Days out diary - child friendly and family activities

Family days out Thomas land and children railways Family days out Avoncroft building museum Family days out museums Family days out Wookey Hole Cave Family days out Swing ride at The Big Sheep Family days out childrens farm Family days out fun with boats

We have already purchased a number of items from the Baby Einstein collection including CD's and DVD's. This is a seasonally appropriate DVD to be reviewing.

The reason we've been so interested in the Baby Einstein series, is that they are educational materials directed at babies. The DVD's in the series use a combination of music, toys, puppet shows, animal video footage and children to create an enjoyable experience for babies and young children.

One of the first things on the menu is that there is an option to play the DVD through once (which lasts about half an hour), or a repeat play feature, which is useful if you are busy doing something and don't want the baby to get bored whilst you are still busy. Obviously it would not be a good idea to just leave the baby in front of the TV for hours on end, but the DVD may just allow you to get a job done without having to give your child constant attention.

As the DVD plays it has music playing in the background with a number of different scenes / activities for the baby to watch. These are all geared towards stimulating different things in the child, from showing lights, to looking at other babies or seeing toys in motion. These are all well made, but you do get the impression that the DVD's are cheap to make, with minimal production costs. Unfortunately the low cost is not reflected in the purchase cost of the DVD, which can be up to £20. These can be bought quite a bit cheaper online at Amazon.

Most of the DVDs and CDs use classical music, but keeping in with the Christmas theme this DVD uses the music from carols and Christmas tunes.

Of course the important thing about these is how well the baby enjoys and learns from them. In this case our baby loves watching the DVDs. The one other think that competes with keeping her interest in our fish tank, but that's babies for you.

The nearest alternative I've seen is the Baby TV channel available on Sky and NTL Cable TV etc. The Baby Einstein series is however far better quality than those used on the TV.

I'd happily recommend the Baby Einstein range to anyone with babies, although the cost is likely to put some people off.