The Laurie Berkner Band hits all the right notes

Concerts for kids can fall into several categories: Big sound of big venues, cozy and cute or interactive. Plus, there’s often a disconnect between the youngest audience members and the oldest.

What a treat, then, to see someone do it right, for everyone. In a concert Sunday at Manhattan’s Town Hall, the Laurie Berkner Band hit all those marks and more. A Brooklyn-based former preschool teacher and current Noggin channel phenomenon (her new music-video special for the network begins airing July 12), Berkner and her crew—Susie Lampert on piano, Adam Bernstein on bass and newcomer Bob Golden on drums—filled the hall with a full sound that’s progressed to the point that their latest album, "Rocketship Run," is as listenable for parents as for their little ones.

Though the pajama party theme at last weekend’s show—which also collected new PJ’s for The Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), which helps children entering foster care—was certainly a tot crowd-pleaser. As the lights came up, Berkner and company was sitting on a canopied bed, asleep. Startled by the giggles coming from the audience, they took instruments in hand and did a rousing set of old and new tunes, which got the young fans dancing in the aisles (a common occurrence at Berkner shows.)

The stuffed animals who came with the pajama theme got their moment for "Pig on Her Head" (the title says it all). "Choc-o-lot in My Pock-o-Lot" got the kids rhyming and miming with the band. In the middle of "We Are the Dinosaurs," Berkner did her version of James Brown’s mid-song heart attacks—falling asleep clutching her guitar before everyone shouts "Wake up, Laurie!"—to lots of laughs. And the earthy "Walk Along the River" got voices singing "Ooh-ahh, oooh-ahh" and doing arm-waves in unison.

By show’s end, there was a hide-and-seek ("Going on a Hunt"), world music ("Let’s Samba") and a new lullabye about the moon. And tons of fun.

Laurie Berkner will perform solo as part of the opening festivities at the Little Airplane Café, a new live music venue for families, on Sunday, July 12. (Little Airplane Studios, 207 Front St. in the South Street Seaport; doors open at 12:30 p.m.; concerts begin at 1 pm. For more information, call 212-965-8999 or go to: www.littleairplane.com.)