My first impression of this DVD is that it is a kind and gentle sort of video for preschool children; the characters are sweet and positive and very good friends to one another.
The colors are perfect, bright and cheery.
The twelve stories are all everyday simple life events, things that a preschool child loves to watch. Titles are:
Hide & SeekIndie, Juno and friends play the game
Pop!
Little Bird FliesStrauss playing in the background while a cartoon bird learns to fly
Mountain Top
My EchoLittle Austrian cartoon character sings and hears its echo
Where? There!find the object (where's the rock, where's the baby elephant, where's the blue square) Mozart plays in the background
Rai Rai's Turn
The Beach
Boom Chick Time
In the Oceanreal ocean footage with Juno singing about the ocean creatures and the water
Ballet DancersThis has real children dancing ballet, and is very cute with Dvorak playing in the background
Goodnight, JunoDay is done, time for bed
These little movies are captivating and are the sort that a preschooler will love to watch over and over. The music is classical which is a bonus.
Total running time is 50 minutes, not too long, not too short, just about right, I'd say.
I had never heard of Baby Juno before receiving a copy of this DVD. I was not sure what to expect and how much it would mimic other products. Our children loved the DVD. The short videos are very engrossing, just long enough for a preschooler, and educational. Highly recommended.
Buy Juno Baby - Indie's Great Teddy Bear Hunt Now
Indie asks his buddies to hide his teddy bear so that he can search for him. No matter what he says, or how much he begs, he requests that they not tell him where the bear is hidden. Indie quickly becomes discouraged and changes his mind, but his friends Bunny, Juno, and Murphy encourage him to continue on with a few different searches, and eventually give him clues during each search (such as the color of what the bear is hiding behind), so that the viewer(s) can attempt to guess, too. The bear is hidden a few times throughout the day in various locations (including the woods and beach), until finally it's nighttime and there's only time to hide him once more!
The film includes a mix of animation, live action (puppetry work), and some "real" videos, including one featuring young ballet dancers. This mixture is partially due to a few short videos included as a break from the main storyline, which features puppetry. My favorite short contains birds hopping about on branches that, together, almost resemble musical notation.
Indie's Great Teddy Bear Hunt is reminiscent in feel to a certain blue dog's adventures, encouraging the viewer(s) to participate with guesses, with a young child's voice representing the viewer(s), as if talking to the DVD. The biggest difference is that Juno Baby strives to encourage musical appreciation. The few songs included have catchy tunes, and are often educational, including topics on the ocean and echoes. The three main new songs included are "In the Ocean," "My Echo," and "Pop," while the classical music included is by Dvorak, Mozart, and Strauss. The bonus materials contain a short film of "big kids" playing the three new songs as solos on musical instruments, with the hopes that younger viewers will become interested in learning to play music, too.
For helping to build language skills, the DVD can be watched in English, French, or Spanish, and these language choices even contain translated songs. In the bonus material, there is a language flashcard option that attempts to teach a few simple words in French and Spanish, including the primary colors and nature words.
Indie's Great Teddy Bear Hunt offers the opportunity for children to learn a few things about music, perseverance, encouraging others, colors, and languages. At the same time, it features characters that small children will find to be endearingly faithful role models.
Read Best Reviews of Juno Baby - Indie's Great Teddy Bear Hunt Here
This was my families first Juno Baby DVD. I've heard of Juno baby and liked what I heard about why Juno baby was made (something like the person who started it is a composer who wanted to bring classical music to kids). I want my children (3yr boy + 2yr girl) to appreciate good music, and the Juno Baby characters and graphic style looked like what my kids like. And the kids did like it--for a day.
After that the kids would start watching it, but they lost interest pretty quick.
I sat down and watched it with them recently, and it didn't grab my interet either--but that's true for most of their videos.
There were things I liked. I liked the music, and I liked creativity in the video sections. and I liked the music teaching.
I've tried to put my finger on what it is that makes it not great. But it just really comes down to that I ask the kids if the want to watch it and they say "No".
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I gave this as a gift to a co-worker whose daughter is 11 months old. She told me her daughter absolutely fell in love with the music and graphics and is entranced every time she turns it on. She has told me that her daughter knows the actual box now and as as soon as she goes to reach for it, her daughter starts swaying and dancing in anticipation! After having watched it at least 5 times, my friend told me her daughter loves this dvd and has not tired of it yet. She is anxiously looking into purchasing more of the series.
I bought this toy for my daughter on her first birthday. As a kid, my brother had an older version of this toy and I was expecting that when I puchased the Chicco Animal Cottage. In that sense I was a little disappointed. The plastic is much thinner and flimsier, the doors pop open easily without using the key, and the animals can fit through some of the holes at the top meant for the shapes. That being said, it is still a fun toy and both my one and four year old enjoy playing with it.
