Schoolhouse Rock Still Rocks

Anyone who was around in the 70s and early 80s remembers those Schoolhouse Rock music videos that came on during ABC’s Saturday morning cartoons. Animated shorts with catchy tunes like “Three is a Magic Number,” "Conjunction Junction," “I'm Just a Bill,” and "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here" taught the children of America about math, grammar, civics, etc.

Emmy Award-winning Schoolhouse Rock was the brainchild of David McCall, an advertising executive whose son was having trouble learning multiplication tables but seemed to have an excellent memory for pop song lyrics. McCall decided the solution to his son’s troubles was to marry education and music, and thus began the songs and animation that eventually became, the edutainment phenomenon, Schoolhouse Rock.

In the years that followed, David McCall with help from George Newall, Tom Yohe, Bob Dorough, Radford Stone, Lynn Ahrens, et al., tackled material in almost every area of elementary education. The result is a few dozen three-minute music videos that make learning fun and remarkably memorable. If you grew up during the Schoolhouse Rock era, I’ll bet you still remember the lyrics to some of those songs and still have not forgotten the lessons they taught you. Can you believe that was twenty to thirty years ago?

The good news is that all of these Schoolhouse Rock videos are available on DVD, and the subjects they cover are still relevant. You can take an enjoyable stroll down memory lane while your child has a blast learning about all sorts of subjects.

The comprehensive Schoolhouse Rock Special 30th Anniversary Edition DVD is available from most DVD retailers and generally costs less than $15. Please note that this material is geared toward elementary school children. Preschoolers will be able to enjoy the music and animation, but will probably find much of the subject matter too complex to understand. Also note that this Schoolhouse Rock DVD is controlled by Disney, so prepare to be assaulted with commercials when you press the play button.

Rockin’ Real Wheels Is Not Like the Others

The other Real Wheels DVDs are excellent, but Rockin’ Real Wheels is an entirely different DVD. Rockin’ Real Wheels appears to have little to do with the regular Real Wheels series. The music is poorly written and poorly produced. The animation is cheap, and the acting is weak. There is very little humor in the dialog, and there is nothing children will find engaging in the story lines.

On the bright side, the footage of the various vehicles is pretty good and interesting to watch. The producers really should have put more work into the music and scripts. Rockin’ Real Wheels could have been excellent, but it falls far short of the other Real Wheels DVDs.

LeapFrog Talking Words Factory Provides Excellent Introduction to Reading

Professor Quigley, Leap, Lily, and Tad are back in Talking Words Factory, the logical sequel to the Letter Factory DVD from LeapFrog.

In this follow-up, the young cartoon frogs spend a day at the Talking Words Factory with Professor Quigley as they learn how words are formed.

The story first tackles the most important letters: vowels. Professor Quigley demonstrates that vowels are special because they stick letters together to form words. From there, Quigley uses the Word Whammer 3000 to form simple three-letter words like cat and bat. Then he moves on to four-letter words (like stop and best) that use blended consonant sounds. (A toy version of the Word Whammer 3000 is available from LeapFrog as a complement to this DVD.)

Each phase of the story includes a catchy little musical number to add to the fun and help your child remember each lesson. The story uses many of the familiar talking letter characters from the Letter Factory video to remind your child of the previous lessons in phonics.

The Talking Words Factory DVD is very thorough. In a little more than half an hour, the characters present the basics of reading. The one negative about this video is that it moves very quickly and contains a tremendous amount of information for a young mind to absorb. The producers should have considered not going beyond three-letter words for this DVD and saved the four-letter words for the next sequel.

Please note that, since Talking Words Factory is rather advanced, your child must have the alphabet and phonics mastered before he or she will be able to understand this video. Even though this DVD does stand on its own, it shares a lot of elements with Letter Factory. It is highly recommended to use the two videos together.

Overall, Talking Words Factory is an excellent teaching tool for introducing your child to reading. It will take dozens of viewings for the lessons to sink in, but this video illustrates some concepts that are invaluable to budding readers.

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory, the Best DVD for Pre-Readers

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is a video that teaches children the alphabet and the sounds of each letter through phonics.

The story is about Tad, Leap, and Lily (cartoon frogs) who spend a day with Professor Quigley at the Letter Factory. During the tour, characters move from room to room and learn about the individual letters of the alphabet. Each short segment features a different theme, a very brief skit with talking letters, and a catchy little song. These mini-lessons do an excellent job of introducing each letter and associating it with its sound. At the end of the story, all of the letters appear for a big musical finale to review the lesson.

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is brilliant in its simplicity. Letter Factory reduces the alphabet to its most basic elements: the letters and their sounds. This simple content provides pre-readers with just what they need to know about the alphabet without overwhelming them with excessive information.

The catchy songs sung by cartoon letters cement each lesson and provide the child with an audio-visual mnemonic device for each letter of the alphabet. These well-imprinted memories will become invaluable when your child begins learning how to read. LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is educational, entertaining, and simply the best video for pre-readers on the market.

LeapFrog's Fridge Phonics toy is a complement to this DVD.

