Video recommendations...

[egoldber]

especially Barney and Wiggles videos...I have an Amazon gift certificate for Sarah from the holidays that I have never used and have decided to get a few videos. She really likes Barney and The Wiggles. She especially like the songs and dancing, not so much the other stuff. So are there any videos that contain mostly singing and dancing and not so much "lessons"?

I have tried reading the Amazon reviews and everything seems to have a 4 star rating, with half the people saying "it's their greatest video yet!!!" and the other half saying "it's the worst video ever!!!". Sigh. I also find it irritating that they don't list the songs that are on the video in the Amazon description. Does anyone know where I can find those on-line?

I cannot even believe I am posting this. Before Sarah was born I was one of those self-righteous moms to be who said things like "my child will never watch TV, and certainly will never watch BARNEY!!!!!". Now I know all the words to all the Barney songs and actually LIKE Barney. He is very sweet and has such nice, gentle messages... Yikes!

TIA!

[colleenfs]

We rent lots of kiddie videos from Blockbuster, and if we really like one, we'll buy it. We also borrow them from the library.

There's are some good Sesame Street ones-
All the classics are here - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573305693/qid=1045062714/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-2721019-3186432

My daughter loves this one as there are "real" kids singing their favorite songs. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005QFE3/qid=1045062714/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/002-2721019-3186432?v=glance&s=dvd


Have fun!
Colleen and Julia 1-10-02

[twins r fun]

We've got 5 now!

"Yummy Yummy" is all songs with just one break for a magic trick-very good (only 36 minutes, though). "Wiggly Wiggly World" is my new favorite-also all songs and catchy ones at that. If you don't mind being out of season "Wiggly Wiggly Christmas" is all songs also, with a mix of some traditional and some original songs. Those are my reccomendations of the ones we have.

We also have "Wiggly Play Time" which is 3 of their TV episodes, so is more teachy and talky. "Dance Party" lived here briefly, but I got rid of it because the quality was so bad. It was all songs, but I would avoid it!

Edited to Add: I don't know where you can find the song list online, but I can tell you more about any that you are interested in if you want-through email or a post.

Nicole

[atlbaby]

These aren't Barney or Wiggles recommendtions, but I recently bought Arielle Sesame Street Kids Favorite Songs II as per a friend's rec. and she loves it!! I would definitely try this one!! It has Elmo asking kids what are their favorite songs, and then cartoons or Sesame Street characters sing them. And DH will hate me for saying this, but he will sit with Arielle and watch it long after she's moved on to something else. Yes, I currently have 2 children around :)

I've never seen volume I around, it may be out of print but if anyone ever sees it, please let me know where you find it!

BTW, I've heard a lot about the Wiggles but never seen them (it?)
Are the shows ever on public tv or cable so I can check them out?

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[twins r fun]

Hey Rachel,

The Wiggles are a group of 4 men from Australia :) who sing and dance around and make general fools of themselves. They don't wear costumes, just a different colored Wiggle shirt for each of them, but they have "friends" (pirate, dinosaur, dog, octopus) who are in costume. Some of what they sing are traditional children's songs or variations of them, but a lot is their original stuff. My boys have never liked Baby Einstein, etc. but have been avid Wiggle-watchers from about 4 months. They're on the Disney Channel, which recently made a miraculous and unexpected appearance in our basic cable line up (I'm not complaining :)). Definitely worth checking out!

Your Sesame video sounds good-I'll have to look into that.

Nicole

[juliasdad]

Beth,

There's a video that I'd recommend, but I can't because I've never seen it! And yet, I'll recommend it anyway, because we have the audio CD and it's our favorite album. It's Trout Fishing In America's "Family Music Party", and I can't say enough good about this duo. Highly, highly recommended music.

-dan

[MinnieMouse]

My dd is almost 19mo and an avid video watcher. From the time she was an infant she has disliked the Baby Einstein videos and like your dd really enjoys music. As she got older she LOVES both Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer...mostly because of the music in them. They have songs they sing in each episode that she enjoys hearing (the mail song, we just got a letter, the map song, and we did it, etc.).

