Mighty Machines: Machines on the Job DVD

Mighty Machines: Machines on the Job, NCircle Entertainment, 2007. UPC  843501006245, 90 minutes on DVD. $5.99

Annotation: Have you ever wondered how grapes are picked, how steel is made, or how newspapers are printed? Find out in this action-packed visual explanation of how all of these things are done.

Summary: This is just one of the many titles in the Mighty Machines DVD series which features machinery and heavy equipment on the job. The series originally aired on Canadian television from 1994 until 2008. The program is designed with live-action footage in a documentary style. Many of the machines are given names, and the narrator explains how the equipment works and what each piece does from the perspective of that machine character. 

The harvest segment features a grape clipper and tomato picker, while the steel mill portion of the video explains what a slab hauler, ladle crane, electro-magnetic crane, and a fire quencher all do. The final segment in the compilation follows the production of a newspaper from loading the printing press to filling up the delivery trucks with finished papers. The machines go about their business getting their work done, and while the voices and story lines can be a bit silly, there is a good deal of information presented in each segment. 

Critical Evaluation: Presenting the information about each job and industry from the narrated perspective of the equipment performing the work is rather ingenious, as it adds a personal connection between the young viewers and the big machinery. Due to the age of the original productions, some of the segments appear dated, particularly those that include footage of the people operating the machines. However, children are unlikely to pick up on this as their attention will be mainly focused on the equipment.

Additionally, because this television series was produced in Canada, some terminology in the program is different than that typically used in the United States, but again, this will not affect a child's enjoyment of the DVD. For children fascinated by construction, farm, transportation and rescue equipment, the Mighty Machine series will provide them with an entertaining and educational experience.

This series is very affordable, with individual DVDs available for $5.99 from the NCircle Entertainment website, and priced even lower on Amazon.com.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 6

Awards: Nominated for a Gemini Award in 1996 for Best Children's Television or Series

Why Included? Where else can you see a tomato harvester machine in action? Or get extremely close to fire-hot steel as it is being shaped into slabs? For those of us who don't get to see these things in our everyday lives, and for children interested in all sorts of equipment, this window into the world of big machinery is fascinating.

Sesame Street: Let's Make Music

Sesame Street Let's Make Music, Warner Home Video, 2009. UPC 074645171890, 40 minutes on DVD. $9.95

Annotation: Sesame Street characters unite with the Stomp percussion troupe to make beautiful music out of the most unusual instruments up and down the street.

Summary: This musical journey opens with Telly discovering that he has lost his beloved tuba. As he retraces his steps to try to find it, he interacts with many familiar Sesame Street characters like Oscar, Elmo, and Burt while they celebrate making music with familiar objects like oatmeal boxes, coffee cans, and glass soda bottles. The percussion troupe Stomp is visiting Sesame Street on this particular day, and they also create catchy rhythms with trashcans, pots and pans, and their own bodies. 

Interspersed with the live action segments are animated and musically-themed bits from classic Sesame Street episodes, which combine with the main story line to create a captivating celebration of music. Children ages 2 and up will enjoy hearing and seeing the music that is made using everyday items and will be inspired to try making some music themselves.

Critical Evaluation: The childhood development experts at Sesame Workshop have decades of experience in educational programming for children. This DVD release is yet another product that has been developed with the interests of children in mind. Not only is the quality of the production high, but the presentation has been segmented into short portions, which are appropriate for the attention spans of the target audience.

The segments are a mix of live action, puppet performances, and animation, which will captivate the interests of young children. Additionally, the rhythmic musical numbers often feature children not only participating in the music making, but also dancing to the beat, which will encourage young viewers to get up and dance along, adding an active, dynamic element to each viewing.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 6

Why Included? Music is a key element in preschool learning, and has been shown to positively affect spatial-temporal skills and language development. This presentation makes musical learning fun, and shows how music can be incorporated into everyday life by people young and old.

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD)

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! ...and more stories by Mo Willems, Scholastic Storybook Treasures, 2010. 0-545-29908-X, Approximately 49 minutes on DVD. $14.95

Annotation: The pigeon, along with Trixie, Knuffle Bunny, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster leap onto the big screen and into living rooms everywhere. 

Summary: This DVD, the first volume of the Mo Willems Cartoon Collection, includes the favorite stories Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Leonardo the Terrible Monster. The video representations of the picture books are true to the originals in both animation style and narrative. 

Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! features the voices of Willems and Jon Scieszka. When the bus driver takes a break and leaves the viewer in charge, the persuasive pigeon will try anything to get behind the wheel. Knuffle Bunny is narrated by Mo Willems and his daughter, Trixie, who tell the story of a trip to the laundromat where something very important gets left behind. Leonardo, once again voiced by Willems, is terrible at being a monster and is unable to frighten anyone. Perhaps if he could find just the right little boy to scare, he could live up to his terrifying potential.

As an added bonus, the DVD also includes an interactive Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!: The You Yell Version, a Spanish language version of Knuffle Bunny, a segment featuring Mo and the Pigeon as they visit a school, and another segment where Mo talks about the stories.

Critical Evaluation: The Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVD series is well-regarded for creating quality video versions of classic and popular children's picture books. The accompanying information on the case insert of this particular title indicates that the presentation "supports cooperation, early reading, and problem solving". One of the features of this series is that it includes both a module where the stories can be viewed with the narrative being read aloud, as well as a module where the text being read appears on the screen with words highlighted as they are being spoken. This can be highly beneficial for emergent readers, as it helps them begin to recognize words and letter patterns.



The Pigeon video segment is participatory by allowing children to interact and respond to the pigeon's sly strategies to drive, which helps combat the passivity of typical television viewing. Knuffle Bunny and Leonardo are both written and drawn with a child's perspective in mind, and anyone who has ever loved a favorite stuffed animal, or ever felt scared of monsters, will identify closely with these stories.

I would also recommend the second volume in this series, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late DVD, which includes more Pigeon, Knuffle Bunny, and Naked Mole Rat fun.

Age or Interest Level: Ages 2 to 7

Awards: Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video

Why Included? Mo Willems is one of my absolute favorite children's authors, and the charm and wit of his picture storybooks carries through into this video production.