Mozart Cubed: The Embryonics Mozart Magic Cube

The Embryonics Mozart Magic Cube from Munchkin, Inc. is a fun educational toy that teaches your child the basics of music composition.

The yellow and purple cube measures five inches and has one large button on each face. One button activates a digital orchestra, and the other five activate a piano, harp, flute, violin, and French horn. As your child presses the buttons, the five instruments are added to or taken out of the orchestra. Rhythmic flashing lights indicate which instruments are playing during any of the several classic songs stored in the Magic Cube.

With the Mozart Magic Cube, your child has the ability to customize compositions. Your child may choose to hear the full orchestra or simply a solo. The important thing is that the selections are all up to your child.

This toy encourages development by allowing your child to make choices and immediately see the results of those decisions. This toy is also beneficial because it helps to your child understand that music is not just noise but a combination of multiple instruments playing their own parts.

A negative aspect of the Mozart Magic Cube is the weak quality of the digital music. The sound is very electronic and should be improved. With the electronic technology now available, there is no reason why the Mozart Magic Cube cannot have highly realistic synthesized musical sounds. Hopefully, the manufacturer will invest a little more time in product enhancement and deliver a truly spectacular version of this toy in the future.

Another negative aspect of this toy is that the electronics are a little fragile for a toy. For some reason, little boys love to drop this cube on the floor to see if it will bounce. On good bounce on a tile floor will be more than enough to put your Mozart Magic Cube into a permanent electronic coma.

With the exception of the weak music quality and fragile electronics, the Mozart Magic Cube is a great toy for teaching your child the basics of music. Your child is likely to love it.

Prenatal Stimulation Provides a Head Start for Your Unborn Child

Prenatal stimulation refers to the practice of using music, voice, etc. to stimulate fetuses. The objective is to promote brain development while the child is still in the womb. Some experts doubt prenatal stimulation has any impact on fetal brain development. Other experts claim that prenatal stimulation is clearly beneficial.

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of prenatal stimulation, we have to consider the facts. Fetuses can hear sounds. We know this because fetuses respond to sounds while in the womb. Sudden sharp noises (like slamming doors) startle fetuses and make them jump. We know that sound waves from music and external voices can penetrate into the womb. Research has long proven that, after birth, babies recognize their mother’s voice. Also, many babies appear to recognize their father’s voice immediately after birth.

Given this evidence, it seems only logical that fetuses can hear and enjoy music and voices. For this reason, you might want to consider the possible benefits of exposing your unborn child to audio stimulation.

Pregnant mothers have observed that their fetuses seem to be excited by certain noises. Pregnant mothers who read to their fetuses notice that the fetus becomes highly active when hearing certain books and very calm while hearing other books. Mothers have had similar observations with music. Peppy music may excite the fetus while peaceful music may soothe the fetus.

If you want to use prenatal stimulation for your baby, it’s very easy. You can begin by reading to the baby. Just project your voice toward the fetus. You don’t need to shout, but speak up, because the inside of the human body is a very noisy place.

You also might want to play music for the fetus. Babies seem to love classical music. In particular, Mozart’s playful and happy style appears to have a universal appeal with children. If you turn up the stereo’s volume a bit, the fetus should be able to hear the music. Don’t turn up the volume too much, however. There is no need to have the music louder than what is comfortable for you.

Some companies sell products to aid in prenatal stimulation. BebeSounds offers a kit that includes abdominal speakers, a microphone, music, and an electronic fetal listening device. The BabyPlus Company has a sophisticated sonic system based on rhythms: the Prenatal Education System. With a little searching, you can probably find several similar prenatal stimulation products. Just choose the one that you think will best accomplish your goals.

If you do buy one of the commercially available prenatal stimulation systems, please follow the safety guidelines carefully. Misuse of these products could potentially be harmful to the fetus.

Little Einsteins Is the Next Logical Step

At some point, the marketing guys at Disney must have sat down and realized that their Baby Einstein audience was getting older. Hoping to capitalize on the success of the Baby Einstein line, Disney developed Little Einsteins as the next step for their aging audience of little geniuses.

Little Einsteins is a television show airing on Disney television and available on DVD. The animation is an odd but unique combination of cartoon characters and photo images. Young cartoon children, Annie, Quincy, June, and Leo travel around the world and beyond in Rocket, a red flying submarine/spacecraft. In each episode, the Little Einsteins characters go on a mission. To complete each mission, the children must decipher clues that involve music, art, geography, animals, etc.

Little Einsteins is intended for children three- to six-years old; however, unusually bright one- and two-year olds may find the show interesting.

Little Tikes Piano Hits a High Note

Through the years, Little Tikes has made several versions of a small piano/xylophone. This product is a good tool for teaching your child about music and the production of sound.

These Little Tikes pianos have large keys that are easy for babies to use. The pianos normally come in four- and eight-key models. The eight-key model contains a full octave and is far superior to the four-key model.

The main disadvantage to the Little Tikes piano is difficult cleaning. Over time, dust and crumbs fall through the keyboard and accumulate in the bottom of the piano. You will have to take the piano apart to do a proper cleaning.

With the exception of cleaning difficulties, the Little Tikes piano is an excellent tool for introducing your child to music and sound production.