Best Educational Video in General for 16 Month Old

I don't mean to be critical, but he shouldn't be watching more than 30 minutes a day, if you are going to let him watch TV at all. It will interfere with language development.

leap frog videos & sesame street. Also you can pretty much let them watch anything on PBS and it's educational. If you have the sprout channel then that is as well, and is geared towards babies & toddlers.

Yeah, there's really no such thing. The whole Baby Einstein thing is a load of _____ and Disney has now had to pay up for their shady marketing.

I totally get the stick a dvd in quick while you run to the bathroom or take a shower, but it does not offer any educational benefits for your child. If you're truly looking for something educational for your child keep in mind that, at this age, EVERYTHING is educational. Even going to the grocery store is educational, so you can take some comfort in that. The less technology at this age, chances are, the more educational. Good luck. It sounds like you're a great mom who only wants the best for her child.

Hey Mama-

Check out the letter factory or word factory DVD's by Leapfrog. They are great and anyone who says they aren't educational at all is full of it. I have seen lots of kids learn all their letters and the sounds from these video even at 16 mos. Sure there are other ways to teach this, but I don't see the bid deal with an hour of tv a day. Try and ignore all the holier than thou moms who never let their kids see tv---seeing as you didn't ask for these women's opinions on how to raise your son or to be berated for some tv time. You asked for DVD suggestions. Get a life people! I know here in Chicago we have been getting dumped with snow and cold weather for months, sometimes you just need to have some relax time. There is nothing wrong with a kid watching some tv--I think people highly over-react to this sort of thing. Zoning out and letting your brain relax for a bit everyday is fine IMO. I watched TV as a kid and I am just fine....

It has also not interfered with my daughter's language development. She started talking with first words around 7 months and is a chatterbox. By 2 she was counting to 20 in English and Spanish, knew all the letters and their sounds, all her shapes, and many colors. She is 3.5 now and is currently learning to read, sounding out words. She could sit for hours just looking through books. Everything in moderation.

I have to agree with the other Moms, there are no educational DVD's for 16 month old children. TV is entertainmentm, and if you use it this way, you should not try to fool yourself into thinking that it is anything more than that. Your baby needs you to talk to him, and enrich his enviornemt by using run of the mill, everyday expereices and your voice. Cheap, yet effective.

BTW even Disney has admitted that baby enstein videos have no educational value, and if I am not wrong, they recently offered to give you your money back, because they were trying to avoid being procecuted for misleading consumers.

M.

Jilly, I'm sorry but an hour and 20 minutes a day of t..v is NOT sparing for a one year old baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NO t.v. for under two years, and then no more than half an hour at two. There are no educational dvds, there has never been any proof that these dvd's do anything to make a child smarter or more advanced- they learn through interaction with people and exploring their surroundings. Perhaps you've heard about the Baby Einstein refunds - the company is paying people who don't think their baby has gotten any smarter from these dvd's after the company mislead parents to believe that there was some sort of evidence that their baby would benefit when really it was just false advertising.
I'm sorry, I know that's not what you were looking for, but it is what it is, a bad habit started very young.

Im going to agree with Anne A. on this one. Im in NH and on rainy crappy days sometimes sitting on the couch with your kid is a nice way to relax. My oldest is 9 and he loved the Leap Frog videos. Letter Factory was his favorite and he is doing just fine right now. My oldest also learned about fire safety at 2 by watching Sesame St. The alarm went off one day while I was cooking and he told me to get down and we needed to get out of the house. TV is not evil and will not ruin your child as long as you make sure what he is watching is age appropriate. PBS kids and Play House Disney has lots of fun shows my 3 year old loves to watch in the morning while I am running around getting 3 kids and myself ready.

I ditto Anne A's answer.

How great is it that even though your daughter is only 16 months old you find it important that she be watching educational programs!!

It’s hard to say which is the “Best” because you’re the only one who can decide that for your baby. Which is best is a matter of opinion. I do agree with A.G. about the Leap Frog videos, esp. the Letter Factory one. It’s really cute and the song at the end of the video is really catchy! My son sings it all the time and the great part is, he is practicing his letters sounds everyday by singing it! Go figure! He’s learning from watching a video on T.V.!

Most parents I know with babies say Elmo is a favorite. I can tell you my son from a very young age LOVED Curious George and now at 4 ½ he it’s still his favorite. He has just about every book in the series too. Good luck finding what best suits your little baby!

We got a mini van with a DVD player when my son was 16 months old. I researched the dickens out of educational DVD's....and I have to say I LOVE the Leap Frog DVD's...we started with the "Letter Factory" by 20 months old; and remember he only saw this in the car, he knew all his letters and their sounds. We then moved onto "Math Circus" and he knew all his numbers up to 30 by the time he was 22 months old...I then went and got "Talking Words Factory" and he can now sort of sound out words @ 29 months old. I also bought at the same time the DVD they have about School (I forget the name) and he knows his months of the year, seasons, and animal families. I really do love these DVD's. And please know we do not spend countless hours in the car each week....we just do quick trips like to the grocery store, mall, post office or park...he maybe gets an hour maybe 2 in total of theses DVD's...they have cute catchy songs and I swear by them....

