PBS Shows on DVD: The Berenstain Bears & Dinosaur Train

As the busy holiday season approaches, parents look for ways to give their kids some downtime at home but still keep them learning or busy. If this sounds like you, then maybe you'll love learning that last month, PBS KIDS released new DVDs of their popular shows The Berenstain Bears and Dinosaur Train.

DVDs are a great alternative to just putting on the TV and letting your kids watch for hours. You can control not only the content, but the amount of time spent watching AND you can do it commercial free. :)

THE BERENSTAIN BEARS: Tree House Tales, Volume 1 has 26 stories from this beloved bear family. I love this show because of the important values it teaches, such as kindness, consideration, respecting others, and more. I don't worry about what my child is learning when he watches it. And did you know that you can find lesson plans and activities for the Berenstain Bears on PBS?

DINOSAUR TRAIN: Dinosaurs Big and Small was also released on DVD. It contains 10 episodes focused on - Yep! - shapes and sizes. Lots of great math concepts taught in these episodes: comparing, shapes, counting, and more. And like the other one, you can find great lesson plans for Dinosaur Train online. Check out PBS Learning Media.

Oh, and you can also stream some of the episodes from these DVDs on the PBS KIDS Prime Video Channel!

But if you are traveling and looking for something to keep the kids occupied on a long trip, both DVDs are inexpensive and can be found on Amazon:

SURPRISE GIVEAWAY: Bilingual Multimedia by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy

Ages ago, authors Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy reached out to me and generously offered a huge set of their materials to be given away to MommyMaestra readers. Sadly, the past year has been quite tumultuous and difficult for me and I just couldn't get to it, but they were kind enough to keep the materials set aside just for you. I am so thankful for their dedication to Latino families and their support of bilingual education.

SO let me tell you what this surprise giveaway is about!

Alma Flor and Isabel have put together 12 packages each featuring five of their works. These sets of multimedia materials are mentioned in their Transformative Calendar, a FREE download for parents and educators. It is full of suggestions for books and poems appropriate for each month of the year.

Each package includes:

1. Books plus DVDs
2. CDs
3. Book + CD

For example, one package contains:

• The books: Pasos from Puertas al Sol Quince Años Edition plus the DVD El encuentro mágico con el folklore infantil
  and Me llamo María Isabel plus the DVD  Lectura creadora
• The CDs: Poesía eres tú and ¡Pío Peep!
• The book and CD set: Música amiga Number 4 Corre al coro by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, music by Suni Paz

And another has:

• The books: Uno, dos, tres… dime quién es from Puertas al Sol Quince Años Edition plus the DVD El encuentro mágico con el folklore infantil and Yes! We Are Latinos plus Path to My Word DVD by F. Isabel Campoy
• The CDs:  Todo es canción poems by Alma Flor Ada music and voice, Suni Paz
  
  and Cuentos que contaban nuestras abuelas read by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
• The book and CD set: Música amiga Number 5 Con ton y son by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy, music by Suni Paz

Now just imagine...there are 12 of these prize packages!! All of them include materials in English and Spanish for children or their educators.

THE GIVEAWAY

There will be 3 (THREE) winners who will receive 4 (FOUR) packages each of some combination of materials by the authors. You don't get to choose...it will be a surprise!

To enter to win, simply use the Rafflecopter below.

¡Buena suerte!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spanish Video for Babies & Toddlers: Vocales

This is a sponsored post.

Spanish is a very phonetic language, and words are formed around the sounds that the vowels make. Therefore, it is very important to learn those sounds early. Fortunately, the vowels in Spanish always make the same sound, no matter where they are located within a word. So when José Dominguez listened to his children speaking Spanish, he had an idea for a product to help children learn proper pronunciation.

José is a physical therapist who is raising his four kids in a bilingual home. He is originally from Venezuela and his wife is from Pennsylvania. But he noticed that his kids were struggling with learning the pronunciation of Spanish words.

