Jun
2017
They are several short movies I would highly recommend for parents of babies and toddlers. HBO made a series of beautiful cartoonish works devoted to the history of Art, Poetry, Music and Dance. The series are delightful for both parents and kids. They teach us to feel and understand works of art and music and not just pass by.
Reviews of Classical Baby series
In the Art show most popular works of art become alive and "live" a comprehensive story accompanies by classical music pieces. Then the painting freezes right where it should be making your toddler wonder about the secrets of painting and people who make them. The authors included famous paintings by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Joan Miró, Edgar Degas and many more masters. It is amazing how they managed to show the flow of artistic energy in a very simple and esthetic way that appeals children.
The Music show educates your little person on various music styles, starting with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and ending with more modern tunes of "Stamping Dance" from Romanian Folk Dancing , Sz. 56 written by Béla Bartók (which I now know myself - quite educational for me too). The best thing about this part is that it never gets boring. Unlike annoying baby rhymes and songs that you can find on YouTube. Classical music pieces are accompanied by smart animation that actually shows WHAT the song/music is about (which is very important - otherwise a child will form word-reaction wrong associations in his/her brain).
The Poetry show is the best in my book. The reason is that features real kids talking about the rythym, tempo and rhyme. It proved to be very powerful in pushing my son to start speaking. The petry pieces are amazing. The choice and the order is ideal to keep your toddler busy for 20-40 mins.
The Dance show is exciting. But for some reason my kids did not like it as much as others. May be because it was almost the same as the Music show. I liked a lot that they showed various dance styles like mamba, tap, ballet etc.
The series won a Peabody Award in 2005, and was assessed by the judges as follows: "This whimsical, charming, deceptively simple marriage of animation to the music of Tchaikovsky, Bach and Ellington becomes an interactive treat for young children and parents alike." The show also won two Emmy Awards in 2006: one for Outstanding Children's Program and another for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation given to animator Barbara Wierzchowska.
Questions about TV safety
I know that Pediatricians and child psychologists did not recommend any screen time for babies and toddlers. Not long ago they have misteriously changed their position! Now a child CAN actually watch something educational up to 20 - 30 mins a day. As I always thought, a good educational video does not hurt. We just have to be very careful choosing one.
So "Classical Baby" series is one of those gems. Made with babies and toddlers in mind, with respect to parents' ears.
Where can you get the videos?
They were available in full on Youtube until recently. Now they are cut into small pieces and are hard to get in full (due to copywrights I think). So it is a bit annoying. I found out that the actual DVDs are available on Amazon.