as Side A)
10	Pop Goes the Weasel	(same as Side A)
11	Looby Loo	(same as Side A)
12	Three Little Kittens	(same as Side A)

Folk-album for All (1)

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Happy Birthday to You	When The Saints Go Marching In
2	Puff, the Magic Dragon	Danny Boy
3	You Are My Sunshine	Greensleeves
4	Long, Long Ago	Cradle Song
5	Do - Re - Mi	Waltzing Matilda
6	The Camptown Races	Sipping Cider Through a Straw
X'mas	We Wish You a Merry Christmas Jingle Bells	Silent Night Auld Lang Syne

Folk-album for All (2)

Unit	Side A	Side B
1	Michael, Row the Boat Ashore	Rock a Bye, Baby
2	Did You Ever See a Lassie?	The Blue Bells of Scotland
3	To Market, to Market	Aura Lee
4	Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms	Annie Laurie
5	Hey, Diddle, Diddle	Early One Morning
6	The Man On The Flying Trapeze	Hush - A -Bye
Xmas	Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town Deck the Halls	The Twelve Days of Christmas

Other

• : Spring, , , Summer.

Contact information

Original Address:

• Tokyo Kodomo Club
  15-5 Hachiyama-chō
  Shibuya-ku, Tōkyō, Japan 〒150-0035
• Postal transfer: Tokyo 5-88764

Current address:

• Tokyo Kodomo Club
  12-4 Asahi-chō
  Hachiōji-shi, Tōkyō, Japan 〒192-0083

See also

• Disney Read-Along

External links

• (Japanese) Jacket art on the quarterly supplement albums found towards the bottom of the page at the section titled 『東京こどもクラブ』