Baby Einstein - My First Signs Reviews

• Outstanding for infants and toddlers

  
  By A10G4BPT5MGBHY on 2007-03-17
  Here's the idea: a video for toddlers age 6 months and up that teaches them sign language, so they can communicate "mommy," "daddy," "kiss," "baby" and "I love you" before they can talk. If that alone doesn't melt your heart -- if your mouse hasn't yet forced itself over to that "Add to Shopping Cart" button -- then here's a brief description of what you get.
  
  Hosted by Marlee Matlin, this sweet 30-minute video uses puppets, live-action video, stills and children to teach the signs for 20 words. The signs are easy to learn, as the videos really drive home their message. For each word, Matlin demonstrates a sign, then video images reinforce it. For example, for the word "kiss" a 30-second video shows a girl kissing her mom, a boy kissing his dad, another dad and son doing the sign together, a painting of a mom kissing her infant, then more video clips of moms and dads kissing their kids, then the sign again, then a boy kissing his big stuffed dog, then a girl kissing her grandmother, then a little girl kissing her doll's baby bunny! There is no narration, in fact no spoken dialogue at all except for the words themselves. Other words include "cereal," "milk," "eat," "drink," "play," "help," "friend," "ball," "sleep," "bath," "story," "blanket," "please" and "thank you."
  
  The production values are first-rate. Everything is well-lit and in focus; the clean sets are simple yet vibrant. And the sign language is the real deal: a combination of American Sign Language (ASL) and Conceptually Accurate Signed English.
  
  There's no Scene Selection, so you can't cherry-pick favorite words to play, but a two-minute bonus feature (Sign with Me) reviews them all, and Matlin appears on two one-minute features with some additional words (including "happy," "sad," "potty," "sorry" and "love"). Other bonus features include five cute puppet shows (three minutes total).
  
  All of these Baby Einstein videos are so good -- so gentle, colorful and interactive, with nothing but positive messages -- that it's easy to forget that, technically, kids shouldn't be watching them. That the best way to promote "proper brain development" in kids under 2, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, is "talking, playing, singing and reading together." But during those times you can't be actively engaged with your child (let's see, that would include cooking, cleaning, laundry...) the series is a great way to give your rugrat a rewarding experience. Plus, you are supposed to be watching this WITH your child. And it's only 30 minutes (though the menu does include a "Repeat Play" option).
  
  Does it actually work? Absolutely, especially if you watch it together. Even if your child doesn't learn anything, you'll be there smiling at his or her happy little face, talking, playing and singing together... it's just what the doctor ordered!
  
  

• Not bad, but there is so much better out there

  
  By A2BCJUVDXO5MWC on 2007-04-28
  This video teaches some good first signs, but there is so much filler and that time could be spent in better ways. This video will achieve its goal, but it is not as efficient as others. Check out Signing Time instead. They have a 2 series Baby Signing Time that goes over many more useful signs that you and your baby will need. They also have a children's geared 13 volume series that my baby has been watching since 7 months. Signing Time often played on PBS for free.
  
  

• Good addition to our collection!

  
  By A3TP978RRJ6Y93 on 2007-04-17
  I am gathering educational toys and books for our daughter to use with her in working on developmental milestones.
  
  There is a lot of literature out that suggests signing is an excellent way to communicate with baby, and by using ASL you are giving your child a life skill that could be helpful when they get older as well.
  
  I was really trying to stay away from DVD's because I think that kids get too sucked into TV nowadays. However, books don't cut it with sign language. It is much more helpful to see the signs demonstrated repeatedly by people who know what they are doing. And Marlee Matlin is the best model for signing that they could have chosen for this DVD.
  
  This DVD is engaging. The filming is of good quality, it shows the signs in context with imagery between each of the "lessons". And throughout the show, there are little puppet skits which kind of go with the show but also, in my opinion, provide a little break from the learning to keep the kids engaged.
  
  I have watched other "Einstein" videos where I stopped and asked myself "What WAS that supposed to be, they wanted HOW MUCH money for THAT?". However, that was not the case with this video. My daughter and I enjoyed it and we are learning something useful together.
  
  The only improvement I could think of would be to make subsequent volumes of videos like this with expanded vocabulary. This particular video only covers very basic words such as mother, father, kiss, more, sleep, baby, blanket, and a few others. I think the content is just right for a "First Signs" video. And I don't think a small child's attention span could take much more than this at one time. But it would be nice if they offered a library of progressively advancing signs on other discs.
  
