Product Review

Hap Palmer is among the handful of kids' performers who can sing straight-faced and with an almost peculiar sincerity about such things as shaking beanbags and scooting around the playground pretending to be a mouse. Most preschoolers are perceptive enough to pick up on this strange, satisfying display of grown-up earnestness and enthusiasm, and that's why they're apt to be instant fans of Baby Songs: Play Along Songs, even if they don't count themselves among Palmer's existing swell of followers. This video corrals nine original numbers, all invitations to get moving with the kids in each live-action scene. For instance, the first track, "Just Fun," follows a diverse lineup of boy- and girl-next-door types, all under the age of 10, who act out different ideas about what constitutes a good time--some jump, some turn and spin, some roll around. Beyond the many suggestions to shake, hop, wiggle, and stomp, a couple of these songs plant ideas that may take hold once the half-hour kiddie groove-a-thon is complete. "Weekly Rap" assigns a different activity to each day (Wednesday is stretch and bend day, Monday reach and run day), making the oft-confused seven more memorable if not more sensible. And "Homemade Band," in which a band of future musicians display their ingenuity by concocting instruments out of empty oatmeal boxes and such, is likely to inspire young maestros to march to the beat of their own drums (or pots and pans) once the VCR is off and dinner is being readied. --Tammy La Gorce