Dinosaur Train: Big, Big, Big DVD Review

Synopsis: 
Hop on the Dinosaur Train and join Buddy the T.Rex and his adoptive family of Pteranodons as they travel around and meet some of the biggest dinosaurs in DINOSAUR TRAIN: BIG, BIG, BIG. Buddy and his Pteranodon siblings embark on new adventures traveling back to the Jurassic Period, riding on the newest Dinosaur Train car – the flatbed, and earning their Junior Conductor hats. Buddy even gets to meet another adopted dinosaur! From the world-renowned Jim Henson Company, PBS KIDS and Paramount Home Entertainment, the DINOSAUR TRAIN: BIG, BIG, BIG DVD includes eight exciting edu-tainment adventures that bring dinosaurs to life and makes science fun. “Dinosaur Train” is an Emmy®-nominated and Parents’ Choice Silver Honor series. “Dinosaur Train” consistently ranks in the top ten shows for kids ages 2 to 5*.

8 Episodes:
Remember the Alamosaurus - The Pteranodon kids and Dad get the idea to travel around on the Dinosaur Train and meet some of the biggest dinosaurs. They even sing a song, `The Biggest Dinosaurs', before meeting Allie Alamosaurus, an enormous, long-necked, plant eating sauropod who is very friendly. Allie explains that her huge, strong legs hardly bend at all, but she can still have fun playing games with the kids, and teaching them some of her favorites!

Heck of a Neck - The Pteranodon kids have a Nature Trackers adventure when they meet Denise Diplodocus, a super-long, super big dinosaur. At first the kids mistake Denise's neck for a snake, and tail as a bridge. Later, Denise amazes the kids, telling them how hard it is for her to raise up her long, heavy neck. Shiny and the others help her raise her neck higher than normal just once, but it feels better for Denise to keep closer to the ground and low-lying trees.

An Apatosaurus Adventure - The Pteranodon kids visit the Jurassic Time Period to meet Apollo Apatosaurus, a huge, long-necked, long-tailed dinosaur who likes adventure. Apollo loves to whip his long tail, and does so as he leads the kids on a pretend adventure to find a hard-to-reach tree with yummy, delicious leaves!

Arnie Rides the Flat Car - Buddy, Tiny, and Mom visit their very large sauropod friend, Arnie Argentinosaurus, and his dad. Arnie has grown bigger since our kids have seen him and is now too big to ride on the Dinosaur Train anymore. Tiny and Buddy arrange with Mr. Conductor for Arnie to be the first big dinosaur to ride on the newest Dinosaur Train car - the flatbed car!

Ned the Quadruped - Buddy and Tiny tour the Dinosaur Train and earn their Junior Conductor hats while their friend Ned, a four-legged, long-necked Brachiosaurus and regular Train rider, tags along.

One Big Dinosaur - Tiny and Buddy visit a dinosaur family called Argentinosaurus, some of the biggest land creatures ever! The kids find out there are great things about being really big, and that it's also great being their own size.

Dinosaur Poop - Buddy and Tiny learn that all creatures poop, even really big dinosaurs.

All Kinds of Families - When Buddy expresses his feelings about being adopted to Tiny and Mrs. Pteranodon, they tell him that he will always be a part of the Pteranodon family. Mom takes Buddy and Tiny to meet another adopted dinosaur kid named Sonny Sauroposeidon, a huge tall creature, now a part of tiny Mikey Microraptor's family. Buddy and Sonny bond over being adopted and knowing that they are both in adoptive families that are different species but still love and appreciate them.

My Thoughts:
I was thrilled to get this Dinosaur Train DVD in the mail, as it is the most requested series in the house. They do enjoy the other PBS Kids programs, but Dinosaur Train is by far their favorite. With the weather starting to cool, the kids are spending less time outside. It's nice to have dvds like this to pop in, to keep them entertained for awhile. Not only being entertained, but learning something at the same time. Each episode is a standalone episode, so they can be watched in any order. They can also be watched in multiple sittings. Which is always a great feature, that you have to "continue" to the next episode. It just doesn't automatically start. So the adult is always in control, until someone gets a little to smart for their own good! LOL Kids are starting to pick-up on the little things, like how to work the remote. Next thing you know, it will be working the computer.

The overall favorite episode of this set was "Arnie Rides the Flat Car". In the episode the Pteranodons visit their old friend Arnie Argentinosaurus who got a little too big to ride the train. So Tiny and Buddy found a solution to this issue by getting him on ride on the new flatbed car. See? It's all about working together, helping others and being a family.

Once we were done watching the episodes, we decided to check out the extras. It is packed with interactive games, coloring pages to print, activities, and information for the parents.

So what are you waiting for? Go ahead and pick-up your copy at the PBS Shop or Amazon.com. It's worth every penny, since your not only providing both boys and girls with quality entertainment, they are also learning some valuable tools at the same time.

*Please note that I received a copy of the DVD so I could give my fair and honest opinion. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way.*