Ruby’s Studio: The Feelings Show (Review)

I recently received Ruby’s Studio: The Feelings Show DVD from The Mother Company to do a honest review. 

To give you a little insight, this 45 minute DVD’s goal is to “help preschool-aged children learn to recognize, express and move through their feelings.” They’ll  “join Ruby on a fun, magical journey through art projects, animation, original songs and hilariously insightful interviews with real kids.” (The Mother Company) You can see the  show trailer at the end of the post.

The DVD is available through Amazon, courtesy of The Mother Company for $19.99, but is on sale until the end of December for $14.99.  

So, here is my honest opinion of the DVD

Plus(es):

• Educational – I love the fact that it teaches about feelings, how people look based on how they are feeling and strategies to handle those feelings.
• High Production Value – They spared no expense with their set design, which is set in an Art Studio and the animation and puppetry segments are all very well produced. 

• Variety of Styles – The DVD episode included a variety of segments- animation, videos, songs, puppets, interviews with kids, etc.  Switching it up helps keep the kiddos attention, especially with a longer video.

• Keeps Child’s Interest – My son LOVED the episode! He is already using new feeling words that he picked up from watching the show, like frustrated.

Wish(es):

• Shorter episodes – The length of DVD is 45 minutes and I personally prefer my son only sitting in front of the TV for 30 minutes or less in one sitting.
• Focus on just 1 emotion at a time. This episode talked about several feelings- mad, happy, sad, frustrated, etc. For a 3 year old, I think it would be better to break it down to focus in on just one emotion per episode, so they don’t have information overload.  This would also allow them to get more in depth with each feeling.
• A Better Host (Ruby) – In this episode, I felt like Ruby was kind of flat.  I know the goal was to have her grounded, but I wish she was a little more animated.  It seemed like she was just rattling off her lines with very little emotion connected to them.

Overall, this DVD does meet its goal by teaching kids about feelings and it is a quality show that my son enjoys watching.  If you’d like to learn more about it you can visit The Mother Company.

* All images taken from The Mother Company.