deborah_r
07-13-2004, 03:35 PM
<<Also posting in "Around the House" forum.>>
Thank you to Alan & Denise for the opportunity to review a product, and my apologies for being so pokey about posting my review...
Review of “Baby Songs: Play Along Songs”
A VHS featuring the songs of Hap Palmer (Infant – 6 Years)
Well, it’s taken me a long time to get around to this, and also it’s taken me a long time to sit through the video! I know it’s award-winning and I will say my DS seems to really like it so far, but parts of it are almost unbearable for me.
The songs sung by Hap Palmer are the best part, most of them are very catchy and I find myself humming them the rest of the day. The songs sung by the kids are not so great, IMO, but again DS does seem to enjoy them. (“Weekly Rap” comes to mind – I think most adults would find this song incredibly irritating) I also like the animations in between songs – they are very cute and entertaining.
Other positives are the diversity of the children (including some physically-challenged children) which I think is great for children to see that there are all different types of people in the world. And I didn’t notice any issues with girls doing only “girl” things and boys doing only “boy” things. Also, I didn’t notice the children doing things that are undesirable or unsafe behaviors (someone mentioned this in connection with an earlier review of a similar video), but then again, I don’t have an older child so I am not totally sure about that. There are different location which should be interesting to point out to your child (like the beach, the park, etc.)
One thing that kind of bothers me about the video is that the video footage for the different songs in some cases seems to be filmed in different decades from song to song, judging by the fashions (can you say “acid wash”?) However, this probably doesn’t bother DS!
The songs that I think are fun are “Just Fun”, “The Mice Go Marching”, “Homemade Band”, “and “Things We Like To Do”. I generally leave the room for “Weekly Rap” – definitely the low point of the video.
A concern I have, in light of the recent research about the fast-paced images being a problem for babies, is that the scenes tend to switch rapidly. I can usually only count to 2,3, or 4 before the scene changes. So I’m not sure if this is a great choice for babies.
Overall, I’d say it’s not a “watch every day” for my DS, although maybe an older child would really take to it. I like it enough that I would consider buying another in the series as DS gets older, but not enough that I can tell you to run out and buy this video today. I have heard good things in the past about Hap Palmer's music, and I would recommend giving him a listen to see if it is something you might be interested in.
Thank you to Alan & Denise for the opportunity to review a product, and my apologies for being so pokey about posting my review...
Review of “Baby Songs: Play Along Songs”
A VHS featuring the songs of Hap Palmer (Infant – 6 Years)
Well, it’s taken me a long time to get around to this, and also it’s taken me a long time to sit through the video! I know it’s award-winning and I will say my DS seems to really like it so far, but parts of it are almost unbearable for me.
The songs sung by Hap Palmer are the best part, most of them are very catchy and I find myself humming them the rest of the day. The songs sung by the kids are not so great, IMO, but again DS does seem to enjoy them. (“Weekly Rap” comes to mind – I think most adults would find this song incredibly irritating) I also like the animations in between songs – they are very cute and entertaining.
Other positives are the diversity of the children (including some physically-challenged children) which I think is great for children to see that there are all different types of people in the world. And I didn’t notice any issues with girls doing only “girl” things and boys doing only “boy” things. Also, I didn’t notice the children doing things that are undesirable or unsafe behaviors (someone mentioned this in connection with an earlier review of a similar video), but then again, I don’t have an older child so I am not totally sure about that. There are different location which should be interesting to point out to your child (like the beach, the park, etc.)
One thing that kind of bothers me about the video is that the video footage for the different songs in some cases seems to be filmed in different decades from song to song, judging by the fashions (can you say “acid wash”?) However, this probably doesn’t bother DS!
The songs that I think are fun are “Just Fun”, “The Mice Go Marching”, “Homemade Band”, “and “Things We Like To Do”. I generally leave the room for “Weekly Rap” – definitely the low point of the video.
A concern I have, in light of the recent research about the fast-paced images being a problem for babies, is that the scenes tend to switch rapidly. I can usually only count to 2,3, or 4 before the scene changes. So I’m not sure if this is a great choice for babies.
Overall, I’d say it’s not a “watch every day” for my DS, although maybe an older child would really take to it. I like it enough that I would consider buying another in the series as DS gets older, but not enough that I can tell you to run out and buy this video today. I have heard good things in the past about Hap Palmer's music, and I would recommend giving him a listen to see if it is something you might be interested in.