It's Hip Hop Baby! - DVD Review

Hip Hop for babies? I know, I know. Sounds a bit out of the ordinary. But this DVD just goes to show you shouldn't judge a DVD by its title. Believe me, It's Hip Hop Baby will get your small kids moving and grooving to a boppin' beat.

The award-winning It's Hip Hop Baby DVDs help children learn through music and movement. Candi Carter, a mom, came up with the idea out of necessity. Her young son had speech delay issues and she discovered that she could best communicate with him through song, singing him melodies and rhymes to a hip hop beat. A true "Mom-Prenuer," she quickly realized that other kids could benefit from her music and developed the energetic It's Hip Hop Baby products.

Thanks to a twitter moms opportunity, we had the chance to try out the iParenting media award winning DVD, It's Hip Hop Baby!: All Your Child's Favorites. The DVD is professionally produced with families in mind and features multicultural kids dancing and singing songs about the alphabet, colors, numbers and animal sounds. Focusing on learning and having fun the musical DVD helps kids hone early learning skills and also teaches them to follow directions. It includes some familiar songs as well as a few new tunes:

Hip Hop Simon Says • Animal Fun • Numbers • If You're Happy and You Know It • Hip Hop Alphabet • Colors • Hip Hop Simon Says (#2) • Hey Fun! • Head Shoulders Knees and Toes • Animal Fun (#2)

Clips of children talking and participating in various activities are interspersed between the songs.

Baby, my kids really loved hip hopping to the beat! The DVD kept both my preschooler and my one-year-old's attention the whole way through. I don't think either of them sat down while watching the high energy songs. The It's Hip Hop Baby website states that the video is geared toward ages 2 to 6. I think toddlers would most benefit from watching and interacting with It's Hip Hop Baby!: All Your Child's Favorites. Even my one-year-old caught on really well to some of the songs, especially Animal Fun. He made the cow and duck animal sounds right along with the kids on the TV. So cute!!

In March 2009, It's Hip Hop Baby released three additional educational DVDs: Get Healthy, Get Fit, Things We Do Everyday, and Rockin' Dance Party!, and a music CD (Fruit!). The full product line is available in stores now.

Related Links:
Motion PR Interview with It's Hip Hop Baby creator Candi Carter
Follow on Twitter: @itshiphopbaby