Genre: Children’s Educational
Runtime: 39 minutes
Age Range: 1+ Years
DVD Summary
“Baby Wordsworth” is part of the “Baby Einstein” suite of infant, baby, and toddler developmental DVDs. “Baby Wordsworth” combines real-world images, puppets, art, and classical music to introduce children to 30 words from around the home.
The video is divided into segments according to which room of the house the objects are found in. Each word is shown on the screen with a picture of the object it describes. The word is spoken and then signed by actress Marlee Matlin. Children and puppets are shown playing or interacting with each object, and at the end of each segment, the words are signed a second time by a little girl.
Note to Parents
Parents are increasingly using sign language with babies in response to recent research indicating that signing can accelerate and expand infants’ communication skills. Baby Wordsworth applies these ideas by using sign language to introduce the words from around the house. In addition, Marlee Matlin demonstrates additional signs in two special features: “Signing with Baby,” and “The Alphabet (In Sign Language).”
The meaning of each word and sign is also reinforced by the scenes showing children playing with the objects. Because babies and toddlers love watching other children, these scenes are effective at holding kids’ attention and emphasizing the meaning of the words.
The pace of the program as a whole will be a little slow for some kids. Parents can enhance the viewing experience by trying the sign language with their children or bringing out some of the objects from around the house and letting their kids look at them and play with them as they come up on the video.
“Baby Wordsworth: First Words Around the House” expands children’s minds by exposing them to various mediums of communication around simple items they see every day.