Good Lord there are some judgemental parents. Personally I see nothing wrong with letting your child watch PBS Kids Sprout channel. They save all the advertising and commercials til the end of the show and it is quite sparing and you can turn it off. My kid is now in VPK right now and he is far advanced than most in his class. We used to sit together and sing the songs and enjoy some of it together. Now I totally disagree with just plopping them in front of the boob tube and leaving them alone with it, but I see no harm (and quite a few benefits that I'd love to put against the no tv at all parents) with a little TV as long as it's in moderation and something you do together most of the time. While I personally hated Barney when he was in that phase, he was singing the ABC and Sharing songs and learning good manners even more so than when I was trying to teach the stuff to him because, lets face it, the bright colors, characters, and other children are a whole lot more entertaining and engaging that old mom, lol.

The Signing Time videos are perfect for this age. We have been doing them with my son since he was 1 year old and he is able to communicate with us via signs for many things (milk, water, more, cracker, eat, sleep, mommy, daddy, etc.). Learning sign language is supposed to help improve kids overall communication skills, including verbal, and cut down on frustration during their preverbal days. The songs are actually pretty catchy, too. I advise starting with the Baby Signing time videos. Enjoy!

PS - I disagree with those who say there are NO educational videos out there for kids this age. My older daughter watched the Baby Einstein videos when she was a baby and while she enjoyed the videos, I don't think they were "educational" - just visually interesting. Which I think is fine, too. However, I think things like the signing videos (Baby Einstein also makes one which is good, too) can be educational as my son (and my daughter when she was younger) have learned how to communicate with us during their pre-verbal time. My son has even begun to combine signs (i.e. eat cracker), which our Dr. says is 2 year old milestone. The most important thing to remember is everything in moderation.

My suggestion is to go in the language direction. I grew up speaking English and Italian (my extended family lives in Italy) and so I want the same for my son. Every time I allow my son to watch TV I put in an Italian DVD. Whether you want to invest on a program like Muzzy, which is an excellent tool in many languages, or you just want to buy DVDs in your language of choice, your son will be hearing the sounds from an early age and you would be surprised at how quickly he will pick it up!

We like the Baby Signing time series..

My son liked the Brainy Baby ones better than the Baby Einsteins.

I take the middle ground on this debate. I say plop your kid in front of the TV so you can get stuff done-- TV as a babysitter is great-- you know where they are....as for actual educational value.... hmmmm.... I agree with the mom who said everything in the world is educational to a child at that age.

So if you want videos to keep him busy while you change his diaper or make him stay put so you can spend a few minutes on the computer, the Brainy Baby videos and just about any Disney cartoon is great... but if you're seriously looking for something educational, save your money

My 22 month old daughter loves Brainy Baby. We discovered 10 minute clips of the videos in the OnDemand section of Comcast and it's free. Since she loved them so much I recently purchased 6 DVD's and they have been a big hit. She really loves ABC's, Left Brain and 123's.

Perhaps you may want to rethink your decision to show your toddler any television. The reason is because tv has flickering lights that change the chemicals in children's brains. Children cannot look AND listen at the same time so they just look, shutting off their auditory sense. This in turn creates visual learners and ADHD type behaviors when school rolls around. There are many good articles and books on the subject. Disconnected Kids is a great one. I work with kids with learning situations and once we get rid of the TV, PC and other electronics it changes the child's learning and behavior for the positive. Learn from others mistakes and rethink this decision. It is not the amount of time you let him watch but the decision to watch at all.

i would say leapfrog, public schools actually use these and they start off with letters/numbers and phonics of them.

There is a lovely little show called "Peep and the Big Wide World" on Discovery Kids a couple times a day - 9 am & maybe 11 or 12 - it's simple, funny, and introduces kids to basic science ideas (you will enjoy it too). When he gets older, there is an associated website where he can play such nice games (matching, counting, mixing colors to create a goal color, sound/distance, etc.). Hope you can find it!

My boys always enjoyed the Cedarmont kids live action sing along DVDs. The show children singing familiar songs while dancing or acting them out. I don't know if they are considered "educational" but it seems there is controversy over that existing at all, anyway! So let's just say they had fun watching them while learning some things about rhythm and rhyme at the same time. Good luck!

I have a friend who swears by that "My Baby Can Read" video. Her (18 month old) son isn't reading or anything, but she says he likes to watch it. Maybe it will lead to early reading later? I don't really know, just thought I would mention it.

Scholastic has a great series of storybook videos. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, and Goodnight Gorilla would be appropriate for your child. Classic kids stories+ animation and expressive readers+ music. You can watch the whole thing or individual segments as well.

It might be a little too early at 16 months old, but my kids love the Preschool Prep series - it includes Meet the Colors, Meet the Letters, Meet the Numbers, Meet the Vowels....Sight Words etc. You can buy them individually or in sets (see below). Even at 3 and 4 years old they still love to watch them, especially Meet the Colors, and I'm sure a 16 mo old would enjoy it, too. My kids also love the Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD, it's a great alphabet learning tool. Hope this helps!
Here's the links:
http://www.amazon.com/Preschool-Prep-Pack-Letters-Numbers...

http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-Factory-Roy-Allen-Smith/dp...

Dora the Explorer are great, as are Blue's Clues and Sesame Street