We have very few Dora and Blue videos, but have multiple blank videotapes filled with episodes :-). What we have purchases is a lot of Sesame Street DVDs and videos. Dd absolutely adores Elmo. We have a few Elmo's World but the two biggest hits are "Sesame Street's 25th Birthday" and "Elmopalooza." Both are compilations of SS short skits and songs ...sorta like a bunch of music videos for toddlers! LOL

The other very suprisingly popular videos we have, we got for free! They are the Fisher Price Little People videos. We received Episodes 1, 3 and 4 free with different Little People sets and dd will bypass all the other stuff and specifically ask for them! They are done with claymation and Aaron Neville does the music...and they are very cute.

The last recommendation I can make is for Veggie Tales. These are somewhat religious (Christian) in nature...but not overwhelmingly so. Most of them are 1/2 hour stories involving stories from the Old Testament retold in different settings with all the roles "played" by vegetables. It's difficult to explain fully. There is a good amount of music in each episode, and then there is a separate "Silly Song" for each as well. The Silly Songs are really great and absolutely hysterical. Dd's favorite video is the Sing Along one that has just songs on it. She "sings" with it all the time. I actually think that we are going to end up having to buy another one because she'll wear it out!

I didn't mention the purple dinosaur or the Wiggles because we don't have any of either. With the dreaded dinosaur we won't allow him in the house...dd has seen him at daycare..but we just don't have him at home. As for the Wiggles, dd has seen them on the Disney channel but isn't absolutely nutso over them, so we haven't gotten any of their videos as of yet.

HTH

Christine

[shopaholic mom]

Wiggles - "Wiggle Time" is a good one - pretty much all singing and dancing - no teachy stuff on there. A very cute pirate dance and a very cute octopus that my Sarah (1 yr) for some reason really likes.

Elmopalooza is another favorite here - I second that reccomendation.

For a change from barney, wiggles and baby dolittle,
Babysongs and Kidsongs are great - a friend with a 4 year old and 1 year old constantly raves about them and I just watched one of the videos at her house recently and it was actually really good.
Turns out, this series has won all sorts of awards and rave reviews - for more info and to order:
http://www.babysongs.com/babysongs.shtml

BTW, Barney definitely is an acquired taste...when he first came on TV and DD caught a glimpse of him and went into a barney-trance, my first reaction, was oh, no...we're starting the barney phase already, but slowly, he's grown on me and now I have gone from dreading, to not minding to actually liking him sometimes.

[shopaholic mom]

Forgot to mention - BabySongs is all original music - and all features and the songs are mainly about kids and babies doing day-to-day things in mtv style music videos - with babies as rock stars

The one we saw, "baby's busy day" had songs like "I can put my clothes on by myself", "finger foods" and peek a boo"

My friend who has the whole series also raves about the Silly Songs video and the Animals video by them.

[nohomama]

I can't recommend any videos because I don't have any. I just tape Teletubies and occassionally Sesame Street and let Lola watch those.

What I wanted to mention/recommend are some cds. "Rocket Ship Beach," "Family Dance," and "Night Time," all by Dan Zanes, are standbys in our house. His cds are great and he's absolutely fantastic live (we saw him at the dedication of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA and would actually travel to seem him again). If you're a devotee of Raffi these may not be up your alley, so see if you can listen to some snipettes before you buy. Another favorite is "Wiggleworms" by various artists from the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Our friend who is their director of customer service sent it to us as a gift, but I'm certain you can buy it from Amazon.

Even if you don't use your gift certificate to purchase these, I encourage you to check them out. They're great for kids and adults alike and have, in our case, fostered a love of music in Lola.

