Customer Reviews

Baby Einstein: My First Signs

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Here's the idea: a video for toddlers age 6 months and up that teaches them sign language, so they can communicate "mommy," "daddy," "kiss," "baby" and "I love you" before they can talk. If that alone doesn't melt your heart -- if your mouse hasn't yet forced itself over to that "Add to Shopping Cart" button -- then here's a brief description of what you get.

Hosted by Marlee Matlin, this sweet 30-minute video uses puppets, live-action video, stills and children to teach the signs for 20 words. The signs are easy to learn, as the videos really drive home their message. For each word, Matlin demonstrates a sign, then video images reinforce it. For example, for the word "kiss" a 30-second video shows a girl kissing her mom, a boy kissing his dad, another dad and son doing the sign together, a painting of a mom kissing her infant, then more video clips of moms and dads kissing their kids, then the sign again, then a boy kissing his big stuffed dog, then a girl kissing her grandmother, then a little girl kissing her doll's baby bunny! There is no narration, in fact no spoken dialogue at all except for the words themselves. Other words include "cereal," "milk," "eat," "drink," "play," "help," "friend," "ball," "sleep," "bath," "story," "blanket," "please" and "thank you."

The production values are first-rate. Everything is well-lit and in focus; the clean sets are simple yet vibrant. And the sign language is the real deal: a combination of American Sign Language (ASL) and Conceptually Accurate Signed English.

There's no Scene Selection, so you can't cherry-pick favorite words to play, but a two-minute bonus feature (Sign with Me) reviews them all, and Matlin appears on two one-minute features with some additional words (including "happy," "sad," "potty," "sorry" and "love"). Other bonus features include five cute puppet shows (three minutes total).

All of these Baby Einstein videos are so good -- so gentle, colorful and interactive, with nothing but positive messages -- that it's easy to forget that, technically, kids shouldn't be watching them. That the best way to promote "proper brain development" in kids under 2, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, is "talking, playing, singing and reading together." But during those times you can't be actively engaged with your child (let's see, that would include cooking, cleaning, laundry...) the series is a great way to give your rugrat a rewarding experience. Plus, you are supposed to be watching this WITH your child. And it's only 30 minutes (though the menu does include a "Repeat Play" option).

Does it actually work? Absolutely, especially if you watch it together. Even if your child doesn't learn anything, you'll be there smiling at his or her happy little face, talking, playing and singing together... it's just what the doctor ordered!

This video teaches some good first signs, but there is so much filler and that time could be spent in better ways. This video will achieve its goal, but it is not as efficient as others. Check out Signing Time instead. They have a 2 series Baby Signing Time that goes over many more useful signs that you and your baby will need. They also have a children's geared 13 volume series that my baby has been watching since 7 months. Signing Time often played on PBS for free.

I am gathering educational toys and books for our daughter to use with her in working on developmental milestones.

There is a lot of literature out that suggests signing is an excellent way to communicate with baby, and by using ASL you are giving your child a life skill that could be helpful when they get older as well.

I was really trying to stay away from DVD's because I think that kids get too sucked into TV nowadays. However, books don't cut it with sign language. It is much more helpful to see the signs demonstrated repeatedly by people who know what they are doing. And Marlee Matlin is the best model for signing that they could have chosen for this DVD.

This DVD is engaging. The filming is of good quality, it shows the signs in context with imagery between each of the "lessons". And throughout the show, there are little puppet skits which kind of go with the show but also, in my opinion, provide a little break from the learning to keep the kids engaged.

I have watched other "Einstein" videos where I stopped and asked myself "What WAS that supposed to be, they wanted HOW MUCH money for THAT?". However, that was not the case with this video. My daughter and I enjoyed it and we are learning something useful together.

The only improvement I could think of would be to make subsequent volumes of videos like this with expanded vocabulary. This particular video only covers very basic words such as mother, father, kiss, more, sleep, baby, blanket, and a few others. I think the content is just right for a "First Signs" video. And I don't think a small child's attention span could take much more than this at one time. But it would be nice if they offered a library of progressively advancing signs on other discs.

