When my nephew was not quite than a year old, my sister was talking about these videos by The Baby Einstein Company. I went out to the store to get him a birthday present and decided to buy him one of the DVD’s. When I saw “Baby Van Gogh: World of Colors,” I knew that I had to get it. Vincent Van Gogh is my absolute favorite artist of all time, and I wanted to expose my nephew to that side of me. Plus, this video teaches children all about colors.
The host of this video is named Vincent Van Goat. Clever, don’t you think? Throughout this video, he introduces the three primary colors (red, yellow, blue) and the three secondary colors (orange, green, purple) by painting Van Gogh’s works. For example, when yellow is introduced, Vincent is painting “Wheatfields with Reaper” which was painted using mostly yellow. FOr orange, “Sunflowers” is shown. When it is time to teach about the color blue, the infamous “The Starry Night” is painted by Van Goat. The music that accompanies the segments come from Van Gogh’s era. Such pieces as “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and “Blue Danube Waltz” by Johann Strauss, Jr. are featured.
Not only does our blue host paint the works of Van Gogh to show color, but photographs as well. Trees, animals, and other things in nature are shown to display their colors. Children who are wearing the color of the segment are show playing. Sometimes the children are even eating a food of that color, a child sucking on a lemon during the yellow segment (Yes, some children DO eat lemons).
Each color is said once or twice during its segment. In fact, I think this is the only downfall of this video. In order to really make an impression, the color should be said several times throughout each segment. That makes this video a great opportunity to sit down with your child and teach them as they watch. You can even teach them the different objects featured in the video, not just the colors. That would be a wonderful learning experience for your child.
“Baby Van Gogh: World of Colors” is a perfect way to introduce colors to your child. Also, it is never too early to expose your child to the works of famous artists.
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.