I'm not a huge fan of television for children, especially the under 5 set. I'd much rather see them playing, pretending, or drawing, then sitting passively in front of the TV. But just as I like my guilty viewing to relax at the end of the day, I understand that my daughter also has days when she could use a little television downtime. And so I limit, but don't deny her, access to shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Dora the Explorer, and Bob the Builder.
I recently received a new product from Disney via a
Technorati review program to try out that will make preschool TV time a more engaged activity:
the Mickey Mote. It's a cute little red remote, in a shape that all Disney-loving children will recognize and instantly be drawn to. The Mickey Mote has four easy to press buttons, each a different shape and color. It works with any Disney Preschool DVD that includes a Discovery Mode.
How the Mickey Mote Works:
At the beginning of the video, you'll have the option of choosing the discovery mode option. The regular video will then begin, and periodically will pause on its own to ask the viewing child an educational question related to the story in progress.
The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Numbers Roundup DVD
was focused on the numbers 1-10, and asked my daughter some number recognition questions. She really enjoyed interacting with the TV and hearing praise whenever she selected the right answer. The buttons were easy to press and encouraged color and shape recognition in addition to the number lesson. My daughter just turned 4 so we selected the beginner level of questions. For older children, or just to keep the experience fresh, an advanced level can also be selected.
The Set-Up Was Easy
I thought the set up of the Mickey Mote would be complicated and was a little nervous about the lack of directions on the box, but once I put the DVD in the DVD player and select set up, the instructions were clear. I simply synced my remote with the Mickey Mote by pressing the up, down, left and right buttons on my traditional remote four times, in the order specified by the DVD. I received confirmation that the button was synced with red flashes on the Mickey Mote. It's important to note that I set this up on our "old" tv/dvd combination unit. I would not have dared to try to sync this with our flat screen TV and its universal remote. I loved that there was nothing to plug in and that the settings on my TV were not affected.
Thumbs Up from my Daughter
My daughter was intrigued by the remote as soon as she saw it in the box, and the experience did not disappoint. The set up took under five minutes, and she loved how in control she was of "her" remote once the show began. She talked about numbers for the rest of the day, and I was really pleased with her retention and enthusiasm about the material.
A Reasonable Price
Our Mickey Mote came with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD as well as a separate
Handy Manny DVD
. The DVD and Mickey Mote combination will have an MSRP of $29.99 when it is released on 11/16, about $10 more than I would spend on a regular DVD, and definitely much cheaper than a new Leapster cartridge. I plan on purchasing additional Disney DVDs with Discovery Mode to use with the remote.
This review is part of the Technorati
dismmdvd campaign.
($22.99 at Amazon) - We started with this hilarious game where the players write down things like an item they've stolen, a gratifying moment, or something you shout. Then one of the players has to guess who wrote what. With a large crowd, the answers are hilarious. We had teenagers playing with adults and were joking about the answers for the rest of the weekend.
Boggle - It's a testament to the power of the iPad that in one year, it became the dominant toy of the family. We had three different iPads floating around, each set to Boggle, four player mode. Weakest player was voted out each round, and the noise of tiles shuffling was the background music of the weekend. The kids were as into it as the adults, and at the end of the weekend, everyone was suffering from Boggle addiction. (Boggle App $0.99 - 3G iPad $800)
- Keeping with the letters theme of the weekend, we played Bananagrams late into the night. Each player takes 21 tiles and assembles them like a crossword in front of them. The first player to use up all their tiles wins. If one letter is too hard to place, you exchange it for 3 tiles. As it got later, the adults got more childish. We made the game harder by mandating that one word be sexual or bathroom related. Turns out you're never too old for the fun of potty talk.
, $11.99 for a 
. They also come in larger, more discounted sets such as a 
for $22.99 
and 
- enough to keep your kids entertained for months. As a bonus, I also have another great kids' show entitled 
- featuring the animated underwater adventures of Olly the submarine.
