My son is allowed to watch only the educational videos I've specially selected for him. Between 6-12 months, he was allowed half an hour a day of programme viewing. Now 2, he can watch the programmes for an hour, twice a day. I would like to recommend the following videos which I found beneficial for the very young. I've also indicated the age group I feel these are suitable for. I must however emphasise that it is important to reinforce and revise the learnings from these programmes for them to be effective. I usually watch them with him and will sing the songs from the programmes to him at meal times. Now that he is older, he actually sings with me :)
Baby Signing Time (Suitable for 6-12 months)
The two volume series teach babies to sign with wonderful songs, actions, animation and images of other babies signing. My son signed and said 'dog' at 6 months of age and was able to communicate with us words such as 'more cracker', 'more water', 'cold', 'hot', 'hurt', 'thank you', 'sorry' and many more, first through sign language and very quickly both signing and saying those words. Off course, parents will need to know the signs too for communication to be effective.
The series is now available at http://www.terrifictikes.com/babysigning.html
Baby Einstein (Suitable for 9 months-2 years)
There are quite a number of titles under Baby Einstein series. In particular, my son enjoyed the following:
1. Baby da Vinci which taught him the various body parts. I also found it useful singing and naming body parts when bathing and changing my son since birth.
2. Baby Noah which taught him about animals in various parts of the world. Off course, our frequent visits to the zoo reinforced his interest and knowledge in this area.
3. Numbers Nursery taught him to count from 1 to 5 and to recognise these numbers. My son can now count to twenty as that's the number of stairs we have at home and I normally repeat them to him while going upstairs.
4. Baby MacDonalds taught him about animals and produce found in farms.
With his growing interest in animals, my husband and I also read many books on animals to him. I will make some recommendations in my next blog.
These videos are available from most baby departments.
Leap Frog Letter Factory (2 years onwards)
This is probably the best way to teach phonics to your kids. My son only watched this twice and remembered most of the letter sounds. I revise it with him by repeating the songs which he sings with me. Now, he not only knows all the sounds letters make, he is able to tell me 'The A says /a/, armadillo or airplane', 'The B says /b/, bird', 'The C says /c/, catepillar', 'The H says /h/, horse or hippopotamus', 'The M says /m/, mummy' and so on. It also helps that he has just started his zoo toddler enrichment class at zoophonics. However, at this level, phonics is only a small part in the curriculum as the class also includes other activities such as singing, dancing and drawing. Available from amazon. Alternatively, you can email Tina at twister_1_8@yahoo.com (whom I got mine from) to check if she has any stock available.
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