Baby Einstein's My First Signs

Looking for a way to introduce your baby to his or her first words? "Baby Einstein's My First Signs" is the perfect DVD for you.

The latest DVD in this popular series uses your baby's new-found skill of eye-hand coordination to learn 20 basic signs for commonly used words and phrases. Oscar Winner Marlee Matlin joins in and shows how to make the signs. The DVD uses classical music and artwork to enhance the instruction of the signs along with babies, toddlers, children and adults showing how to perform each one.

The program focuses on four different areas: family time, meal time, play time and bedtime. It introduces words such as mommy, milk, daddy, eat, blanket, and play.

The bonus section consists of puppet shows including ones on opposites and other new words. You can also view the toys used in the video and view the DVD in Spanish and French.

This is a great way to start teaching your baby something that they can use forever.

There are lots of other ways to get this information and in some cases, as your child gets older, they can figure out how to tell you they want to eat or drink without using the 'official' method.

Baby Einstein :Baby Van Gogh

It's not surprising that the company that produces these fine videos for babies has been bought by Disney. Its top quality CDs, videos, and DVDs are as good at attracting the attention of financial types as they are at occupying babies and toddlers.

With a strong caution to parents of babies that they should not be exposed to more than one or two hours of television or video a day, I will say with enthusiasm that it would be hard to find a better choice for that time than this series. Do not worry that this is some attempt to open the wallets of ambitious yuppies who are already filling out applications for Ivy League preschools. This is not a series of flash cards. It is just a way to expose babies to the best our culture has to offer in images and sounds.

Baby Van Gogh is an introduction to colors, let by the friendly "Vincent Van Goat." Separate chapters about each of the major colors include van Gogh paintings and cheerful poems. Baby Einstein has toys, patterns, and blocks accompanied by music and narration in a range of languages. Others in the series are also bright and engaging. And the optional read-along books and DVDs have extras to give parents more options in presenting the material.

A few more cautionary notes: I do not recommend the "Sleepytime" video, because studies show that the neurological effect of watching anything on a screen (television, video, or computer) is so stimulating that babies and children take longer to go to sleep and sleep more restlessly. And some of the videos have some bangs and screeches that might startle younger or particularly sensitive kids. But overall, this is one of the best sets of videos and DVDs for young children and their families and highly recommended as long as parents and caregivers remember that the primary activities for babies and toddlers should be play and interaction.

Baby Einstein : Little Einsteins

Little Einsteins" DVD Summary

Disney and The Baby Einstein Company have teamed up to create “Little Einsteins: Our Huge Adventure,” an interactive DVD for preschoolers. The creators combine real-life footage, art, music, and animation to guide kids on their first “mission.”

Little Einsteins Leo, June, Annie, and Quincy enlist viewers’ help in their mission to aid a little lost caterpillar who communicates through singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The musical caterpillar needs to find his friends at the “Tree of Many Colors” and get his new outfit.

Children can pat to the beat to power Rocket, the team’s flying ship, as it takes off with the four Einsteins and the caterpillar. Once in the air, Rocket zooms through a musical roller coaster with traffic signs such as “Allegro” and “Crescendo.” Children are asked to help the characters make decisions along the way, such as which musical track to take, and which tree is singing the right song.

Finally, the group arrives at the tree, and the caterpillar gets his new outfit; however, the mission is not over. Now a beautiful butterfly, the caterpillar must migrate to Mexico for a family reunion, and he will need the Little Einsteins help to get there.

Baby Einstein :"Baby Wordsworth: First Words - Around the House" DVD Review

“Baby Wordsworth” is part of the “Baby Einstein” suite of infant, baby, and toddler developmental DVDs. “Baby Wordsworth” combines real-world images, puppets, art, and classical music to introduce children to 30 words from around the home.

The video is divided into segments according to which room of the house the objects are found in. Each word is shown on the screen with a picture of the object it describes. The word is spoken and then signed by actress Marlee Matlin. Children and puppets are shown playing or interacting with each object, and at the end of each segment, the words are signed a second time by a little girl.

Note to Parents

Parents are increasingly using sign language with babies in response to recent research indicating that signing can accelerate and expand infants’ communication skills. Baby Wordsworth applies these ideas by using sign language to introduce the words from around the house. In addition, Marlee Matlin demonstrates additional signs in two special features: “Signing with Baby,” and “The Alphabet (In Sign Language).”

The meaning of each word and sign is also reinforced by the scenes showing children playing with the objects. Because babies and toddlers love watching other children, these scenes are effective at holding kids’ attention and emphasizing the meaning of the words.

