Last year, I reviewed (here) a lovely pre-schoolers' DVD called Jack & Holly's Christmas Countdown. I was impressed by the DVD itself, which had all three Madhouse Mini Testers absolutely mesmerised all the way through, but also by the fact that a husband and wife team were taking on the big market leaders in the kids' DVD industry and actually making a really good go of it. Hats off to them because they're still in the running and have brought out a second DVD, Jack & Holly's Cosmic Stories, designed to teach little learners about the wonders of the universe.
Now, internet is a wonderful invention because there is no longer such a thing as a question from your "Why ? Why ? Why ?" obsessed 5-year-old that has you totally stumped, but nevertheless, when you're out and about and away from your source of endless knowledge, they still manage to come up with a few unanswerable questions ! This latest Jack and Holly DVD will give them loads of fascinating but simple to understand information about such complex notions as where did the moon come from, how was the universe created and what happens when a star dies. (I can hear all you frazzled parents breathing a collective sigh of relief !)
The DVD combines cartoon animation with traditional story-telling and delivers huge amounts of information in bite-sized nuggets. Kids will love the cute characters of Jack and Holly and will watch it for fun, all the time absorbing knowledge without even realising it.
To give you an idea, here is a clip showing you how it should be done when you need to answer one of those "impossible" questions that young children love to ask their parents : Why can't you turn the sun down when it gets too hot ?
The low-budget production gives the DVD a slight retro-feel that I love as a parent because it reminds me of the quality TV shows that I remember watching as a kid. It's a gentle, calm DVD to watch, with no headachey sound effects or hectic running around all over the place that get your kids all hyped up. It's aimed at pre-schoolers but 10-year-old Sophie, who has just come home from school with the news that she has to do a project on the constellations, watched it from start to finish then came to the kitchen to tell me about all the things she'd learnt !
The learning continues off screen because you can download a free Cosmic Comic here to celebrate the launch of the DVD.
I will be posting two fabulous giveaways in the coming days where you will have the chance to win both of the Jack and Holly DVDs, but in the meantime, you can follow them on twitter @jackandholly, on their blog http://jackandholly.blogspot.com/ and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Jack-and-Holly
star rating : 5/5
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This is a great DVD. Thanks for the review. I'm sure my younger ones would love it. Not to mention the older 3 too.
ReplyDelete@mumoffunkids