Baby Einstein - Neighborhood Animals

My 20 month old loves this video, as he does the others in this series. Each night at bedtime, I allow him to watch one of the tapes - the music and animation tend to calm him and the muppets and animals stimulate his language development. Baby Dolittle is one of his favorites! Whomever did the research in producing these videos is indeed an Einstein!

I bought this for my grandson who is 15 months old. His attention span on this is about 10-15 minutes. However, I have noticed that as he becomes more familiar with the DVD, his attention lasts a little longer. I dont let him watch DVDs more than once or twice a day and only when hes very tired and cranky. He likes the puppets on all the Baby Einstein movies; thats a plus. This DVD includes some animals he is not familiar with, but as he gets older, I think the connection will be there.

We are wearing this DVD out!!! My 15-month-old loves it from start to finish....he is completely captivated. We are very happy.

My 19 month old loves this movie as well as all the other Baby Einstein.

I thought that my 6 month old daughter would like this movie because she is already an avid tv watcher but this didnt hold her attention much at all. Everytime it switched sceens, the screen goes black for a second. The music was very lame too and did not attract my daughters attention at all. There was not much speaking or much music (especially in the beginning). It did show lots of differnt animals in a variety of their natural outdoor settings but for a baby the graphics wasnt colorful enough to keep her attention. I would think an older children, maybe 3 or so, would be more interested in this type of video.

my son loved baby motzart at 6 moths so at a year i ordered him some more-- this one is great, but he seems to be a little more interested ub mozart and van gogh

This video is my toddlers favorite. She loves animals and she especially likes the cat segment. She has a Baby Einstein Cat boardbook and she holds it in one hand and the video case in the other while she watches. Even our cats love to watch, but, they prefer the bird segment. Im not lying, I have a picture for proof! Ive noticed that my daughter will dance to the music and she really likes the puppet routines. No other video or cartoon holds her attention like the Baby Einsteins.

If youre going to buy a childrens video, by all means buy this video for your two year old and older child. I highly recommend it compared to other kids videos because it is engaging, fun, educational and not cartoon animated or fast-paced. Having said that, I have a beef with the title Baby Einstein and marketing this to BABIES. It seems to imply that watching these videos is good for babies, which they are NOT! These videos may be great for older kids, but definitely NOT for babies brains! After some research I found out that: 1) brain wave activity in babies is slower when watching television than when sleeping. 2) for every hour of television a baby watches a day, their chances of acquiring an attention deficit disorder increases by 10%, 3) for every hour of television viewed daily at 4 yrs old, there is a significant odds increase for being a bully later on, and 4)consistent, heavy television viewing (more than 2 hrs daily) throughout early childhood can cause behavior, sleep and attention problems. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no television for children under 2, and no more than two hours of media (tv, videos, video games & computers) daily after age 2! I think its important for parents and caregivers to be aware of this so they can make better informed choices. I hope it encourages some people to limit television usage for babies and look for other outlets when possible. For those looking to calm babies and build better brains, I recommend baby carriers because studies show that infants who are carried an extra 3 hours per day cry 40% less, and this effect is lasting over time! Frequently held babies pick up verbal skills faster and develop better core muscle strength and balance. Also, learning to communicate in sign language can reduce frustration and tantrums, accelerate language development and promote parent-child bonding in infants and toddlers.

Most of this series of videos are captivating and engaging. Unfortunately there are many scenes where the puppets are overtly unkind to each other. For example, one puppet will trick another and then laugh at its misfortune. This may be some parents idea of quality viewing for their child - but it wasnt for me. I wrote Julie Aigner - the creator of the series - to let her know my feelings about it and I threw all the videos away, except for the Santa Baby one which doesnt have any such scenes in it.

Im not a big fan of TV for my kids--I have two: a two year-old and an eight month-old--but I must say I approve of the Baby Einstein series. And the Doolittle video is great. The music is calming and soothing to both kids, and it doesnt annoy me. We actually sit down together to watch this video. We have plenty of time to chat about what we see together, too. Both kids love it!