The Baby Einstein Company is growing company with plenty of innovative ideas. With several videos, a great deal of CD’s, books, and toys, this company is an all-around success! My daughter has all of the Baby Einstein DVD’s, and one of her favorites is “Baby Galileo: Discovering the Sky.” This video exposes your child to the names of the planets in our solar system, as well as other things in the sky like clouds, the sun, and the moon. The music of Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Tchaikovsky, and Strauss are featured in this impressive DVD.
A small kangaroo puppet is the mascot for the “Baby Galileo” video. Throughout this video, he watches the sky for birds and uses a telescope to try and see the planets. Real-life photography mingles with animation to present a well-rounded view of what your child can find in the sky. As each planet is introduced, the name of the planet is said and is presented across the bottom of the screen below a photograph of the planet. There is a short part during the planets segment in which the kangaroo is trying to reach a mobile of the solar system. A giraffe comes along and moves it for him. “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star” is featured during parts of this segment.
Since it is not necessarily possible to see other planets regularly (unless one has a telescope), “Baby Galileo” also focuses on things in the sky that your child can see everyday. There is a segment about clouds which features time-lapse photography of cloud formations in a bright blue sky. The sun and moon are also showcased in their own segments with photographs of each (ones of the moon provided by NASA). For the moon, “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy is featured. In one part, a mouse puppet takes a bite of a crescent moon, obviously meant to look like it is made out of cheese. He shakes it out of his mouth and squeaks. My daughter always laughs at that part.
“Baby Galileo: Discovering the Sky” is a great way to introduce information about the solar system to your child. It is also a fun way for your child to learn about other objects in the sky. This video is recommended for ages nine months and up.
In addition to the DVD or VHS, there are toys, books, and other educational supplements to this video available for purchase from The Baby Einstein Company. Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, and other retailers also sell Baby Einstein products.