  I would highly recommend this DVD to parents interested in signing with their children.
  
  

• My baby was riveted

  
  By A304X6VUXYGUQC on 2007-03-31
  We got this for our 14-month-old son. He had already learned a few signs at day care and with us but only about 3 before he saw the DVD. We watched this with him on the day it arrived. He was absolutely riveted. He laughed at the puppets and paid close attention. He watched it all the way through - and 30 minutes is an amazing length of time to hold his attention at this age. Within a few days, he was signing more words. This DVD definitely enhanced our communication with our son by helping him and us know more signs.
  
  As an adult watching it, I found it very well done also. My husband and I both learned signs we didn't know and we're using them routinely now. The teaching method involves a great pattern of doing the sign, saying the word and showing the word. For example, they say, "baby" and do the sign for baby, then they show a baby (no speaking or signing), then they do the sign for baby and show a baby, then they show a baby and say "baby," etc.
  
  Marlee Matlin was excellent - great energy and very fun with the puppets. The parents with their children were also nice. And having the children do the signs was wonderful - my son found that totally enthralling.
  
  

• Dangerous- avoid!

  
  By A119LEBGYCUP20 on 2007-08-07
  From a recent study-
  
  These products had the strongest detrimental effect on babies 8 to 16 months old, the age at which language skills are starting to form. "The more videos they watched, the fewer words they knew," says Christakis. "These babies scored about 10% lower on language skills than infants who had not watched these videos."
  
  
• Signing Time! is sooo much better!!!
  By AB1O3A2VHG7S on 2007-09-27
  My kids love to sign, so we try and watch every signing video available, but this one went right back to the library. My kids and I were so disappointed with this video. I must say that this area is just not in Beby Einstein's expertise and just because they have a famous deaf actress does not make it good. If your kids truely want to learn a large vocabulary of American Sign Language, then look into the Signing Time video series.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A33D2XRIJCZIUB on 2007-04-01
  I was so excited about watching this for the first time with my son. I should have known that it would be just like all the other Baby Eintein videos...very poorly put together. The signs are not shown enough for an infant or toddler to grasp them. There are too many "filler" scenes and pictures. It also did not hold my son's attention. I have heard very good things about the "Signing Time" videos. I found out that our public television station is going to start showing them beginning in April 07. I am going to record them and watch them with my son. I hope they are much better than what I just watched on the Baby Einstein DVD.
  
  
• Signing Time is way better!
  By A16N0YR18D2S4U on 2007-03-26
  I checked out Signing Time DVDs from the local library for my daughter. She LOVES them. I thought she would like this too. She does, but not me. I agree with another reviewer about the "filler"--too much time showing the pictures but not enough for the signs. The music and scenes make it somewhat entertaining for little kids, like other Baby Einstein DVDs, but not very educational. So if you shopping for DVDs teaching sign language, there are better options.
  
  
• strongly NOT recommend this series to baby < 2 yr
  By A2B4EIJVAHWNTP on 2007-09-17
  My son is now 1 year and 11 month old, from his very early time, about 3~4 month old, we began to introduce Baby Einstein series to him. He could not without the shows later, averagely watch 3~4 hrs per day. Now he is nearly two years old, but could not even speak out 6~8 words, much late than my friend's son (the same age), my brother's daughter and my sister's son (compare them at the same age). I become to suspect if the Baby Einstein shows do benifit younger babies. The shows seldom speak, mostly music or silence. I really regret that my son spend too much (one and half year) on Baby Einstein. listein to me, talk with you baby, NOT let the Baby Einstein do that.
  
  
• Ok, but much better signing videos out there
  By A12BHP8VWAHV50 on 2007-03-23
  This video is more of a typical Baby Einstein video with a few signs thrown in here and there. They don't teach the signs, just show them quickly, followed by pictures of what the signs mean. Way more "filler" than signs, which was disappointing. It's a cute video, but I think there are much better signing videos out there. Baby Signing Times for example.
  
  
• Very Helpful
  By ADBSVG1VPLYX6 on 2007-08-08
  We've been working with our 16 month old daughter for several months on signing and this video really helps reinforce the concepts. She loves it. The signing has definitely provided a way to communicate that lowers frustration levels. If you're looking for a way to get started signing with your child, this is a good product.
  