[sophiesmom]

DD (18 mos) loves the following videos:
Wiggles: Yummy Yummy and Dance Party
Sesame Street Kids FAve Songs 1 and 2
Elmo: Babies and Dogs (or something like that!)
Teletubbies

Another video to look for, not sure where it's sold, came w/ a music set for a gift, is called Babies Make Music. DD LOVES this video, and it is for babies and toddlers. I'll post back later w/ the womans name who made the video... :-)

[egoldber]

Thanks for these recommendations! I played the selection on Amazon of the Zanes CDs for Sarah and she really liked them! I think I may get Rocket Ship Beach and Family Dance. Night Time is a bit like our lullaby CD, "Lullabies for Little Dreamers", which I HIGHLY recommend.

They don't have the Wiggleworms CD in stock on Amazon. I may check Borders and see if they have it. Are there other CDs you like?

I still need DVDs though. The videos are actually not for home, they are mainly for the car. I have a DVD player in my minivan and we drive 10 hours fairly often to visit my parents or my in-laws. I already have a few videos, but it drives me crazy to listen to the same ones over and over again. (I swear I can recite "The Tigger Movie" by heart.) And the DVD player in the van is absolutely amazing for letting us drive long distances with a calm toddler in the back, so I really want the videos to be ones that will captivate her.

I am also a little embarrassed that I never thought about checking Blockbuster for kids DVDs. Since we moved from California (and it's only been, oh almost two years...) we haven't gotten a new Blockbuster card. I will check that out tomorrow. I did check my lcoal library and they have virtually no childrens videos. Either that or they were all checked out...

Thanks all! Please keep the suggestions coming!

[MinnieMouse]

I believe the Sesame Street 25th that I recommended above ONLY comes as a DVD. I haven't seen it as a video anywhere. If your dd likes music this is definitely one to get. It was made in the mid to early 90's and is almost entirely classic Sesame Street songs with little skits in between.

Here is the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573305693/qid=1045146376/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/102-9599885-5393713

Dh and I actually enjoy it as well since it's all the classics that we grew up with. Plus the bonus is that it's an entire hour as opposed to most other SS stuff that are generally much shorter.

Elmopalooza is very similar to the 25th DVD, but with much more recent stuff. I think it generally has more skits in it than the 25th, but it also has a companion CD that we listen to in the car, which is kinda cool.

HTH

Christine

[parkersmama]

I'd like to throw my hat in for "Elmopalooza". I was glad to see it already mentioned. When my 5yo was a toddler we watched it almost everyday. It has "cool" musical acts like Shawn Colvin, Gloria Estefan, and the Fugees. It does have a storyline about puttin' on the show but it's pretty cute. All the great Sesame Street characters are there plus live people. The best thing about it is that the songs are tolerable to adults! We still sing some of them occasionally. Talking about it is making me feel nostalgic...I need to get this out for Wesley to watch now! LOL!

Denise
mom to:
Parker, 9/1/1997
Wesley, 3/9/2000
and #3 (a girl!) due 4/29/2003

[nohomama]

Beth,

You can get "Songs for Wiggleworms" directly from the Old Town School by calling their retail store at 773.751.3398. I'll have to pick through our cds to find others I'd recommend.

Sorry no dvd recommendations. I'm one of those parents who limits t.v. watching. As soon as Lola gets that glazed look in her eyes, the t.v. is OFF. She does LOVE the Teletubbies though... If we had to drive long distances on a regular basis I'd love the set up you have in your van.

[COElizabeth]

My construction-obsessed nephew loved "I love CAT machines" videos, and my dad and I liked them as well. The videos are real footage of different kinds of construction machinery set to music. A nice change from animation and puppets. The website is
www.tmbooks-video.com, and the phone number is
1-800-892-2822 for information and catalog.

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[CherylT]

No particular videos to suggest, and I know you have a gift cert to Amazon, but you might want to check out Overstock.com. They have great prices on video/DVD and very cheap shipping (though I think it may take a couple weeks to get). But, if you aren't in a hurry, worth checking out (for instance Elmopalooza video is 2.99 there). I've never ordered media from them, but have ordered other products - I just happened to be checking out their kids selection and it's pretty large. Good luck to you...

