We have this music box for our 1yo and there are a lot kid songs in different pop music styles and she loved "the one with the trumpets". I never really was into ska so I'm asking the collective for the best ska songs they know so I can surprise her with a playlist.
edit: sorry its been hectic and I couldn't get to this "project", thank you all so much for your suggestions!
Madness is one of the bands that popularized the genre in the western world back in the '70s and '80s. Their 1st album One Step Beyond is still one of the genre landmarks.
Around the early '90s Ska got picked up by Punk bands all around the world, breathing in the genre new life and appealing to new audiences, but in my opinion few of them managed to get it right as the Spanish band Ska-P. I'm particularly fond of their 4th and 5th albums: Planeta Eskoria and Que Corra la Voz
Edit: Links added