A riddle for you:

What close companion of Brooke Shields, Amy Poehler, and Jennifer Lopez did I recently have the chance to meet?

Give up?

It’s eebee, from eebee’s adventures!

eebee, the colorful dread-locked puppet created by Every Baby Company, embodies the philosophy that “Every baby learns by doing.” There are toys, gifts, books, and clothing in the eebee’s adventures line, but our family was pleased to be able to review the three DVDs available: All in a Day’s Play!, Figuring Things Out!, and Exploring Real Stuff!.

In my reading about eebee on the internet, I had seen these videos referred to as the anti-Baby Einstein experience. I both agree and disagree with this. First of all, eebee’s adventures are similar to Baby Einstein in that both DVD series are based on observation – meaning, you’re not going to find any characters urging your children to shout commands at the television screen or help them find their lost pony. Your preschooler (or older) children might find eebee engrossing for a short while, but this series (like Baby Einstein) is not meant to get your kids up and dancing and interacting with animations. Rather, most of eebee’s adventures happen quietly, in very everyday settings, with everyday objects. Babies and toddlers will likely be more absorbed by this observation of people who look very much like them, in environments very much like their own.

While eebee’s adventures perhaps does not differ so much from Baby Einstein’s approach, it does seem to differ widely from its intentions. Every Baby Company has moved away from stressing the teaching of facts – colors, letters, numbers, shapes – to babies, and wholly embraced the idea that “Every baby learns by doing.” From the Every Baby Company website:

Babies will instinctively:

* Take initiative and act on their natural curiosity

* Make clear choices among different materials and experiences

* Vary their strategies and try different approaches

* Persist at a goal and stick to a task

* Share their discoveries and seek social interaction

These are the real basic skills of your baby’s first years and these are the hallmarks of great thinkers and achievers. The research is clear that the best way for babies to grow and strengthen these skills—the skills they need to succeed in life—is to play.

Based on this philosophy, the eebee’s adventures DVDs are filled with scenes of eebee playing with blankets, the laundry basket, measuring cups, cheerios, beans, mirrors, water, balls, soft blocks and more, all with an adult companion or another young child. The idea is that the ordinary becomes the extraordinary in eebee’s eyes, and hopefully in you and your child’s eyes, as well. See excerpts from the DVDs on the front page of the eebee website.

What did my own toddler think of the series? He was intrigued! He watched and chuckled and even frowned a little when trying to figure out what the heck eebee was doing amidst the pile of laundry (after all, doesn’t mommy get upset when *I* do that, he must have thought to himself). I will say that two of the three DVD were 75 minutes long, though, and my son was satisfied at about 25 minutes. Which is fine, given the STOP button on the DVD player!

I think I was probably most impressed by the special features on the DVDs, which include fascinating interviews with parenting experts, among them Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Ph.D, co-author of Einstein Never Used Flashcards. As entertaining as eebee’s adventures may be for a baby or toddler, the advice and guidance given to parents presents a valuable wealth of knowledge on child development. This is not a DVD series meant to simply be turned on so you can grab some free time while your little one zones out – it meant to entertain AND inspire both parent and child.

via Full Nest Reviews: eebee’s adventures (DVD), from Every Baby Company {Review & Giveaway, ends 4/20}.