National Geographic's GeoKids: Flying, Trying, and Honking Around [VHS]
Sunny the honey possum watches an eagle glide gracefully across the sky and muses about how wonderful flying must feel. After listening to Uncle Balzac poetically discuss the funny-looking flamingo, Bobby the bush baby comes to the conclusion that it is feathers that enable birds to fly--you can imagine the outcome of his test flight! Sprinkled between a multitude of beautifully photographed scenes of birds in the wild are two musical sequences, "Alphabet Rock" and "Animal Doo-Wop," that teach kids about letters and the sounds they make. NoGeoKidsvideo would be complete without the animated Francisco Flamingo. This episode's "Fascinating Flamingo Facts" discusses the special names for groups of animals (such as schools of fish and gaggles of geese), and "Count to 10 with Francisco Flamingo" helps kids learn to count. Eventually, Uncle Balzac explains that a bird's wings are what enable it to fly, and he examines the beautiful tundra swans and the anomaly of the flightless penguins.Preschoolers instantly love Sunny, Bobby, and Uncle Balzac, the realistic puppet figures created by Emmy winner Hank Saroyan of Muppet Babies fame. What's more, the rapid succession of live animal footage, rhyming verse, song, and animated segments will captivate even the most energetic 2-year-old.--Tami Horiuchi