There are currently 3 volumes in this lovely video series designed for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. We had a chance to see them all, and we were very pleased with what we saw.
The basic concept is as follows: simple drawn images animate on-screen to the sounds of classical music.
Based on research into the preferences of babies and how they learn, these videos are designed to be used as you would a developmental toy — as an "interactive" experience between parents and their babies. They are 30 minutes long, but it is recommended to view the tapes in 10-15 min. segments or less. Each video is sold separately and targeted at slightly different age groups.
Vol. 1 Stimulating Sights & Sounds
Some time ago, it was shown that black and white patterns were highly appropriate for developing vision in infants. In the first video, So Smart Vol. 1, there are a number of such patterns that animate in interesting ways. For example, the video starts with a white background. Black stripes move in to the scene to form interesting patterns, then the lines turn red, the white turns to black, the shape becomes rounded, and morphs into another shape. The patterns become increasingly more complex as the video progresses. One of the most popular images that babies like looking at are faces. This video contains a lot of faces with blinking eyes and colorful shirts. One scene, for example, starts off with black hair, then the outline of a face appears, then one by one the different features appear to the delight of young people. This helps to encourage prediction skills.
Vol. 2 All About Shapes
This video presents the next step up in visual stimulation, with more complex shapes than the first video (basic shapes — circles, squares, triangles). It demonstrates very effectively how basic shapes can be found in everyday objects. This video is targeted at children aged 6 months to 4 years, and features geometric shapes with legs! These shapes walk, skate, run, and at the same time succeed at capturing babies' attention. Vol. 2 is divided into Parts 1, 2, and 3, each of which features a basic geometric shape. Cecil the Circle becomes a part of many interesting objects like the wheel of a car, a woman's necklace and then the buttons on her shirt, the sun, and lots more. Suzie the Square turns into the square windows of a house, a train car in a long train, a striped hat, etc. Babies watch Traci the Triangle skate up a big hill, a bigger hill, and finally the biggest hill. Then, they see Traci transform into a cat's nose, a sailboat, a tree, and, along with a friend, a bow tie. Her final transformation into the roof of a house gives the opportunity for a grand finale — the scene of a house with a sun in the sky transforms back into our 3 favorite shape characters!
There are lots of opportunities along the way to demonstrate various concepts. For example, the square turns into a striped hat, which in turn turns green, then blue, then orange, representing a good way to introduce colors to young children. Again, the soundtrack to the video features selected classical music works.
Vol. 3 All About Letters
Designed for children aged 9 months to 4 years, All About Letters introduces babies, toddlers, and preschoolers to the uppercase letters of the alphabet in a delightful way! A is for apple, B is for bee, C is for car, and D is for dog... we all are familiar with the routine, but in this video these letters of the alphabet and objects are animated, and many of the letters actually change into the objects! For example, the letter B sits back to back with another letter B and forms the wings of a bumblebee.
I've used and owned plenty of board books that feature the letters of the alphabet along with a picture of an object that starts with the letter. I've always wished, though, that I could find one that represented the most familiar phonetic sounds, and familiar objects as well. Instead, I have found words like "shoe" associated with the letter "s", a yacht for the letter "y" ( I think all 3 of my kids argued with me on that point — "No, mommy, "y" is for boat"), "o" is for "owl", etc. The objects associated with the letters in this video are all appropriate and represent the most familiar sounds associated with each letter. Most of the vowels are represented with objects that demonstrate the short vowel sound, and "s" is "sun", and "y" is yellow. Of course, "z" is "zebra", which fits in perfectly with the often black and white images in the video.
What a lovely way to get young children familiar with the letters of the alphabet! The letters are not simply static — they move, transform, change colors, etc. For example, the letter "J" sprouts feet — to jump, of course. The letter "K" starts as a straight line, then the two stems pull themselves out to form the letter, and at the same time, makes a bigger impression than a static letter "K" would. This video can be used with babies and older toddlers and preschoolers alike. The images create lots of pleasant anticipation as kids will often try to predict what is coming next.
The So Smart! Video Series
All of the videos are separated into 3 parts, presumably based on the suggestion that the video should be viewed in shorter segments. Also, many objects are labeled with a word in uppercase letters. At the beginning of the videos, these word labels are described as being designed for parents, not for babies. However, I feel it doesn't hurt to show young children that objects have word counterparts.
There are a number of classical music selections on these videos, taken from the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach, and more. In part due to the music, but also because of the mesmerizing patterns, these videos are highly relaxing. My 2 year old enjoyed all of them, and particularly the "All About Letters" video. She enjoyed predicting what the shapes would evolve into on the first two videos, and what object each letter represented in Vol. 3. The "kid testers" (including a 4 month old, 14 month old, 2 year old, and 3 1/2 year old) all thoroughly enjoyed the videos.
