Phonics 4 Babies

I recently had the opportunity to preview the new DVD Phonics 4 Babies for the Parent Bloggers Network. The DVD I received was Baby's First Words.

I had high hopes for this DVD. The DVD features colorful puppets and Mallory Lewis, daughter of Shari Lewis of Lamb Chop fame. The DVDs indicates that it is geared towards helping babies and toddlers learn things such as vowel and consonant formation, combining vowels and consonants, and the first 200 words. I couldn't wait to try it out on Holden, my 20 month old.

I was a bit disappointed. Ms. Lewis was engaging; the puppets were endearing; and I think the DVD is well done if a bit annoying. (But then, don't we adults usually find shows that our children adore to be annoying?) Words and sounds are clearly articulated and repeated. There is no doubt in my mind that if Holden were a bit younger, he would have gotten something out of the video.

The problem? Holden was bored.

Holden, like most second children, is much more verbally advanced at 20 months than his older brother was. His vocabulary is already well beyond 200 words and he forms complex sentences. Frankly, sometimes I'm floored by what comes out of his mouth. I'm not trying to be a bragging mama here, but Holden is just, well... Holden. While he enjoyed the music and singing in the video and liked watching the puppets, he just wasn't engaged by the word games and word sounds.

So would I recommend it? Yes. I just wish we'd had a copy of this video when Holden was just turning one or had one of the other videos in the series covering letter and number recognition. I think even Hollis, at 3, might have learned something from that. So, if you have a somewhat verbally advanced little one, you might want to start this series a little earlier.