  
• Purchased and returned
  By A2CENY774BCNR2 on 2008-06-17
  It is my own fault for not doing the research ahead of time on this. I bought the item in the rush of being a new parent and should have stopped and thought about what I was doing. My clarity came while watching the video. Almost immediately I realized my mistake and knew that this is not what I wanted my child exposed to. The video was returned and I have since purchased the Garcia Baby Signs book and corresponding DVD for the parents, and am pleased with it.
  
  For those of you who will immediately claim that I am so lunatic who is citing garbage research, please see a small sample of what I read below:
  
  "The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has recommended that children younger than 24 months of age not be exposed to television." From Anderson, Pempek. Television and Very Young Children. American Behavioral Scientist. 2005; 48: 505-522
  
  Or you can check out one of the following:
  
  Zimmerman, F. et al. Associations between Media Viewing and Language Development in Children Under Age 2 Years. The Journal of Pediatrics, Volume 151 , Issue 4 , Pages 364 - 368.
  
  Kaplan, M. Educational Videos Drain Baby Brains. ScienceNOW, 7 August 2007.
  
  Park, A. How Not to Raise a Genius. Time; 8/27/2007, Vol. 170 Issue 9, p46-46, 1/8p.
  
  Cressey, D. Is baby DVD research Mickey Mouse science?. Nature [serial online]. August 23, 2007; 448(7156):848-849.
  
  The science is in and it says that videos for kids under the age of two, which is just about every child that this sign language video is geared towards, are bad. So you may be helping them communicate earlier, but at the cost of their overall development.
  
  
• Baby Einstein - My First Signs
  By A2WG000NFCK4BK on 2007-06-28
  It is impressive how my son, now 15 months, gets completely absorbed with all the Baby Einstein products my wife and I have previously purchased (My First Moves, Neighborhood Animals, Baby Beethoven, Baby Mozart). With this one, though (which by the way said was precisely for children in that age range), his attention was only captured for the first 5 minutes. Analyzing it from a non-target customer standpoint, I think it is not in the same category as the other ones I've seen, quality wise. Maybe my expectations were too high but I can honestly say I was a little disappointed with this product. Maybe someone can recommend other BE products that are as good as the others. Thanks.
  
  
• Cute.
  By AU3ZFTG141U3J on 2007-07-16
  This is a cute presentation of a few of the first baby signs that are both easy and useful for any family. I wish there were more Sign Language DVD's in the Einstein series because this sort of leaves you hanging. The search for DVD's between this age and schoolage where ettiquette, sentence structure, classifiers, etc. start to be discussed is void. It would be nice if signing could be taken for granted and included in children's programing as a matter of course. Our granddaughter does now look for hands to mean something and Signing seems to be a stronger language for her than verbal instruction. She usually smiles when she signs to us because for her it seems to be both a game and powerful. "Adults" get it when she signs. This DVD did make a huge difference getting her started. We have a deaf daughter (25) so it is important in our family to have these materials around for everybody. This DVD was a positive fun start that made an immense change immediately for her at only 10-12 months.
  
  
• Its okay, but there are better signing videos out there.
  By A22Y865ZGT3Y9S on 2008-03-08
  My daughter is a pretty average 16 month old, not advanced or delayed. We started trying to teach her some signs from about 6 months but she didn't really start signing much before 13 months and now she uses about 15 signs and signs something new every few days. I was really hoping that this video would hold my daughter's attention, but it doesn't. Instead, I would reccommend the "my baby can talk" seriesMy Baby Can Talk - First Signs They hold her attention all the way through and she is learning new signs directly from the DVD that I haven't tried to teach her yet.
  
  
• Fun
  By on 2007-03-31
  I really think this is a fun DVD though my mother got this for my little brother, We have all had fun watching Baby Einstein! Another DVD we enjoy watching alot is crafty fun, we enjoy making the crafts.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A2PESHLKJN1LHY on 2007-04-11
  I bought this for my 2yr old who has a speech delay. There were only 20 signs and more than a few were common signs that we already knew. My son does like watching it but as far as learning new signs it was a bust.
  
  
• Great Teaching Tool!
  By A1BW0UO8L7TQK4 on 2007-04-11
  I purchased this video for my 2-1/2 yr old granddaughter. She had a stroke at age 4 mos. and although she is making great progress, she still does not speak. She immediately reacted to the video and the sounds and signs she has been learning in therapy. It is great for children whether they have speaking challenges or not!
  
