We're Going On A Trip (Little Einsteins)

Member Name: cg1anon

Product:	Little Einsteins
Date:	19/02/09 (128 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, Educational, They speak properly!

Disadvantages: None

The first thing I want to say is unrelated to Little Einsteins, but: I hate the Teletubbies with a passion. I am the first of four children and have a vivid memory of my youngest sister, having watched it far too many times, walking around saying 'eh oh', 'agenagen' and 'Tubbytustard'. When I had my son, I vowed that he would never watch kids programs that would encourage him to speak gibberish.

I'm a single mum and my little boy is extremely energetic. He doesn't seem to ever sleep and always wants to play, so to keep the house in some sort of order I let him watch TV for around half an hour a day while I rush through the housework and prepare the dinner. Little Einsteins is the programme I usually put on for him, and it's ideal in that it's exactly the right length, contains music and bright colours that keep his attention and is educational. As soon as he hears the opening notes of the theme song, "we're going on a trip in our favourite rocket ship", he will drop what he's doing and listen with a big grin on his face.

Little Einsteins is a children's television programme by Disney, and at the moment it's aired on Playhouse Disney (Sky 611) twice a day. It's aimed at pre-school children and centres around four extremely clever little kids named Leo, Quincy, June and Annie. The children each have their own special talent - Leo loves conducting and never goes anywhere without his magic conductor's baton, Quincy plays every musical instrument you can think of, June loves to dance and Annie loves to sing. They are all very knowledgable about music, art and geography, are very loyal friends and love to help anyone (or anything).

Each episode sees the children and their friend Rocket, a red rocket who can turn into various other types of vehicle including a pirate ship, gondola or submarine, go on a 'mission'. Typical missions are reuniting a lost baby with it's mummy (it could be a baby bird, or a baby cello!), rescuing someone in danger or helping someone (like a mouse, or a train!) deliver a parcel. The mission almost always involves flying in Rocket, and you get introduced to lots of far-flung places like Egypt, Nepal or even further afield like Jupiter! For example in one episode June is looking through her telescope at Saturn when one of its rings flies off and lands in her garden, so the group fly off to Saturn to return the ring. Every episode incorporates a piece of classical music and a piece of art into the story. The art is usually a painting but other things such as totem poles, woven baskets and hieroglyphics have also featured. Musical vocabulary is heavily incorporated, for example Rocket takes off and flies slowly - adagio. To make him fly faster, we have to pat the beat of the music on our tummies, to make him fly moderato. Then we pat the beat on our shoulders, to make him fly fast - allegro! Rocket is skiing down a mountain to music and hits snow bumps. 'Can you say staccato? That's right!'

Little Einsteins encourages children to get involved in the action. When they power-up Rocket, they have to pat on their legs and ask you to pat too. My son is only eight months old and joins in with this! You also have to pat to change Rocket's speed (see above). Sometimes the children will be following something that sounds like a certain piece of music, and you have to help them decide which way to go, by listening to the different roads and seeing which sounds like the music you're following. Often June (the dancer) will have to use her ballet expertise to help the mission - such as tiptoeing quickly across hot sand, or dancing a path through obstacles. You are encouraged to join in with June's dancing. Annie makes up a song to the tune of the 'music of the day', and you have to sing along to help the mission. At the end of the episode, there is always a 'curtain call', where you are shown the art and artist of the day, and the music and composer of the day, and then encouraged to give yourself a clap for all the help you gave. My little boy always joins in with the clapping.

I've noticed over the few months that my son has been watching Little Einsteins that he joins in more and more. He claps and pats his hands, wiggles his legs to the music and has just started making babbling noises when they want you to sing. Today for the first time he waved his arms in front of himself to help Quincy play a harp! He loves the characters and he knows them - when I bought a Little Einsteins book to read to him he recognised them right away and started laughing and clapping. He thoroughly enjoys the whole experience of watching the show and I know that as he grows up he will be able to enjoy the show even more as he learns to walk, talk, sing and dance. Little Einsteins is a great programme for young children, that will encourage a love of music and learning. It introduces children to a variety of music, art, language and places in a way that makes it fun, and if Joshua is going to pick up anything from a TV show I'd much rather he wander around singing a little ditty to the tune of Fur Elise than pointing to a yoghurt pot saying 'Tubbytustard'.

Summary: An educational programme that is FUN too! Perfect for babies and pre-school children.