Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever Review
Preschool Educational Video Teaching Kids to Count to 20
May 8, 2009
In this low-key counting video, Lily Bunny makes her day a Counting Day by searching for familiar objects around Busytown to help her count from 1 to 20. From watching Lily count each group of objects, preschoolers will learn the numerals 1 to 20 and learn to count to ten and twenty themselves.
Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever! Plot
The plot of celebrating a Counting Day pulls together what would otherwise just be a series of rote counting exercises. As each story in the Random House series of Richard Scarry educational videos does, this show begins with an establishing shot of Busytown and then focuses on the character to be featured this time, which in this case is Lily Bunny. She is demonstrating for her parents how she can use her counting book to count to ten. Her father suggests that she make today a counting day, a day when you count all the things you see.
For the rest of this educational DVD, Lily Bunny travels around Busytown, from farms in the country to playgrounds and parks in the town, finding groups of objects of each number to count. Once she passes the number 10, she decides she needs Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm's help to count to 20. Together, the three friends find groups of objects up to 19, but Lily cannot count to twenty until she discovers there are twenty carrots served at dinner. A funny running gag has Mr Frumble, Busytown's most trouble-prone pig, chasing after his hat through the foreground and background of various scenes.
Richard Scarry DVD Teaching Kids to Count
This educational video reinforces number recognition and counting skills in several ways. Lily's counting book at the beginning of the story introduces kids to the idea that each written numeral corresponds to a certain number of objects by showing dots on one page and the matching numeral on the other. As the story progresses and Lily finds objects to count, preschool viewers look at each group of objects while hearing Lily count them. Then the matching numeral is shown for a few seconds.
Lily and the children watching practice different kinds of counting skills for each number. Sometimes they count a group of stationary objects, like two hands. Other times, they count moving objects passing by, like children sliding down a slide. Beginning addition concepts are also introduced when Mr. Frumble's runaway hat blows into a group of 6 flying hats, increasing the number of hats in the air to 7.
At the end of the story, the preschool viewers and Lily review what they have just learned about counting. Lily sings a reprise of the counting song she has been singing all day, summarizing which objects she counted for each number 1 to 20.
Richard Scarry Video Adapted from Richard Scarry Books
The meat of the story in this educational preschool video comes from the classic children's book Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever [bilingual reprint edition, Luna Rising Editors, 2004]. The original male character Willy Bunny has switched genders to become a female lead, but the plot of a young rabbit enjoying a Counting Day is the same. Though the animation on this educational counting DVD is often of poor quality, the character design itself matches the way the characters look in the original Richard Scarry books.
The specific events and objects counted are often different or at least changed slightly, but Richard Scarry's particular brand of humor is present in both the book and this educational DVD. Whatever the medium, children will be entertained by trademark Richard Scarry slapstick situations like poor Mr. Frumble slipping on rolling apples or Farmer Cat tripping and throwing watermelons through the air.
Parents can use Richard Scarry's Best Counting Book Ever to extend learning after children have watched and mastered the concepts taught in this preschool counting video. In the book, the characters learn how to count all the way to one hundred.
Learn to Count with Richard Scarry Videos and DVDs
Running only 30 minutes, this educational DVD may not be long enough to justify for some families the cost of paying for an out-of-print VHS tape or DVD copy. Parents should definitely check this counting DVD out from the library or rent it, however. Its gentle pace and sweet plot make this educational preschool video about counting a nice alternative to more frenetic modern children's educational programs.
Families with toddlers that respond well to this Richard Scarry DVD will also enjoy Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever! and Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Ever!, as well as the animated television series The Busy World of Richard Scarry.
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