Cheryl (aka CT)
SAHM to Lilli 9/20/00 & Alec 10/21/02

[atlbaby]

Hi Nicole,
We don't get the Disney Channel on our basic cable, but I had been planning on placing an order with Amazon anyway ($25 and over is free shipping too!) so I checked out some Wiggles tapes and ordered the Wiggle Time one. It was reviewed as a good 'starter' one :)
Judging by the responses here I think Arielle should like the Wiggles!
(If nothing else, I could use some new sounds around here!)

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[darebear]

I agree with Cheryl about overstock. I order most videos through them. The majority of their Barney videos around $10.79 and they have a bunch of Sesame Street videos for 3.99. The shipping is cheap. $1.40 for one, 2 or more is 2.95 for the total order. Most orders arrive within one week.

I think the Barney video with the most songs is More Barney Songs, it has 23 songs in a 55 minute video. It is a flashback to the first 10 years of Barney. One of my son's favorites is Elmo's Musical Adventure, The Story of Peter Wolf. He also like Teletubbies. Also Barney has some CD's. We have "A Great Day for Learning" that we listen to in the car.

Also if you have a Hollywood Video close by, they have a large selection of children's videos. They have a selection of children's videos, that you can rent for free with any other rental. My local Blockbuster has limited children's section.

Allison

[egoldber]

I went to Blockbuster todays and they actually had a large number of childrens videos. A little slim on Barney, NO Wiggles (!!!) but a TON of Sesame Street and Teletubbies and others.

Sarah hasn't been real excited about Sesame Street in general, so I hadn't been considering those. But based on everyone's overwhelming recommendations, I may rent one or two and see how she likes it.

And thanks for the overstocks.com recommendation. I found a lot of CDs at great prices. The DVDs I saw were good, but not great deals, but that probably depends on the DVD.

Sarah (nohomama), I found the Wiggleworms CD on the Old Town School website, which led me to cdbaby.com. That CD is great! And OMG!! What amazing music they have at cdbaby.com. Thanks so much! DH is going to be amused that I set out to get "free" movies from Amazon and end up spending a TON on CDs at other places. :) :)

[megsmom]

I have recently bought Meg a few new CDs for the car, including Bear in the Blue House. We had to get her away from obsessing over videos :) and she has really taken to listening to music. She absolutely loves Bear (we'll have to get More Songs from Bear just to preserve my sanity) and lately has been quite obsessed with listening to that and the Wiggles CDs. She just dances around and is so content while they are playing. This morning she actually told me "Turn off the TV, enough TV!" (god forbid I try and watch some of the Today show) so she could listen to her music. I will definitely look up some of these music sites.

Jen
mom to Meghan 7/13/01

[nohomama]

Did you buy anything else from cdbaby.com? If so, what? Wiggleworms and Dan Zanes have been in heavy rotation in our CD player lately and, though I still love those discs, we could use some new tunes.

[egoldber]

I haven't bought anything yet. I am feeling poor these days :) and so I will probably try just the Zanes and the Wiggleworms for right now. But they had so many that sounded really great!

[August Mom]

FYI - If you have a Zany Brainy nearby, you may want to check out the sale section for videos/DVDs. I was there this weekend and many videos were $5.00, while DVDs (including Barney) were $10.00. This Zany Brainy is not going out of business, just making room for new inventory.

[sophiesmom]

The Babies Make Music video is by Lynn Kleiner. If you do a search on the web under the video title, you can find it. It's a great video that will last from infancy through toddlerhood!

[mjs]

For something different you must try these great videos called Wee Sing that my niece used to watch and gave to my 15 month old daughter. There is lots of singing and dancing and my daughter goes crazy and loves them. They did sell them at Amazon and also they can be found on Ebay but there are always lots of people bidding on them. The great ones we have are Wee Sing Sillyville, Wee Sing Grandpa's Magical Toys and a Wee Sing A Magical Musical.