Bee Smart Baby, Vocabulary Builder 1 [VHS]
It's tough to imagine that the average tot wouldn't get adequate exposure to the objects presented inBee Smart Baby: Vocabulary Builder, Vol. 1to master their recognition and rough pronunciation by around 18 months, but parents in a hurry to hear their little ones jabber on about the things oft encountered in the first year or so of life will be grateful for this half-hour video. The concept is, as it should be, simple. First objects are shown in a variety of settings--a toy train going around a track, then a real one chugging along; a series of noses, some on grown-up faces and others belonging to kids; a large spoon stirring a bowl of pasta followed by a baby spoon against a blank background. Then a gentle-voiced narrator states the item's name twice, once at its introduction and again when it's time to move on. At first it seems we're in for nothing more than a laundry list of animals, body parts, and utensils, but then a pattern emerges: a series of four already-shown objects skitter by again, and they're repeated in order. This simple structure will appeal to caregivers who devour child-development studies--the benefits of repetition in early learning will be well known to them--and the makers of this video seem tuned in to the likelihood that it's the well-educated who are most apt to be watching along. To sweeten the deal for such grown-ups, they've set this video to the music of Mozart, which has been shown to constructively stimulate young children.--Tammy La Gorce