KIDS FIRST! Jury Blog

This year, and by that I mean from September 08 until present, has been a most amazing one in our house. My six-year-old son Evan, who just graduated from Kindergarten, has not evaluated as many DVDs as he did in year’s past. He was just too busy doing… well, everything!Starting Kindergarten in the Fall, he quickly became a most proficient reader for his age and played and got quite good at soccer. In winter he learned to ice skate and to play ice hockey, while early Spring found him throwing his body forward in the pool. This past week he removed his training wheels and is now riding his bike with us on the trails of Santa Fe. Movies… who has time for those?Still, there are times when movie watching is perfect — times we need to relax, sick days or those time when waiting for that special party is just unbearably long. In our quiet reviewing times, we discovered a few stand-outs. DVDs we did review and watched again and again:

The Travel With Kids series (Equator Media LLC) took us to Mexico, Hawaii and Paris. My son really appreciates seeing the places they stay and sightsee through the eyes of their two children who seem to be aging right along with him. Another favorite is the The Big Adventure series (Little Mammoth Media). This year we watched “The Big Submarine,” whose young narrator took us behind the scenes of a real submarine! The Kid Guides (Echo Entertainment), Matt and Brittney, took us to museums, adventure camps and aquariums for a first-hand look as they learned to train animals, dive and live the life every kid would love! “The Tails of Abbygail” (Kid Vid Entertainment LLC) took Evan on a doggie adventure, with real dogs, learning about the power of kindness and freindship along the way.

The most recent hit in our house is the Global Wonders series (Global Wonders.) This trot across the globe mixes animation and live action, as these ethnically diverse friends teach us about culture, language, landmarks and music. The best part, if you ask Evan, is the Wondervision (or as he calls it Wonderversity.) This feature allows viewers to get a close up look at and more in-depth information about something featured in the DVD by using your remote control to click on the binoculars at key points. What’s more amazing, is that these key points change each time you watch it, keeping it fresh and alive for young children.

Evan is lucky to have easy access to so many amazing independent productions. With a little research, you can provide these experiences to your kids as well. And if you become a trained KIDS FIRST! juror this year, you too can begin to build a most amazing DVD library of your own or for your favorite community organization.

Remaining active is very important for growing children, but when it’s time to sit down and enjoy a DVD, TV program or even a video game, make the time count, watch with your kids when you can and you can make viewing time worth every moment.