Brain Food Learning: Fascinating World of Birds DVD {A Review}

BrainFood Learning  sent us The Fascinating World of Birds ($14.99) DVD from their collection.

  

Let me start by saying that Jo-Jo loves birds. In fact, for her most recent birthday we went on a bird hike at a local nature center. We are always on the lookout for birds and nests. So when the opportunity came for us to review this DVD, she was really excited.

About the DVD
Appropriate for all ages, the DVD has a 44 minute running time and gives an introduction to birds and then delves into different kinds of birds. The movie discusses similarities in birds. It provides definitions to vocabulary used. The important new words that are described appear on the screen. The DVD explains birds by reporting on the characteristics of different birds. Some of the information about each bird includes: food, nests, egg laying behaviors, baby care, unique characteristics, and flying/flight pattern.

The DVD includes some birds we've studied: 

• robin
• eagle
• Canadian geese
• humming birds
• owls 

And some birds that we have not studied yet:

• ostrich
• penguin
• woodpecker
• macaw
• pelican

Here's a sample from the video: 

In the features section, there are review questions in a four part review: Review your birds, features of a bird, review bird facts (multiple choice), and review the big words (multiple choice).  

Jo-Jo got them all right. She really knows her birds.

BrainFood Learning provides free lessons for their Fascinating World of... series. There are lesson plans for all 3 in the series. Click the link to go directly to the Birds lesson plan. 

How we used it
We watched the video in its entirety on a day that my 14 year old niece was over for a visit. We all piled on the couch and learned about birds. So there was Little Man up to me watching the video. He enjoyed watching the DVD and stuck around for the duration. During the movie Little Man says, "They're goslings. They're so cute."

What the kids liked

Jo-Jo says, "I love birds. The whole thing was great."

Ceesa's favorite part was learning about the macaws.

Little Man's favorite birds were the penguins.

What they learned
Jo-Jo says she learned that ostriches are the fastest birds on land. Ceesa says that ostriches have stones in their gizzards. They both were interested in putting information down in their nature notebooks without my prompting and just the other day, Ceesa was telling someone about how the woodpecker's brain is protected when it hammers into a tree.

What I liked
I liked that the DVD was interesting to my children. It held their attention and when I needed to pause it to get to the phone, they were anxious to start it up again.

The types of birds covered seemed well balanced. All of the birds were familiar in that we knew of them. Some were birds of our backyard or that we've seen on nature walks, while others were birds from distant parts of the world.

Recommendation
We'd recommend this video to anyone interested in learning more about birds. If you've spent time studying birds, or not, you'll find some interesting facts.

Wishing you homeschool blessings,

 

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