I was given the chance, a little while ago, to do a product review on a DVD that jumped out at me the moment I saw it: Baby Goes Pro. My boys and I had some fun once we got it, and they were even kind enough to offer a second DVD that I can give away to someone – learn more about that at the bottom of the review!

About the DVD:
This DVD was the brain child of an Olympic gold medalist and a soccer mom with the purpose of introducing sports to young children. An animated monkey, Emkei, teams up with professional and high level collegiate athletes to introduce some of the basic movements of five sports: tennis, soccer, baseball, golf, and basketball.

My thoughts:
The tag line on the DVD is “Inspiring a generation to move.” What isn’t to love about that? As a mother to two young, active boys, I am very committed to keeping them active in a world that is so full of video games, TV, and sedentary activities. I popped this DVD in and was quickly drawn in by the original music and cartoon Emkei.

The DVD plays through 2 distinct sections for each sport: in the first, Emkei stretches and prepares for each sport in an animated environment. The song – sung by kids – is definitely catchy and age appropriate; it’s one of those simple, upbeat tunes that mothers around the world find themselves humming to themselves when they least expect it! Danny absolutely loved the monkey; any time Emkei was on screen, Danny was glued! The second section shows fairly close up footage of common motions in each sport, like kicking for soccer or shooting for basketball. They are very careful never to show a player’s face, which avoids babies’ attention from getting drawn to the face, but makes some of the actions (like the golf swing) a little difficult to really get across. However, this works to the DVD’s benefit for some activities (like the golf putt) where the ground level view clearly shows what is being done. Of course, Danny loved watching the little golf ball roll toward him and drop into the cup!

Baby Goes Pro is definitely better with parental involvement, which they highly encourage. Inside the DVD case there is a note recommending parents watch with their children, and along with Emkei popping in from time to time, the sports footage has flash cards and words that appear on the screen to prompt parents. This is not a DVD you’d use so you could run and get some chores done; the sports footage has no sound except for some pleasant, age-appropriate music, so in a language-rich environment like my house (where we talk about everything), I spent the time narrating. “Pass. He’s passing the ball. See how he throws it? Pass. Now he’s catching. Catch! Catch the ball! Good catch!”

To reinforce, the DVD also comes with a Flash Cards bonus feature that you can pull up and go through with your child, which I thought was a nice touch.

My recommendation:
For a toddler, I think this is a great find and a good way to spend some time together on rainy days! The concept of wanting to get kids interested in sports at a young age is a fabulous one. The front of the DVD recommends it for children under 4, and I would definitely recommend it for the 1-2 age range; Eric (who turns 4 in a month) and I did get some conversation out of this DVD, but he quickly grew bored during the sports footage and wanted to go do something else. Baby Goes Pro is a great introduction to some pretty common sports, and if there’s one in particular you want to get your child involved in, this DVD along with the “tools of the trade” (a soccer ball, a ball and bat, etc) is a great way to help show them how to get started. The music is fun and age-appropriate, the segments short enough to keep a young child’s attention, and my younger son thought Emkei was the cutest, funniest character ever… He would literally bust out laughing any time Emkei swung on screen and ran away.

The giveaway!
Want one? Well, you’re in luck, because I’ve got one for you! Just leave a comment telling me which of the five sports your child is most interested in, or which you’re most interested in for your child: tennis, golf, soccer, baseball, or basketball! Come back Friday evening – June 25 – to see if you’ve won!

*This DVD was given to me free of charge for the purpose of this review.