  
• GREAT
  By A22LW2JF8X0ZAZ on 2007-05-13
  This is a great video, but only 30 minutes long. My kids love it and watch it all the time, but only learned about a dozen signs.
  
  
• My little girl loves it.
  By A3EB3VYB7R2U8V on 2007-05-14
  The Baby Einstein series is a great line. My 7 month old loves it. It's very engaging.
  
  
• Quality problems
  By A1JX0RZUUPRBFW on 2007-07-29
  We ordered Baby Einstein - My First Signs and My Baby Can Talk - Sharing Signs at the same time. My son (9 mo old) likes both but likes My Baby Can Talk - Sharing Signs better. Both videos include a variety of helpful signs like mommy, daddy, bath, kiss, cereal, milk, drink, eat, change, sleep, etc. Both are well directed & scripted with cute music, but the Baby Einstein copy we received has big quality problems. In several spots the screen goes blurry (kind of like your TV does when cable is having problems.) Another thing, I especially like the enclosed quick reference signing card that comes with My Baby Can talk, but was not provided with Baby Einstein. Bottom line, if you are buying just one buy My Baby Can Talk Sharing Signs.
  
  
• Not up to the standards of other baby signs DVDs
  By A3J98AT27RRE9X on 2008-07-29
  My son loved the My Baby Can Talk sign language DVDs and he loves Baby Einstein, so I thought this would be perfect for him. I was so, so wrong. The DVD is not done in a manner that promotes learning. The words are combined too much, instead of focusing on one word at a time. I would not bother with this DVD if you really want your baby to learn sign language. We love baby sign and can highly recommend the My Baby Can Talk series instead of this DVD.
  
  
• First Signs
  By A3VLXMDTBPMK99 on 2007-03-17
  Though I have not viewed the DVD yet because it's for my son's birthday, I am extremely happy with how quickly it was delivered. I received it a week before the estimated delivery! As far as the DVD goes, it's a Baby Einstein ... I'm sure it will be awesome!
  
  
• Wonderful!
  By A2AEY39HN63PXM on 2007-04-02
  My son is 17 months and LOVES this Baby Einstein DVD. He already knew a few signs but picked up more from this video. Everytime we play it he is riveted and looks back and signs to us as he recognizes the signs in the video. I can't even put his other Baby Einstein DVDs in because he expects and only seems interested in this one. I hope they come out with more of the "signs" series!
  
  
• KellyB
  By A7J17U9K11FMD on 2007-04-11
  My nephew (9 mos) LOVES this DVD! He really engages with the characters and information... this is the only DVD (or TV show for that matter) that he really watches.
  
  
• Excellent Video
  By A1ALPMIS1WX4EW on 2007-04-11
  We love all the Baby Einstein videoes. This is the second video with sign language, and our kids were not only excited to see it, but picked up all the signs very quickly.
  
  
• Good for the basics
  By A3GYUEB8F0I7C9 on 2007-05-06
  I purchased this DVD for my 2 1/2 year old. She loves Baby Wordsworth but I found that one to be long with too many signs. This DVD offers an intro to sign language with a few signs per catagory. My daughter picked up the signs within one viewing. I reccomend this one over Baby Wordsworth as a starter. Get Baby Wordsworth a little later when attention spans are a bit longer.
  
  
• Excellent Video
  By A2ZXU0HJA5QKDU on 2007-05-07
  I really like the format of the video, the way it teaches a few signs in a group, shows the concept in many different ways and then moves on to another group of signs. My son, who has Down Syndrome, is almost 2 and he loves to watch this video because of all of the children and babies they feature! His therapists have encouraged us to teach him sign language and this just might be the perfect tool for doing so!
  
  
• Baby Einstein
  By A1AS89F13X2AV6 on 2007-05-07
  I can communicate with my 15 month old and actually understand her now. No more guessing, this video works. I just love it!!! I recommend it to anyone who has a toddler, it's amazing how quick our children can learn.
  
  
• My First Signs, Just Terrific
  By A13NPOL27P5KM3 on 2007-06-03
  Baby Einstein is a wonderful new line of videos to help aid in your child's development. Get them off to a very good start with these videos, and this special one, My First Signs. Get them well on the way to a successful future now! Don't wait!
  
  

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