Rating: Summary: baby genius a sensation Review: i am not one of the parents who became a genius since i love classic music, but my son loved it since he was 2 months old and still loves to watch the video now that he is turning two years old. I have wanted to purchase other genius products, but unluckily I live in Australia and could not find either the Four Seasons or others...
Rating: Summary: More mesmerizing than stimulating - overall mediocre Review: I have a rather complete library of infant stimulation / development videos, including all of the 'So Smart' Series, Baby Einstein Company's videos, and the BabyScape videos. I decided to try the Baby Genius series for some variety for my infant daughter. The overall tone of the Mozart & Friends is more clinical and sleepier (even though it is supposed to be an infant 'stimulation' video). I have reviewed many other videos in this category, so, I will compare this with what I consider to be the 'state-of-the-art:' the Baby Einstein Company's latest production: Baby Van Gogh. First, Baby Genius's "Mozart & Friends" relies much more heavily on animation, and less on real world objects. My infant daughter is much less interested in the rather mundane animation. The musical score is superb, but it is not interspersed with other sounds / voices which would bring an infant's attention back to the video - unlike Baby Einstein company's videos. One thing Baby Genius does 'right' (in addition to the musical score) is to include shots of animals which is a real attention-getter, but for older infants / toddlers - definitely NOT the 1-5 month age group. There is a lot of counting & recitation in this Mozart & Friends (in a sort of "Brave New World" tone), which is absent from Baby Einstein's products. I am not a specialist, but I really doubt that rote memorization of the alphabet and numbers helps overall intellectual development in any way at an infant / toddler stage. I would also note that babies generally like to look at other babies / kids. Baby Einstein shows pre-schoolers that directly engage the viewer, while the Baby Genius video shows infants / toddlers just playing in an un-engaging way (from the viewer's perspective). Another 'downside' of the Baby Genius tape is that the information for parents clip is at the front end of the tape, while on Baby Einstein it is at the end. So to watch Baby Genius, there is inevitably a lot of fast-forwarding and an fidgety infant / toddler to deal with. My recommendation is that this is not a great video for infants under the age of about 4-5 months. The best videos for this age are the baby Einstein Company's products. From about that age (5 months) to 12 months, the Baby Genius' "Mozart & Friends" might be nice for variety (my daughter became interested in the Teletubbies at this stage, too). But at the age of about 10-11 months, my toddler became more interested in videos like Elmo's World and BabySongs. She still likes Baby Einstein, Baby Shakespeare and Baby Van Gogh (from the Baby Einstein Company) too. Baby Genius' strong point - their musical scores - might be best appreciated in their CDs: I don't think the video media is their best venue. As a change of pace the video is OK, but having viewed it repeatedly with my daughters, and with the frequency it is actually watched, I would not have spent my money on it - in retrospect.
Rating: Summary: Wonderful reinforcing tool! Review: I picked up the VHS version of this as a previously viewed tape at a local video rental store thinking it would be nice as a break from Telletubbies, Dora and the like. I was very supprised when it quickly became the favorite in our media library! While I agree that the program does not overtly teach the alphabet & etc... However, it has held my little one's attention from about the age of 6 months through the 3 1/2 yrs that my daughter is at now. (She still loves it!) My daughter now says the alphabet while it is appearing on screen. So while I don't believe that it is a good teaching tool, it does reinforce! (I would rather teach the children myself anyway!) I have recently obtained the DVD version of this and am pleased that the parent's intro has moved to the end on the DVD.
Rating: Summary: NOT Baby Einstein Review: If you have purchased all of the real Baby Einstein videos and are searching anything similar, buy these, otherwise buy Baby Einstein first, they're better. I felt defrauded when I realized I had not purchased another Baby Einstein, but another company which had chosen a nearly suspiciously similar name. This became painfully obvious when the tape started, because of the annoying, intrusive introduction and low-quality "animation" (more like bits of drawing slid around the screen) which interrupt the flow of the video every few minutes. Overall, these videos are as similar to the "real thing" as the name (read; unoriginal), but the few differences hurt instead of helping. Quite a shame.
Rating: Summary: Educational, Entertaining, Stimulating ! Review: Mozart & Friends Vol. #1 & Vol #2 really have great educational value for babies up to young children up to 4 years in our opinion. We have a 6 month baby girl and a 3 year old boy whom both absolutely love the Baby Genius Videos. As adults we forget the true beauty in learning. My husband and I watched both Baby Genius tapes, we were not impressed at first, however, upon the very first viewing with our 6 month old baby girl, we were absolutely astonished at her attention span watching Vol. #1, then we almost fell off our chairs when she tried counting with the tape ! Our only complaint is there are only two Baby Genius VHS tapes available, PLEASE give us more Baby Genius. Your baby videos passed the test with flying colors at the williams household.
Rating: Summary: Educational, Entertaining, Stimulating ! Review: Mozart & Friends Vol. #1 & Vol #2 really have great educational value for babies up to young children up to 4 years in our opinion. We have a 6 month baby girl and a 3 year old boy whom both absolutely love the Baby Genius Videos. As adults we forget the true beauty in learning. My husband and I watched both Baby Genius tapes, we were not impressed at first, however, upon the very first viewing with our 6 month old baby girl, we were absolutely astonished at her attention span watching Vol. #1, then we almost fell off our chairs when she tried counting with the tape ! Our only complaint is there are only two Baby Genius VHS tapes available, PLEASE give us more Baby Genius. Your baby videos passed the test with flying colors at the williams household.
Rating: Summary: A really eyecatching video for babies. Review: My 4 month old loves to sit still and watch this video. It has pictures and slow motion clips which really catch his eye. The music is gentle and calming. He especially loves the clips of the babies. A must have for any frazzled parent!
Rating: Summary: Exciting and highly educational for babies Review: My baby can count! This video is amazing, all the other baby videos put her to sleep (which is ok at nap time)but the Baby Genius video really gets my 18 month old engaged in the great learning tools this video uses. The smooth classical music is in perfect rhythm with the video. I am a music teacher (piano) , and this video just shines above any other baby videos. We will buy more as they come available without question. Good show Baby Genius...
Rating: Summary: Boring Review: My child loves the Baby Einstein series -- I bought this video because I thought it would be unique. Unfortunately, it's poorly produced and has not come close to being original. I'm sorry to have purchased it, and my son is completely bored by it.
Rating: Summary: baby genius a sensation Review: My one year old grandson, Kyle, loves all the Baby Einstein and Baby Genius videos. His attention span is amazing. He hears the music and right away he heads for his rocking chair or my chair. When I sit with him I follow the directions given in the video and say whatever is showing on the screen. Kyle has his favorite parts which leads me to believe he is learning as well as enjoying.
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