Customer Reviews

Sesame Beginnings: Exploring Together

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased this DVD for my daughter at Christmas. We already had the "Making Music Together" DVD, which she absolutely loves, so we thought that we would add to the Sesame Street Beginnings collection with this DVD and the "Beginning Together" DVD. The music is generally very good with lots of interaction with the characters and their parent/caregiver. However, the dialogue with Matt Lauer and his daughter is noisy (really bad recording quality maybe, especially compared to the other DVD's) and a little forced in some areas. But my daughter doesn't notice those things! She loves the Smell a Smell song and it is the first time that she has laughed at something she saw on the TV - and we are talking full on belly laughs. So this is a good video to add to your collection if you (as an adult) can get over the Matt Lauer part.

We have all of the Sesame Beginnings. This was our last one to purchase because of the reviews, I was skeptical. Yet this one was great too. My son enjoyed it and I didn't hear overwhelming background noise. Its a good one too.

I'm surprised at the negative reviews since we and our 1 year old daughter LOVED It! She's hard to please when it comes to videos, and usually is attracted by music and real kids, not animation. This was perfect since she also enjoys the puppets. I thought the interaction w/ Matt and his daughter was natural and the background noise, though noticeable, was not annoying to me. This was our first video experience of the series, so not a lot to compare it to. But we did watch the Music Making one today and my daughter was not as intrigued - because there is less parent/child interaction in that one. Catchy theme song too - "wiggle" song.
I also recommend "Baby Genius: Favorite Children's Songs" DVD for babies.

I think these videos are wonderful, and very educational. I watch them with my daughter. I love to watch her smile and laugh at the baby characters. I recommend them to everyone. I loved sesame street when I was growing up. Now she can enjoy them too.

We purchased the first two in the Sesame Beginnings DVDs for our daughter and loved them. They have been viewed a hundred times easily. This one, however, was a big disappointment. As others have stated, the sound quality is very poor. During the human segments, you can hear the background noise from the street outside, and it is almost louder than the people in the DVD. I can't believe that this made it past the final editing/screening process. The charm of the Sesame Street characters is still there, but is really lessened by the lackluster music. The other DVDs in the series have fun, catchy music that my husband and I began singing to her after hearing only once or twice. The songs in this one are unremarkable and boring. All of them. It didn't help that the music volume is inconsistently lowered during songs, thus rendering them almost awkwardly a capella. I didn't have any problem with Matt Lauer's interaction with his daughter, though, yes, as another reviewer stated, he does question her a lot. She was a cute little girl, and all parent/child relationships are different. Clearly she knows her daddy, and he obviously loves her. The overabundance of questioning isn't limited to Matt Lauer. It appears to be the goal of this DVD as all the parents annoyingly over-question the children. Obviously, the writers/director were going for this. They beefed up the parent/child interaction segments in this one, and it was overdone. Previously, they were fun and incorporated into the music. In this one, they simply interrupt the flow. Yes, our daughter will watch this one some, but there is an obvious difference in her enjoyment of it. She smiles and squeals at the others and gets bored watching this. The fact that the adults seem to dislike this one is also important. After all, we are much more likely to put in the DVDs that we like, have fun with, and get inspired to play by. Overall, this one is a big disappointment. The sound, editing, and music are poor. I'm wondering if there was a change in sound and music directors between the first two DVDS and this one. I was disappointed in this installment enough that we decided to order the next one, Moving Together, through our online DVD rental company first before deciding to make a purchase later. If the decline in quality is the same as with this one, I don't want to make the same mistake again in spending money on it. My recommendation is to skip this one, though the first two are superb. (We are also big fans of the the Eebee videos. Check them out!)

As many others stated, this one is not nearly as good as the first two in the series...Beginning Together and Make Music Together...but my sons (2 and 3 years old) still like it. It doesn't keep their attention quite so well, but they'll still watch it. Make Music Together is definitely the best of the three! At any rate...I'm still glad I purchased this DVD. Just not one that's watched over and over like some of our others. I'd definitely purchase the other two...especially Making Music Together...before getting this one!

This one doesn't seem to catch my daughter's attention. There's only one that does (Sesame Beginnings: Make Music Together).

My 13 month old daughter absolutely loves this video. The songs are also tolerable hearing over and over. It is very cute! We utilize the songs in our everyday lives with different situations to help our daughter learn! Great video the only thing that could improve it would be more of it!

As other reviewers note... this one just doesn't meet the standards of the two previous DVDs in the series. I'm not at all bothered, and neither is my child, by Elmo's Dad shaving off his mustache OR Prairie Dawn's Mom getting a more contemporary hairstyle... their voices and mannerisms are the same. It's just like in the real world... peoples looks vary over time. But, I was bothered by the poor sound quality of the "live" recordings between Matt and Romy. Also, their interaction wasn't as cheerful as prior parent/child segments. Matt really seems to be quizzing Romy the whole time. Not too much fun to watch. And, the songs are not as "catchy". Overall, disappointing.

Our 13 month old daughter is a sesame street fanatic since she was 9 months old! We owned the first two "sesame beginnings" DVDS and she just loves them both. She dances and claps her hands to the music, and her smile just lites up the room. I was so excited when I had seen the new Sesame Beginning DVD, "Exploring Together", so, naturally I ordered it. VERY, VERY, DISAPPOINTING!!! The music was disappointing and boring. My daughter's attention span was limited for this particular video. I hope the next video will be better!