General

[AshleyIcy]

Hi all mummies, my kid is now 11 months old and I'm searching for some interesting early learning DVDs for her. Heard your baby can read dvds and winktolearn dvds are good. Would like to look for more programs too. Thanks for your help! (:

[-Festive-Chick-]

you sure as heck do NOT need DVDS for a baby or toddler.

You need to spend time with your child, playing and learning.

Visit the library and Early Years centres.

Play outside. Blow bubbles and look for bugs.Play in the sand and create. Mudpies. Rocks.

Read together--books you get from the library.

Craft together--make wonderful sticky, ooey gooey messes.

Go to the park.

Go on walks and stop and look at every rock, bug and flower.

Listen to all kinds of music and sing and dance and play instruments.

Bake together and make more wonderful sticky ooey gooey fun messes.

Your child doesn't need DVDs, when you as their parent have everything they need to know and more for them to learn so much more. They don't need to sit in front of a TV and be like little drones.

There's so many great sites on the internet with games, toys, craft ideas, I wish it was like that when my girls were babies.

[Thalia]

NONE! Don't waste your money on any of those!!!! There is no proof that any of that stuff works. In fact, it is likely to be detrimental to them in the long run.

Festive Chick said it all. Being involved with your child is the most important thing you can do to help him/her do well in school and to gain skills as a learner. The parent is the most important teacher.

[littleblackdress]

Actually, using learning dvds with kids under 2 is strongly correlated with poor outcomes.  Please read about the Baby Einstein fiasco - the problem wasn't the dvds per se, but rather the fact that kids were plopped in front of TVs at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Einstein

The study's authors, Drs. Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff, concluded that, among infants aged 8 to 16 months, exposure to "baby DVDs/videos" — such as Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby — was strongly associated with lower scores on a standard language development test. This result was specific to baby-oriented educational videos and did not hold for other types of media, and was not related to shared parental viewing. Among toddlers aged 17 to 24 months, the study found no significant effects, either negative or positive, for any of the forms of media that were viewed. Daily reading and storytelling, however, were found to be associated with somewhat higher language scores, especially for toddlers.[16]

The University of Washington press release announcing the study explained that for each hour-per-day spent watching baby DVDs/videos, infants understood on average six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them, and recommended that parents limit their use. "There is no clear evidence of a benefit coming from baby DVDs and videos and there is some suggestion of harm," said lead author Frederick Zimmerman. "We don't know for sure that baby DVDs and videos are harmful, but the best policy is safety first. Parents should limit their exposure as much as possible."[17]

Christakis, a pediatrician, said that he is "frequently asked by parents what the value of these products is," and stated, "The evidence is mounting that they are of no value and may in fact be harmful. Given what we now know, I believe the onus is on the manufacturers to prove their claims that watching these programs can positively impact children's cognitive development."[17]

[Gen2]

I haven't read the other replies but my suggestion is:

YOU

You are the best "media" for your kids. You can teach your kids so much more than a dvd.

Just my 2 cents.

[Carleon]

Sitting in front of the TV is NOT a good thing for toddlers or preschoolers at all!!!! Those above said it all right!

Having said that, don't waste money at all, visit the library for free borrows of books, cd's, and dvd's.  Ours has great selections   You can find out about baby and toddler drop in story times too.  Those are fun! 

Take care, Carleon.