"Even though I speak only Spanish at home (and my wife only English), my children's pronunciation has never been that of a native speaker due to the way they make the sounds of the vowels," José says. Instead, he noticed that the way they pronounced their Spanish vocales was the same sound made by the English vowels, probably because they were exposed to those sounds more often than the Spanish sounds.

So what did he do? He created an animated video to help young children learn the proper sounds of the vowels in Spanish. I absolutely love it when parents see a need and create products or services that help not only their own children, but others, too!!

Designed for children ages 0 - 5, the video makes learning the vowel sounds fun through colorful characters, original songs, and repetition.

I, personally, don't encourage parents to let their babies watch TV, but you could certainly download the video to your computer and simply play the music in the background to help train your child's ear to the Spanish sounds! And perhaps, José will consider making a CD or MP3 version available, too? But for toddlers, this video reminds me of something they might see on Sesame Street or PBS KIDS.

If you have noticed your own children pronouncing Spanish words with an English accent, this might be a great tool for you to use. The DVD is available for $10.99, or you can go download a digital version now from their website.

Here's a peek at the video. As you can see, it is professionally done!

WordWorld's It's Time for School on DVD

One of the best concepts for an educational TV show, in my opinion, is WordWorld. It really was a genius idea for helping children grow up in a print-rich environment. But did you know that you can buy the show on DVD? I didn't until PBS KIDS sent me a copy. And I thought that it would be great to share it with you since with school starting, this particular WordWorld DVD is especially timely.

WordWorld's "It's Time for School" collection features eight different stories, starting with Shark's First Day of School. It's a sweet episode that helps prepare children for their first day in a school setting. Like many kids, Shark is afraid to go, but with the help of his good friend, Duck, he finds the courage he needs. Cat, the teacher, is encouraging and fun and by the end of the day, he's had a great time.

I love that this DVD set also comes with a learning and activity book featuring the WordWorld characters. Inside are coloring pages and activities that help children learn to associate the characters with their written name.

You can also visit the WordWorld website where you'll find interactive books, apps, and games to extend the learning your child gets from each episode. There's even a section for parents and educators with links to pages that describe the show's educational approach and tips for teaching at home or in the classroom.

If you'd like to buy your copy of this awesome little DVD to share with your preschooler, visit the PBS Educational Media shop.

Enjoy!

Review: Families of Puerto Rico DVD

Last week, as I prepared for Hispanic Heritage Month to begin, I was looking through the collection of media next to my desk for ideas on what to share next with my children. I found a new DVD from the Families of the World series, and it is awesome.

The series reminds me of some of the shows I'd watch and love as a kid. It basically gives you an idea of how children in other countries live by giving you a "sneak peek" of their lives. So for instance, the DVD we have is about Families of Puerto Rico (affiliate link). The show follows two children (nine-year-old José and eight-year-old Laura) and their families, letting you learn what a typical day in their life is like.

José and his family live in the capital city of San Juan. In the episode, we learn about what his parents do for a living and some of the history of the island. My animal-loving daughter liked him immediately when she learned that he wanted to be a veterinarian when he grows up.

Laura's family lives in the country on a farm. We learned about how her parents went to college and studied agriculture and then started their own farm growing bananas and then flowers. My son was absolutely intrigued when he saw how they had two little coquís living in their bathtub and heard their little croaking. (I'm still waiting for the day when I turn around in my shower and find a frog staring back at me.) And both my kids thought it was super cool when Laura's class visited the world's largest radio telescope.

My kids absolutely loved learning about the country. One of the first things they commented on was how even though it would be so great to live on an island, it sure wouldn't be fun having to deal with hurricanes every year! But by the time the video was over, they were ready to head to Puerto Rico for a visit. :)

There are 28 other Families of the World programs (affiliate link) and they are now available on video - just in time for Hispanic Heritaget Month! They retail for around $10 each and would be great for a school or library collection. The individual videos would be perfect for exploring family heritage, too.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this DVD for review purposes. Affiliate links are used in this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.