Educational Dvds for Commuting

my baby can read is *ok* at best.. not worth $200, and their customer support sucks. all they care about is selling their product.

I advocate strongly for sesame street and elmo's world videos. my girls LOOOOOOVE them and they always seem to learn something.

Good luck

We have a 20 minute commute to and from school. I don't have a DVD player in the car and for us, it's turned out wonderfully. My kids and I end up having some very nice conversations in the car, things they wouldn't ordinarily talk about, they'll bring up in the car ride.

So, although 45 minutes is longer and a DVD can fill up the time nicely, I'll with all kindness meant, suggest you take a few minutes to talk to your child and leave a few minutes of silence too. Maybe the DVD player only "works" in the morning and leave the afternoons to de-compress with them. I never thought I'd enjoy the conversations in the car as much as I do when the kids are in school.

For DVDs, borrow them from the library. You get a nice variety and they're 'free' :) GL!!!

Well to limit the tv time in the car, say "not this trip" and don't turn it on. Sounds simple enough for me. My son doesn't always like it when I say no, but what kid does? Set it so that the dvd player doesn't turn on automatically. It's easier to say NO to turning it on than it is to turn it off after it's already started.

DVDS -- I check them out from the library. My son is 2, so may have different interests/levels than your son. But we like:
- Signing Time (catchy songs, learn sign language)
- Meet the Letters, Meet the Sight Words, Meet the Numbers (made by Preschool Prep Co. They have a few different DVDs). I think they're pretty boring. They basically just repeat the letters again and again. BUT - my son is 2, finds it interesting, and now knows a LOT of his letters and just about all of his numbers. We watch this one in the car fairly often, as we live out in the country and it's a 30 minute drive into town.

We get both of these DVDS at the library for free. When your son is older, Bill Nye the Science Guy has DVDs now (at my library for rental too). He is so much fun to watch.

I have not tried the Baby Can Read. But I can't wait to try the LeapFrog movies as another suggested.

ADDED:
Our favorite educational TV show is "Between the Lions" on pbs. Perhaps they have DVDs of old episodes available. The show teaches phonics and encourages reading library books. First time I saw it I thought it was awful, but it's grown on me. My son LOVES to check out the 'real book' of the one that we saw the Lions read on tv (they animate story books and read them to you and put the words of the book on the screen too). Pretty good show.

Count this another vote for Signing Time. My kids only have the first two DVDs but they love them. Very good songs and they are actually helpful for communication.

Instead of putting on a movie every time you're in the car, why not choose a condition that has to be met first. Something like - only one direction or only if your kid is behaved the day before or whatever. Maybe he can earn a movie by doing chores or something like that. Whatever you choose, make sure the rules are clear beforehand. It really will help.

Any of the Leap Frog videos are wonderful! I swear by them!

When we rode in the car with a dvd player, we were only allowed to watch if we were going on the "highway"-meaning in the car for longer than 30 mins, so you could set the rules that it is only in the morning if its a long trip. We also played a lot of alphabet i-spy with the highway signs and license plates or just plain i-spy like tell him to look for a certain type of animal or car/truck.

Leap Frog's Letter Factory and Word Factory are great. My kids have also always liked the Little Einsteins. You can alternate dvds with music too. We get CDs from the library and my kids like to sing along in the car. I also keep a basket of books and a notepad and pencil for "doodling". I like what Whizzy says about conversation too... so important. Try to keep a balance so he doesn;t think that every car ride is movie time.

What about talking and singing with your son? Picking out cars of certain colors, motorcycles, etc? What about sing along cd's instead of dvds?

I really like Signing Time dvds to teach basic sign language and they are fun with cute songs. I also have liked the leap frog series word factory, letter factory, etc. My son learned all his letters and phonics from watching letter factory and he enjoyed the movie. I am also a big fan of the new PBS shows, like Word World, etc.

My kids watch the "my baby can read" programs. My daughter is 8 months old and knows the word "mouth" already. And, I have to admit, I put in Barney every now and then. My 3 year old son never "got into" the "my baby can read" DVDs because your child has to sit and WATCH it, if not, they won't learn to read. In the car he doesn't have much choice, but he still likes them.

I have never personaly used my baby can read for my daughter. But I work in a daycare center and one of my babies parents use it and he is so smart! He is advancing faster then the other children. He is only 10 months old and is already trying to say his colors.

Besides what JessInTexas said,
My kids play Baby Einstein, and
Signng Time for their kids. Disney makes some wonderful
"Sing Along Songs" DVD's. Disney also makes some real good DVD's for just entertainment, but have a good moral tale to tell.

Good Luck to you and yours.

I like educational DVDs - better than all the junk that is out there. Some Baby DVDs I recommend - Galloping Minds Alphabet and Phonics DVD, Shapes and Colors DVD

Signing Time DVDs are wonderful...and the music is catchy enough that you won't get sick of it...a huge plus, I think!!! The kids have fun learning signs and words....my son could sign the entire alphabet at the age of 2. They are really great DVDs.