Super Simple Songs: Animals DVD {A Product Review}

Hi peeps!

A few months ago, my now 18 month old discovered Youtube. It started with her watching animal clips with her daddy (dolphins swimming, penguins waddling, dogs riding on horses, etc). If she saw a phone, she immediately asked “Youtube?” One day, my mom found a song called “Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream?” and Halle Jane fell in love! They apparently listened to it over and over, because when I picked her up that afternoon, my then 15 month old asked me “Mom, do you like Broccoli? Yes I do!” My mom showed me the song, and I was so excited. I knew it would be perfect for using in therapy.

Super Simple Learning

Super Simple Learning was created by teachers. They use new and classic songs as excellent learning tools for teaching basic concepts and expanding vocabulary. Their website includes free flashcards, coloring pages, worksheets, games, and crafts that go along with their songs. They also have great tips for including music and dance into your classrooms. They describe their songs like this: “We focused on creating songs that were appropriately paced, lyrically simple, easily taught through gesture, and most importantly, FUN!”

For the past 6 months, I’ve been working with a 5 year old boy with Autism. He has excellent imitation skills, but not much spontaneous language. We have been working for months on him being able to  provide an answer to a question without just repeating the question back. Despite verbal, visual, and tactile cues, he continued to have a very difficult time grasping the concept. He LOVES music, though, so after I discovered Super Simple Songs, I played “Do You Like Broccoli Ice Cream” for him. This particular song shows different types of foods and asks “Do you like ____” and followed with “Yes I do” or “No I don’t.” After two therapy sessions of singing this song, he was answering yes/no questions with “Yes I do,” or “No I don’t.” I so wish I could show you the video of him doing this…it’s priceless!

Animals:

Super Simple Learning recently released a new DVD called “Animals.” It consists of 12 animal-related songs. Since I’m loving using these songs in therapy every day, I was thrilled with the opportunity to review their new DVD! Disclaimer: Super Simple Learning provided me with a copy of the DVD to review; however, the following opinions are all mine.

Just a few quick notes on each of the songs:

Good Morning, Mr. Rooster: A cute song that is great for getting the day started!
Let’s Go To The Zoo: A great song for teaching zoo animals and their corresponding movements!
Walking in the Jungle: Another cute song for teaching about animals, listening to animal sounds, making inferences, counting 1-3, and different ways to move (stomp, jump, skip). This is my little girl’s favorite song on the DVD. You can see her jumping to this song in the picture below:

Mommy Note: This is the ONLY time I’ve ever known her to be still for 30 minutes at a time!

My Teddy Bear: A sweet song about a teddy bear and his eyes, nose, ears, arms, legs, etc.
I Have A Pet: A fun song about different pets and their animal sounds!
Yes, I Can: This is one of my favorites! It shows all different kinds of animals and talks about what they can and cannot do. I love that it teaches children to answer questions in complete sentences (Yes I can, No I can’t), as well as movements that certain animals make!
Mary Had a Kangaroo: A cute continuation of Mary Had a Little Lamb! In addition to a lamb, Mary has a giraffe, a kangaroo, and more!
The Animals On The Farm: Sung to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus,” this song goes through farm animals and the sounds they make. It gets faster and faster, which is so fun for the kiddos!
What Do You Hear?: Another one of Halle Jane’s favorites! I love that it teaches children to stop and listen to the animal sounds! It also shows real animals, and repeats the animal names over and over, which is great for retention for the children! You can see Halle Jane “touching” the dog below!

Wag Your Tail: This is another one of my favorites! It’s an adorable song that has the children mimic the movements that the animals are doing. Plus, it teaches the concepts of “fast” and “slow”, and the children practice while doing the animal movements!
After A While, Crocodile: This is a short, simple, super-cute “goodbye” song perfect for ending therapy or an activity. I LOVE this song, especially for my patients that have difficulty transitioning. They know that when the song is over, so is the activity, and tantrums have become less and less! Below, you can see Halle Jane waving bye-bye to the crocodile!

The DVD is 31 minutes long, but each song is just a few minutes each. I love how simple and cute they are, which is perfect for my language-impaired students. Even if your child has average language development, the songs are excellent for teaching new concepts and vocabulary.

Click below on the Amazon Affiliate link to snag a copy of the Super Simple Songs Animals DVD for yourself!

Super Simple Learning was nice enough to offer an additional DVD for one lucky reader. Be sure to enter in the Rafflecopter giveaway below for your chance to win!