The pace of the program as a whole will be a little slow for some kids. Parents can enhance the viewing experience by trying the sign language with their children or bringing out some of the objects from around the house and letting their kids look at them and play with them as they come up on the video.

“Baby Wordsworth: First Words Around the House” expands children’s minds by exposing them to various mediums of communication around simple items they see every day.

Baby Einstein : On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring

Overview of Baby Einstein "On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring"

Baby Einstein’s “On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring” introduces babies and toddlers to the different ways people travel. Starting out with strollers and wagons, the DVD progresses through other things like trucks, boats and planes. The DVD uses animation, puppets and real world imagery to captivate babies with things that ride, sail and soar. The main objects are named as the word that describes them is shown on the TV.

The music consists of background classical music and other tunes composed with instruments that appeal to children, and the DVD also features a couple of songs that are sung such as “The Wheels on the Bus.”

Guide Review of Baby Einstein "On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring"

The “On the Go” DVD is well organized and does a good job showing different modes of transportation in ways that will captivate babies and toddlers. The moving images, babies and music will likely hold the attention of the targeted age range.

For the most part, the DVD is simply images moving with background music. While babies and toddlers may watch intently, they are not likely to learn much without an adult interacting with them and pointing out the connection between the different images.

Baby Einstein "On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring" DVD Special Features

• Repeat Play
• Language Tracks
• Discovery Cards
• Guess What I’m Drawing!
• Let’s Sing Together
• Puppet Shows
• Toy Chest

Expand Upon the "On the Go" Curriculum

• After the DVD ends, take your child on a stroller ride and point out the different modes of transportation you see.
• Gather toys that represent modes of transportation and some that don't. As you and your children play with the toys, talk to them about how things "go" and transportation. Ask them (if they are old enough) to separate the toys into things that go and things that don't, or into groups of things that travel by air, land or water. You can also ask them questions like "How does this go?" "What sound does this make?" "Have you ever ridden in one of these?" or anything else you can think of.

Baby Einstein DVDs - Review of Baby Bach

Guide Review - Baby Bach | Baby Einstein DVDs - Review of Baby Bach

For those who have already experienced the magic of Baby Mozart, a few comparisions can be drawn to provide a clearer picture. As with Baby Mozart, the theme of Baby Bach revolves around the music. In order to entertain and engage the baby, a lot of toys, puppets and action packed props are employed.

However, Baby Bach has much less of the movement and activity that was found in Baby Mozart. Fewer puppets are employed, and lesser colors and designs too. There are more appearances by actual kids and lots of sounds. Along with the music of Bach, there are a lot of silly sounds and noises during the scenes where lots of toys are shown along with the children's antics.

The format of Baby Bach is like a Video Board Book, where there are different video scenes which change like when the pages of a book are turned. The different scenes include objects which little children can identify with like a sun, stuffed animals, toy cars, spinning tops etc. Along the course of the DVD, pictures of musical instruments like piano, flute, a music box, etc are displayed accompanied by the strains of Bach. Also, the motion of some toys is in accordance with the music.

Some scenes are a little startling for young children like the dark scenes, and sudden appearances by the toy puppets. The putting together of this video could have been better. It is slightly amateurish in its production, especially since there seems to be too abrupt a transition between the still and the moving scenes.

Baby Einstein Language Nursery DVD

Guide Review - Review Of Baby Einstein Language Nursery DVD

The Baby Einstein DVD - Language Nursery introduces a host of different languages including French, Russian, German, Hebrew, Japanese etc. There are passages in one language, and the focus then shifts to another language and so on. In the meantime, colorful background images with toys, other kids, and various objects for the purpose of holding baby's attention are shown.

The basic concept of making a baby's mind receptive to different languages is a good one, no doubt. But introducing too many languages at one time for a short while each defeats the entire purpose.

The Baby Einstein Language Nursery DVD aims to develop baby's brain so that baby can pick up different languages at a later date. However, it is very hard to understand how short snippets of various languages can affect the brain development of the baby in the long run. If the baby is constantly exposed to a second or third language, in the long run, yes, the baby will eventually find it easier to speak those languages. But through this Baby Einstein DVD, with little relation between the images and the spoken word, and that too for such a short time, I don't see how it could help very much.

Many parents like this DVD because it holds the attention of the baby. Colorful images, sounds and other kids are a basic staple of most Baby DVD's, which work to hold baby's attention! I would recommend Brainy Babies Laugh And Learn DVD instead for much more educational viewing content for your child.