By Jason Didner
Jason Didner and his kindie band the Jungle Gym Jam will world premiere their newest music video, "Five Sea Lions," on Tuesday, March 18, on KidsCanGroove.com, a web site that focuses on music for kids and their families to enjoy together, usually with a rock or pop vibe.
For the first 24 hours of this video’s release, it will be viewable exclusively at KidsCanGroove.com. After that, the video will appear on the band’s web site and on platforms like YouTube.
The endearing visuals, animated by Glen Biltz, reinforce the learning inherent in the lyrics:
"Five Sea Lions rolling on the pier
They look like seals but you can see their ears
One rolled off and then swam to shore
And four sea lions were left on board"
The lyrics, set to a playful, tropical reggae/ska beat and infused with sunny harmonies, teach on two diverse age levels at the same time, Jason explains. "Pre-schoolers and toddlers are learning to count down from five, as they might with other songs like ‘Five Little Monkeys’ or ‘Five Freckled Frogs,’ while at the same time, grade schoolers are picking up a little marine biology and the differences between sea lions and seals. Later on in the song, we get into the reason for those differences."
Jason and his wife Amy wrote the lyrics to this song as a gift for their now-three-year-old daughter based on the excitement of knowing that their local zoo, the Essex County Turtle Back Zoo, was to open a new sea lion exhibit. "This news touched on a fond memory we have of our first trip to California together, where the sea lions were playing and barking on the pier at San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf," Amy added. "We were inspired."
"Five Sea Lions" is the Jungle Gym Jam’s third video from their debut album "Everyone’s Invited!" and the band’s first animated video. Glen had a strong track record for creating compelling children’s music videos with his work directing multiple live-action and animated videos for award winning kindie band Joanie Leeds and the Nightlights.
The Jungle Gym Jam is: Jason Didner-lead vocals and guitar; Casey McCleary-harmony vocals and guitar; Judy Helbig-bass guitar and harmony vocals; Ross Kantor-drums and harmony vocals. Meg Beattie contributed harmony vocals to "Five Sea Lions" and other tracks on the album.
The album "Everyone’s Invited!" has received decidedly positive reviews in the parenting blogosphere on the strength of the consistently happy reactions the reviewers’ children have displayed upon hearing the music over the course of repeated listens. It can be heard in its entirety on the Music page of the Jungle Gym Jam’s web site: http://www.junglegymjam.com/music and purchased in physical CD form from CD Baby or downloaded from CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon MP3 or Google Play.
For more information, contact Jason at [email protected] or call 201-838-1205.

