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ShawnaB
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 11:30am | IP Logged
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Over at Meredith's Toddler Carnival, I read this post by Suzanne over at Blessed Among Men. This post is destined to be a classic for solid solutions in living and homeschooling peacefully with toddlers. I appreciated that in her post, she gave "permission" for the limited and strategic us of videos...something that I believe most moms-of-toddlers do anyway, but maybe feel guilty about!
I find that a well-placed 30 minute video can go a long way to allow for better school time with my older two. I'm hoping to receive a few recommendations for titles that you all enjoy for your toddlers?
I have 2 Baby Einstein's...the Bach they think is just OK, but they love Neighborhood animals. I'm considering Signing Time also, but haven't purchased yet.
I'm looking for gentle, slow paced, music and image oriented, with real people or animals, maybe puppets...no cartoons.
Thanks!
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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mary theresa
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 11:54am | IP Logged
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Okay, so this is my favorite toddler movie.  My daughter is a bit too young to care about videos, but I can't wait till she's old enough to show this to her. My baby brother loved it when he was about 2 or 3. It's called Horses: Up Close and Very Personal
Kind of a weird title ( if you search it on Amazon you come up with very questionable stuff  ) But's a really sweet, quiet (no talking actually) movie. I've never seen it in DVD, only VHS-- hope that's not a problem?
I am interested in other's suggestions too.
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Mary Theresa
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mary theresa
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 12:04pm | IP Logged
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Oh, Shawna, i thought of something else. There is a set of videos called Preschool Power (The one I linked to is the seventh tape in the set -- you don't have to watch them in order.)
They are really cute, full of little kids doing things like slicing bananas, setting the table for a tea party, playing the drums, mixing muffin batter, tying their shoes, etc. It's really Montessori based -- emphasizing that "you can do it [all the above things] on your own". I don't think there are any adults at all in the videos. They have peppy music and are really fun, and the kids are all cute and amazingly capable.
I know this isn't really what you described you are looking for, but you might be interested anyway.
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Mary Theresa
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Maryan
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 1:08pm | IP Logged
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To give a plug -- WE LOVE SIGNING TIME -- baby or otherwise. We don't have the whole series yet..., but FYI "Baby Signing Time" does have some cartoon characters in it. We only watched regular signing time when it accidently got stepped on in the attempt to put it away... 
So I can't remember for sure - but I don't remember any characters in just Signing Time..
Rachel Coleman, the Signing Time lady, rescued me this morning and helped calm down my two-year-old!
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 1:14pm | IP Logged
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I second Signing Time and totally love all things Leap Frog. They're well-produced, not twaddly, catchy (bearable for Mom) tunes and they really do teach what they say they teach. Love them all!
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Cheryl
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 2:02pm | IP Logged
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My dd found a preschool power video (the jacket flips one) at the library when she was 3 and she loved it. She still asks for it. She also likes Five Little Ladybugs.
All of my dc love the leap frog videos. My sister and my friend have borrowed Letter Factory and they say it's how their dc learned their letter sounds.
My ds 6 has always liked the Baby Einstein. He says his favorite is Neighborhood Animals and his second favorite is Baby Doolittle (which is also about animals.)
They liked Signing Time too, but didn't ask for it as much.
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Meredith
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 3:31pm | IP Logged
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My littlest will not sit for very long except for the Baby Einstein, he loves Baby Van Gogh and Mozart the best, but only for about 10-15 minutes tops, which is a good thing I know, pining for that half hour here ladies 
I said I was going to buy the Signing Time in the Fall when I read Elizabeth's incredible post here on preschool language arts and somehow it was never purchased, I'm off to Amazon NOW!!!
Thanks for the other ideas ladies!!
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Meredith
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Mary G
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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Elizabeth wrote:
| I second Signing Time and totally love all things Leap Frog. They're well-produced, not twaddly, catchy (bearable for Mom) tunes and they really do teach what they say they teach. Love them all! |
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I second Elizabeth's ideas -- the Signing Time videos are an amazing way to get kids started with signing -- even after watching the videos a couple of times last Spring, my kids still remember some signs and are much more open when they see someone signing!
The Leap Frog ones are great also -- Word Factory really helped with blending sounds into words and the Math Factory helped my youngest learn his numbers when still 3 or so....the videos are catchy and the content is solid....
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KC in TX
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 4:51pm | IP Logged
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I also second the Signing Time videos. My toddler loves them and these are her favorites. We watch one a day with each child getting to pick on his/her day. Jordan loves them all and signs all the time--I don't always know what she's signing. She signed color to me once when she wanted to participate in coloring. It was too cute.
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Nina Murphy
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 6:29pm | IP Logged
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I third the Leap Frogs, including the Math Circus. They WORK!  Yay.
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Philothea
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We like Little Einsteins, it focuses on art and classical music, and my son really does learn a lot from it. We've also liked "The Pond" series and "Veggietales," which are Christian but not specifically Catholic. I haven't seen anything anti-Catholic on either series, though. Just "God loves you, be good to each other" type stuff.
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Chari
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| Posted: April 23 2007 at 11:12pm | IP Logged
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Shawna,
I believe Netflix has some of the Leapfrog DVDs to borrow........
maybe they have some of the others, too?
see you soon
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 1:37pm | IP Logged
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very helpful thread. I haven't ever seen a Leap Frog DVD.
We love signing time too. The CDs are indispensable once they get a bit older. To practice what they learn on the DVDs.
My girls liked Holy Baby when they were toddlers. It's similar format to the Baby Einstein....beautiful music with captivating images. With prayers of the Rosary. In other languages too, if you want.
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Suzanne Temple
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| Posted: April 24 2007 at 8:34pm | IP Logged
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The animal videos are very popular here. Here's a great link with reviews of some of our favorites.
http://www.kidsfirst.org/kidsfirst/html/titles/nature.htm
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SeaStar
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| Posted: April 25 2007 at 7:45pm | IP Logged
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"The A to Z Symphony" is one my kids really enjoy. It's thirty minutes- goes through the alphabet in one minute musical segments. At the beginning of each segment the letter, the title of the piece and the composer are displayed on the screen as well as spoken. Then the music starts with nature scenes or children. My kids love it- it has dolphins jumping to the Blue Danube waltz, and - my favorite- a little boy throwing up a soccer ball and trying to kick it to the music of Beethoven's Fifth. Very sweet and funny, plus a nice selection of classical music.
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SeaStar
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| Posted: April 28 2007 at 8:25am | IP Logged
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Here is a link for the A to Z Symphony
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mom2mpr
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| Posted: April 28 2007 at 11:43am | IP Logged
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I am glad this bumped back up--I've been meaning to mention that we tried the Preschool Power videos and they were GREAT!!
Anne
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SeaStar
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| Posted: May 02 2007 at 7:05pm | IP Logged
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We also have the "See How They Grow" video series. A friend gave me the set, and my kids love them. Each tape shows how a group of animals (pets, sea creatures, pond animals etc.) grows from newborn to adult. The pet tape features a puppy, a kitten, a parakeet and a goldfish. I even enjoy watching these- very educational but very , very kid friendly.
"See How They Grow"
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Meredith
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Melinda, these also look good. You guys have so many great suggestions here, someone will surely benefit and build up such a nice library for their little ones!! I imagine the *bigger* ones will appreciate them too if they are anything like mine 
Blessings!
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Meredith
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ShawnaB
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| Posted: May 02 2007 at 10:34pm | IP Logged
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Thank you all for the great ideas! I found that Netflix has Preschool Power, and we have been enjoying that. And, I have several new titles on my wish list, including Signing Time!
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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Toddler DVDs Recommendations
