Sesame Beginnings: Make Music Together (NR, 2006)

This Sesame Street DVD features baby versions of Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, and Prairie Dawn, accompanied by caregivers. Much of the action is oriented toward teaching parents how to integrate learning into daily activities and also how to turn common parenting challenges into successful exchanges between caregiver and child. For example, Prairie Dawn wants to help her mother put away groceries. So her mother gives her a box of macaroni to play with, which turns into a musical instrument and mom and daughter begin to sing an improvised song, "Shake, Baby, Shake." This carries into scenes with other characters and then shows real-life caregivers singing the song to their children. Each DVD features "Together Time Tips," which reiterate or add to the lessons carried out in the show. For example, the tip "Encourage your child to make music" features children using an array of musical instruments and tells parents that children do not need to be taught how to make music, but that simply experimenting will encourage a love of music and rhythm.

Make Music Together is the second DVD in a series called "Sesame Beginnings" produced by Sesame Workshop in partnership with Zero to Three, an educational organization founded by famed pediatrician T. Berry Brazelton. The DVD is designed for babies 6 months and older. With this series, Sesame Workshop and Zero to Three flout the American Academy of Pediatrics' (and Common Sense Media's) recommendation that children under 2 avoid all screen media (TV, computers, DVDs, videos). This decision has prompted outcry from some child development experts, including Brazelton himself.

Overall, the material is up to the standards one would expect from Sesame Street -- great characters, educational lessons, fun music, and the occasional celebrity appearance. If you decide to hold off on this series until your child is 2, she will probably still find the material engaging, despite the emphasis on younger children and their routines. But since much of the material is designed for the caregiver of a baby, viewers with kids past 2 will find the lessons less useful.

Studio: Sesame Workshop
Director: Kevin Clash
Cast: Bill Barretta, Jennifer Barnhart, Wayne Brady
Genre: Family and Kids
Run time: 30 minutes
Theatrical release: April 4, 2006
DVD release: April 4, 2006
MPAA Rating: NR
MPAA explanation: children