PBN-Phonics 4 Babies
I consider it a personal challenge to get Kaitlyn to watch anything that isn’t Dora or Diego, so when Parent Bloggers Network asked for volunteers to review “Phonics 4 Babies: Baby’s First Words“, I said yes, please. We received a free copy in exchange for this review.
I have mixed feelings about this DVD. The selling point for me was that the creator and star is Mallory Lewis, daughter of legendary Shari Lewis, who won countless awards for her work with puppets, the most famous of which was LambChop. I knew Mallory had taken up her Mother’s work with puppetry after Shari Lewis passed away, and I thought it would be interesting to see if any of my kids even noticed that Mallory’s mouth didn’t move while the puppets were “talking”.
But there’s just one problem for me-Mallory Lewis has a gigantic mouth. I’m sorry, it’s true! Her teeth are a shade of white that has never been found in nature, and quite frankly, I found them distracting while she was speaking. Also, the “Tummy Tots” are just creepy.
On the positive side, words like “please” and “thank you” are taught, and the premise of the DVD is a colorful and musical introduction to words, phrases, letters, shapes and more. Each is in a short segment for kids who can’t sit still for a whole half an hour. This would be a good first DVD for young children, and anything they watch that reinforces manners and teaches the basics is a plus for me. I just wish Mallory Lewis’ teeth didn’t have to have a starring role.
Tags: Children's literature, DVD Reviews
October 9th, 2007 at 5:11 am
[...] back-to-basics approach in terms of sound, letter, and number recognition. The video’s “creator and star is Mallory Lewis, daughter of legendary Shari Lewis, who won countless awards for h…” One blogger fondly recalled: “You can’t deny the cuteness of that sheep, and the [...]
October 14th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Great post. I agree that from birth babies are listening to your words and watching what they see. The repetitiveness of those words and sights are becoming memorized. Give them the best that you can and they will become intelligent and happy in their early years.