I would highly recommend this DVD to parents interested in signing with their children.

I have taught all of my hearing grandchildren to sign and I was hopeful that this third DVD in the Baby Einstein "language series" would be added to our language library. Although the word selection is better than the previous two videos in this series, I was disappointed with the format.

The format does not hold the attention of my grandchildren and it is does not offer the repetition necessary to learn spoken words or sign language. Several words and signs are presented in rapid succession followed by extended scenes for each word. Then the same words and signs are presented again by a child who is clearly old enough to be speaking. The program also lacks a tutorial for grandparents and parents who are teaching their babies to use sign language for the first time.

All of my grandchildren have learned to sign and speak from the "My Baby Can Talk" series and I would recommend this series for babies who cannot yet speak or are just learning to speak.

We got this for our 14-month-old son. He had already learned a few signs at day care and with us but only about 3 before he saw the DVD. We watched this with him on the day it arrived. He was absolutely riveted. He laughed at the puppets and paid close attention. He watched it all the way through - and 30 minutes is an amazing length of time to hold his attention at this age. Within a few days, he was signing more words. This DVD definitely enhanced our communication with our son by helping him and us know more signs.

As an adult watching it, I found it very well done also. My husband and I both learned signs we didn't know and we're using them routinely now. The teaching method involves a great pattern of doing the sign, saying the word and showing the word. For example, they say, "baby" and do the sign for baby, then they show a baby (no speaking or signing), then they do the sign for baby and show a baby, then they show a baby and say "baby," etc.

Marlee Matlin was excellent - great energy and very fun with the puppets. The parents with their children were also nice. And having the children do the signs was wonderful - my son found that totally enthralling.

My daughter is a pretty average 16 month old, not advanced or delayed. We started trying to teach her some signs from about 6 months but she didn't really start signing much before 13 months and now she uses about 15 signs and signs something new every few days. I was really hoping that this video would hold my daughter's attention, but it doesn't. Instead, I would reccommend the "my baby can talk" seriesMy Baby Can Talk - First Signs They hold her attention all the way through and she is learning new signs directly from the DVD that I haven't tried to teach her yet.

My son loved the My Baby Can Talk sign language DVDs and he loves Baby Einstein, so I thought this would be perfect for him. I was so, so wrong. The DVD is not done in a manner that promotes learning. The words are combined too much, instead of focusing on one word at a time. I would not bother with this DVD if you really want your baby to learn sign language. We love baby sign and can highly recommend the My Baby Can Talk series instead of this DVD.

My kids love to sign, so we try and watch every signing video available, but this one went right back to the library. My kids and I were so disappointed with this video. I must say that this area is just not in Beby Einstein's expertise and just because they have a famous deaf actress does not make it good. If your kids truely want to learn a large vocabulary of American Sign Language, then look into the Signing Time video series.

We first offered this to our daughter at about age 6 months, but she wasn't as interested in it as she was with her Baby Mozart, Beethoven, etc. However, she developed more interest at about 10 months, when she became more "verbal". Although she never really uses the signs on their own to communicate with us, she began verbalizing the words first by identifying the objects (Mommy, Daddy, baby, cereal, ball, etc.) whenever she saw them, and then using the sign while verbalizing. She often starts the "sign game" by calling out words and signing them back and forth with us. She also responds appropriately to us when we sign instructions to her (e.g., "sleep", "eat", "drink"). This DVD still holds her attention, with its clever use of calm but happy music, and puppet shows in between the signing sequences. We also get more use out of it by using the Bonus Features to learn additional words, or for a quick viewing of puppet shows only. As with the other Baby Einstein DVDs that we own, we also enjoy the diversity of children in the scenes so that all children will "see themselves" when watching this. This was a great addition to our daughter's library.

The Baby Einstein series is a great line. My 7 month old loves it. It's very engaging.