Baby Mozart is a wonderful video designed for children aged 1-36 months. The vivid colors, interesting and bright toys, and colorful scenes are all set to the music of Mozart. This video is beautifully choreographed, with video sequences that nicely interpret the music. It is based on research that listening to musical works like Mozart actually stimulates brain development, especially in the area of spatial intelligence which affects mathematical and engineering ability.
But Baby Mozart is not only stimulating on an auditory level — it is also a visual feast for young children. The combination of both visual and auditory stimuli is powerful. I feel that it can help enhance creativity — children watch as the actions of various toys and objects seem to express the ups and downs of the music being played.
The visuals consist of bright toys, hand puppets, flickering star candles, common foods, mobiles, and even a metronome with an interesting shape attached to it. Everything flows together seamlessly, with a video version of page-turning. The audio is crisp and clear and the sound effects are delightful. That this video was developed by an informed stay-at-home mom is evident in the care taken to choose the most visually appealing objects.
Because there are no words in Baby Mozart, it is easy for parents to name objects, colors, and identify concepts whenever they wish. The audio component consists mostly of carefully chosen music of Mozart, but also contains natural sound effects as well as whimsical ones with just the right exaggeration and drama that children in the targeted age group will undoubtedly love.
Most parents have heard of The Mozart Effect or about the many studies of how music affects the brain. The works of Mozart specifically have been shown to improve spatial reasoning in young children. Other studies have shown that confidence and leadership abilities are also enhanced by exposure to music.
Although all 3 videos in the Baby Einstein series are delightful, Baby Mozart is a personal favorite. Never have I seen my 2 year old daughter so animated over a video before. She was dancing and spinning along with the music, identifying names of objects, and laughing at some of the silly sound effects. Unlike the usual vacant look that seems to go hand in hand with most videos for children of this age, Baby Mozart seems to have a stimulating effect. Our one year old "tester" clapped and clearly enjoyed the video.
This is the second video title coming from the Baby Einstein Company, a company clearly devoted to producing lovely developmental videos based on current research on early brain development and stimulation. The first title, Baby Einstein, is similar in design with one of the exceptions being the audio component features mothers speaking and singing in 7 different languages, in addition to some music and natural sound effects. Baby Bach, the third title from the company, is most similar to Baby Mozart because it features a mostly musical soundtrack.
There also exists an audio CD and cassette based on the Baby Mozart video. We are using this CD as gently stimulating background music when my kids are playing quietly or doing art work. Babies and toddlers familiar with the Baby Mozart video may enjoy hearing the music from their favorite video played without the visuals from time to time — I would venture a guess that this could be a powerful way to enhance memory in young children.
Please see our reviews of Baby Einstein and Baby Bach.
