Customer Reviews

Sesame Street - Bert & Ernie's Word Play

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my seventh Sesame Street video purchase and by far my favorite (and the favorite of my 18 month old daughter who loves "Erniebert"). Not only does it feature many endearing old and new Sesame Street songs and skits, it has all the chaotic backstage zaniness of the old Muppet Show as Prarie Dawn tries to orchestrate the acts in Bert and Ernie's play. For SS old timers there are a couple of gems--one of kermit in a t-shirt shop where they've spelled his name wrong (Kermit the GORF, FORG, etc), and the classic "fat cat sat on the hat" muppet bit. Plus, all of your favorite Sesame Street muppets are here: Grover delivers a singing telegram, Elmo does the closing number, Rosita and Zoe sing about sticky tape, and Cookie Monster sings a very funny song about letters. I also like that this DVD is focused on words and not just letters and numbers. Plus, Ernie and Bert are just great.

This DVD is set up under the premise that Bert & Ernie, under the direction of Prarie Dawn, put on a play about words. You see both on-stage antics, and the chaos that's backstage. The backstage stuff is reminiscent of the Muppet Show: Grover delivering a singing telegram, people rushing around to get props ready, slipping on banana peels. It's really cute, and my son thinks it's hilarious. During the on-stage scenes, Ernie and Bert introduce different words (cookie, sticky, go, fun, etc.), and then show how new words can be created by switching the letters around. And there's a cool machine that throws pies whenever anyone says the word "Go" (of course, Bert gets hit with more than his share of pies). There are some great old-school clips, but mostly new stuff. Lots of songs, and not too much Elmo. I really liked that the focus is on words, not just the letters used. It's a fun, educational video.

My two-year old son is a huge fan of Sesame Street, and we own several VHS/DVD Sesame Street videos. This is our latest addition to our library of videos, and was an instant hit! My son loves to watch this video - over and over! It grabbed his attention right from the very start. I was a bit worried that he wasn't old enough to deal with seeing words, but Bert and Ernie do it in a very entertaining way, which keeps my son's attention. He is enjoying himself and learning while watching this video. All Sesame Street shows/videos are educational, in my humble opinion, but this one is by far VERY educational. Buy it!

We've owned this DVD for about a year now and for some reason, my 2 year old twins have never been and still are not interested in it. They LOVE Ernie & Bert, but it just doesn't hold their interest. Still, we keep trying to reintroduce it. Perhaps it is specific to them, but they do absolutely love "Learning About Letters" and "The Best of Elmo". I would check those out if you are looking for excellent Sesame Street videos. Both of them have a lot of songs, which holds the interest of most toddlers. Perhaps my girls will love the Word Play video in 6 months or a year. We'll keep trying, but it just isn't a hit, for some reason. It is the only video we own that they have no interest in. That being said, Sesame Street is one of the best programs for little ones, so you might want to still give it a try. Looks like it is a hit with a lot of others out there.

My daughter has watched this video almost every day since she was two months old (she's now 21 months old). It quickly became her favorite video last year, and I think it's because of the catchy, high-energy songs.

She prefers this video to many other ones because there are several good musical numbers, and there is only a limited amount of between-song talking. I even memorized several of the songs to sing to her in the car when we ride around town, and that used to stop her from crying when she was 6-12 months old (actually, it still works pretty well in the car sometimes).

Now that she's 21 months old, she jumps up and down and dances around when the songs come on, and she applauds at the end of each song. I'm amazed that this video has kept her attention for 19 months. Also, she really loves the "preview other sesame street DVDs" section. It shows you 30-second snippets of 15-20 other DVDs, focusing on the catchy songs. I choose the "play all previews" selection to give her a 10-minute block of previews. That gives us about 55 minutes of total entertainment - twice the length of many other toddler DVDs.

I almost forgot the most redeeming quality of this DVD - it teaches words. My daughter can now say the words "go", "sticky", and "elmo". She even tries to sing along with the syllables that she knows.

I can't recommend this DVD enough! It's a great baby and toddler DVD!

***Update 5/6/2010: It's been about 6 years since my review, and now, my 2-year-old son also loves this video. We play it in the car, and my 5 and 7-year-old daughters still like watching it. My 7-year-old is kind of old for it, but it still holds her interest and she doesn't complain when we put it on for our son. It even has the nostalgic side benefit of bringing me back to 2004 when my 7-year-old was a toddler and she used to watch this DVD almost every day. I still enthusiastically recommend this DVD!

As a lifelong Sesame Street fan, I was disappointed with this DVD. There are some good clips - even some with Jim Henson's Kermit and Ernie. But as an educational video, the choice of words they characters played with was pretty random and not at all systematic. (One muppet held a sign "Coo" and Elmo had "kie" to spell "cookie," but the first muppet kept saying "Cah," not "Coo.") Don't think your child's reading skills will improve much by watching this video. A much better DVD is Ernie's 123 Count With Me.

The story is cute and our daughter loves it. I like how they dissect different words to make other words. There are a number of jokes that are funny for adults, so watching it with your child is not annoying. We have it on DVD and play it in the car or on the plane during long trips - it's been a lifesaver! I also like that my daugther is learning while she is being entertained.

We own several Sesame Street videos and this is by far the best one. It is fun for our 18 month old daughter and for her parents! It has a Muppet Show feel to it and the songs are very catchy. It is a great introduction to the use of words as well. Enjoy!

I bought this tape after reading the reviews. I am looking for Sesame Street videos that are good for our daughter but also will keep our attention, since we always sit down with her to watch. We are big Muppet Show fans and also grew up with Sesame Street. I was not getting this tape to teach my 18-month-old to read, but some educational content is desirable. If you are expecting something like the Muppet Show, you will be disappointed, although the bits with Prairie Dawn and Benny Rabbit begin to approach it. The rest was rather flat, although I will admit my expectations were high for this video. There are only two "old" sketches, and the "fat cat sat on the mat" with Mahna Mahna and three other muppets is marred by the addition of flashy animated words that are not well-timed to match what's being said on the screen. It doesn't bother me that the words "taught" in this video are so random, "sticky" and "slippery" with "I" and "at" and "go;" the lack of entertainment value for adults is the bigger flaw in my estimation, as is the absence of more excellent older sketches from Sesame Street. Muppet Show fans, do yourselves a favor and get some of the 45 available episodes of the original Muppet Show.

My 20 mth. old LOVES this whole video - but there is this segment where these 3 bald muppets, and this one awesome hairy muppet do a song... "cat,fat,hat,mat!!" I don't think I've EVER heard my son laugh so hard!! We replay it for him like 4 times in a row before we continue on. As all the Sesame products, this one is well done and has its special wonderful memorable moments. I like it too!