Mini Einsteins

I first saw this was coming when I saw a preview DVD attached to another Disney movie. I was expecting it to be crap. No one in my family has ever cared for those "Baby Einstein's" videos. IMO they're not much more than glorified screen savers. They were too dull to ever keep the attention of my older son and we never really tried with my youngest. We never watched that preview DVD. You can expose your children to classical music by just putting the CD on and playing with them or turn on your own wind up toy, not sit them in front of a screen to watch it, save the money of the DVD. We started seeing commercials on Disney Channel. When it aired we decided to watched it as it was looking like it could be good. We were amazed to completely fall in love with it!. It's not just playing classical music for the heck of it, it teaches the concept of who the composer is. It teaches about fine art. It teaches the most basic level of music, my kids are learning music terms like Adagio, Forte, Diminuendo and on and on. And all the while the kids are on an adventure that keeps the interest of my children. One other thing I really like about this show is that it does not talk down to the children watching it. It does not have that condescending tone a lot of children's shows have (Barney is the worst offender in my book-to this day my kids still hate him!). It treats a child with respect and not as if they're stupid. It's one thing to talk simple to a child, it's another to talk down to them. I've taken it a step further in that I found all the pieces of music featured in the show so they can hear the entire piece. Now they'll hear the piece elsewhere and recognize it. So completely worth your time!

Disney's Little Einsteins is a musical adventure for pre-kindergarten children. It is written and produced by the creators of the Baby Einstein videos and earns the same excellent reputation for educating and entertaining at the same time. The show follows four musically gifted youngsters (Annie sings, Leo conducts, Quincey plays many instruments, and June dances) as they go on "missions" with their musical friend, Rocket. The show teaches children musical terms (crescendo, staccato, etc.) and uses famous works of art and musical compositions in every episode. The missions are never scary and they are always interesting! The animation is darling, and I especially love that they use real children's voices for the characters-- it is so much more realistic! They also give plenty of "wait-time" after asking viewers to do something to give kids the chance to answer on their own! My daughter loves to pat along with the characters as Rocket takes off, and she sings and follows their directions for movement. Disney's Little Einsteins is a show I am HAPPY to share with my daughter!

My 17 month old son has been watching this show for about 3 months. He recognizes the classical music from the shows. If he hears a recording of the songs, he stops what he is doing and listens to the music. He says, "Einsteins" and starts dancing around. He never slows down, he gets into everything and he is very persistent, but when he's watching this show nothing phases him. He is in a zone, not to be bothered. When the kids on the show are trying to figure something out, they ask is this the right door, path, etc. he says , "no." He totally interacts with the characters it is adorable. He even joins in when they pat to the beat and blast off. This is the only show/movie he pays attention to. The music is exceptional and the stories, though a bit cheesy, are very entertaining and educational. For young children, this show is a definite must see. It teaches basic music vocabulary and problem solving skills. The characters also help out others, usually animals or musical instruments. I never wanted my son to watch much television, maybe an hour per day. Playhouse Disney has a lot of really good programming for young children. No distasteful characters or weapons are shown. Little Einsteins is the one show that I let my son watch just about whenever he wants to. He doesn't watch TV, he has all of the DVDs, that is what he watches. He has seen other Playhouse Disney shows but this show is the only one he sits down to watch. I highly recommend it to young children and parents too.

This show was made after I was older than it's target demographic but I found it pretty fascinating.

There is something very enticing about the zeitgeist (I think that's the right word) that pervades this show; the romanticism of the education we want to give our child, that hypothetical, photo-that-comes-with-the-frame family life where you enjoy "classical" music (it's all pretty greatest hits) with your little one against the backdrop of the country idyll.

I didn't watch this avidly, don't think I ever fanboyed out over this, but formulaic storytelling notwithstanding, there was something naively positive about this show. They managed to be conspicuously educational AND pseudo-interactive without being obnoxious about it. Maybe it was the vibrant landscapes (often famous painting) and the presence of the well aged music but this multi-racial band of unsupervised prepubescents was singularly charming once in a while.

The one with red hair and glasses is the leader! Us with glasses can be cool too!! There's also this weirdly sultry girl who always wears ballet gear (hey, it was a different time...) I sort of love how they unsubtly put polysyllables into their dialogue ("your so courageous!").

I also can't not respect making sure young people know proper musical nomenclature. Don't waste our time with how to change a tire, I need to know my rallantando from ritardando!

Easy to make fun of, you could do so much worse.

Excellent show for small children. Has classical music content, including segments from Brahms, Mozart, Beethoven and others. Interactive sections for kids to clap along to and copy which encourages active rather than passive viewing. Fine art by renowned artists is also used in the cartoons as settings and scenes including works by Van Gogh, Klimt, Seuraat to name a few. Toddlers and preschoolers will find this entertaining and for regular viewers it has some common themes and reoccurring songs through the series. Toddlers love the music art and also the adventure aspect of the series. Every episode contains a "mission" in which the protagonists (4 little kids) have to solve a problem to reach the end.