Reviews of Elmo's World Tapes, DVDs and Videos

Sesame Street's Elmo's World is a show that kids about eighteen (18) months to three (3) or sometimes four (4) years like. Each dvd is about 50 minutes long with most showing 3 segments of Elmo's World. Each show goes through the same elements but based on the different topics:

I'll use the example of a topic: pets - to explain what I mean. In a pets show, some clips of pets running around and doing what pets do would be shown, Elmo would talk about what pets do, kids would show Dorothy (Elmo's goldfish) what they do with their pet, Mr. Noodle would do something silly with a pet, like get pulled around the room by an invisible dog, Elmo would get a video e-mail from another Sesame Street character about his or her pet, a clip of actual kids doing something with a pet would be shown, a little cartoon would be shown about pets, and puppets of pets would talk to Elmo about what their life is like. At the end, Elmo would sing the pet song, which is just the word pet repeated over and over to a tune. All these elements are wrapped together very well, and the fact that each segment is completely predictable works well with kids.

The titles below are for the dvd versions. If you would like to buy vhs video tape versions, click the title, and on the next screen select video from the pull down menu next to the search button.

• The Street We Live On
  The Street We Live on is Sesame Street's 35 year special, 1 hour long, focusing on Elmo and using the Elmo's World format but including most of the cast and several old clips. Highly recommended for preschoolers and toddlers.

• The Great Outdoors
  The Great Outdoors includes wild animals, fish, and weather. The first few times my boy watched this he was scared of the tornado at the end of the weather segment, but it doesn't bother him now. He really likes the wild animal puppets and the entire fish segment. Great video for toddlers.

• Elmo has Two
  Elmo has two hands, ears, and feet. Elmo goes jumps up and down, wiggles his ears, and uses his hands. Especially good for young children who are learning their body parts.

• Birthdays, Games, and More
  Birthdays, games, and pets is better for preschoolers than toddlers. It's still Elmo silly and my boy always really liked the pets segment, but the birthdays and games segments were a little above his head at first.

• Head to Toe with Elmo
  Head to Toe with Elmo is about the lives of jackets, hats, and shoes. I personally found this one to be a little boring, but my toddler likes it, and apparently learned quite a bit from it. We like in a tropical climate, so I have never said the word jacket to him, but one day as I was going through old clothes for donation he saw me hold up a jacket - he grabbed it and said "jacket" - this was at about 20 months old, when new words still made me get all excited. Elmo's World was the only place he could have learned that word.

• Families, Mail, and Bath Time
  Mostly recommended for older toddlers, but Elmo and the cartoons can keep younger kids interested through the rather sophisticated topics of families and mail.

• Elmo's World - Happy Holidays
  We haven't seen this one, but if you check the reviews on the next page you'll see its popular.

• Dancing, Music, and Books
  We haven't seen this one either, but it looks good.

• Elmo's World Springtime Fun
  Springtime Fun is about birds, bugs, and bikes. The bikes segment is a little older, but the birds and the bikes are fun enough for the very youngest kids.

• Flowers, Bananas, and Hair
  Flowers, bananas, and hair is pretty good - my boy started saying banana for the first time after seeing this.

• Wild Wild West
  This dvd is the only specially made Elmo's world that didin't come from the Sesame Street TV shows. It's quite good - one of the first ones my son became interested in.

• Elmo's World - Wake Up with Elmo
  Wake up with Elmo covers sleep, getting dressed, and teeth. Older toddlers will really like this one and may become mroe comfortable with these topics (you know, like getting thier teeth brushed)

• Babies, Dogs, and More
  Babies, Dogs and Life on the Farm (with farm animals) is the best Elmo dvd. This was the first one my son ever saw and he would still watch it all day long if I let him. It is fast paced and fun and covers things kids love.