I am a firm believer that healthy habits should start when your child is very young. Unfortunately it’s not always easy to explain to a little ones about the importance of health. Let’s face it, parents are not nearly as entertaining as some of the shows that children watch on TV.
Growing up I think I learned A LOT from watching shows like Sesame Street, Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers (yes, I’m showing my age). I think its because the characters were fun and easy to relate to and often there were fun songs that accompanied what the shows were trying to teach you. Often I would sing songs long after the episode was over. Sometimes those catchy tunes would stick in my head all day.
I suspect that I would have done a lot better in Math if my Math teacher dressed up like a monkey and danced around the classroom singing songs about how to multiply by 8 and dividing fractions. Ha Ha.
When a child is truly engaged in something it tends to “stick” in their minds better then just lecturing them. That is why so many shows on TV like Sesame Street, Barney, Dora and Author do so well. My daughter used to use Spanish words when she was little because she learned them from Dora.
Teaching children healthy habits is made easier with a group of loveable characters called The Organ Wise Guys. This adorable gang of organs that are found in your body teach kids important healthy habits.
The Organ Wise cast of characters include:
- Sir Rebrum (brain)
- Madame Muscle (muscle)
- Pepto (stomach)
- The Kidney Brothers (kidneys)
- Windy (lungs)
- Hardy Heart (heart)
- Calci M. Bone (bone)
- Peri Stoclic (intestines)
- Luigi Liver (liver)
- Peter Pancreas (pancreas)
Now before you get all grossed out trying to imagine an intestine or stomach singing and dancing (ewwww) you must know that these characters are adorable. They are shaped like the actual organ but that is where the similarities stop. Some how I don’t think actual intestines would be cute.
The Organ Wise Guys offers various ways to educate children on important topics such as washing your hands, eating breakfast, exercise, drinking plenty of water and a variety of other health topics. The characters educate children using a variety of methods including music Cd’s, videos, workbooks and reading book. They even have character plush toys! Somewhere in our home right now are the Kidney Brothers and Sir Rebrum. I have no clue where the kids put them.
I had meant to post this much earlier but sadly that glitch I had where I lost a huge (important!) chunk of my spread sheets delayed me posting this.
I received the Back-to-School kit from the Organ Wise Guys collection which included a Sir Rebrum plush, Skippin’ Breakfast Blues DVD, a music CD called Keeping the Beat, a book called School Days - Here We Come! and a really cool calendar called the Good Health Calendar.
The DVD is super cute. Some of the characters are trying to put on a play but they just can’t seem to function well. One feels listless, another one’s head feels cloudy and Pepto (stomach) keeps making funny sounds. Calic (bones) is determined to get to the bottom of it. Sir Rebrum figures out that its because they all skipped breakfast. Calic then orders all the characters to take a healthy breakfast break. After they all eat a nutritious breakfast the characters are more energetic and more prepared for the play.
This DVD is only about 15 minutes long. Its a really cute story and it features some catchy tunes like B-B-B-Breakfast and Don’t Skip Breakfast. I should warn you – they really are catchy! Before you know it you’ll be singing right along with them. Both songs are also included in the music CD Keepin’ the Beat.
The music CD features 16 songs, each running about a minute and a half up to around 3 minutes.
Sometimes “kiddie” music can be rather obnoxious to parent’s ears and drive us batty have to listen to it over and over again. I didn’t find the Organ Wise Guys music this way at all. In fact I find it rather entertaining and dare I say enjoyable. Some of the super cute tunes include Wash Your Hands, Low Down Kidney Blues (yes! a Blues song!), Muscle (reminds me of a Disney song from Mary Poppins) and The Buddy Song.
The Back-to-School set came with a cute book called School Days – Here We Come! Hardy Heart is nervous about his first day of school, that is until he realizes that all his friends are in the same class with him. The book goes on to mention each Organ Wise character, their function and where they are located in the body. This is an easy reader so even an early reader will be able to read this book.
My favorite part of the Back-t0-School kit is the monthly calendar called the Good Healthy Calendar. This monthly tracker helps children develop healthy habits over the course of a year, each month featuring a specific habit. Hopefully by the end of the month your child would have mastered that habit so that they can move on to the next one.
The calendar is not dated so you can start it any time of the year.
Each month features a bright, colorful image of a Organ Wise Guys character (or characters) doing a healthy activity. My favorite is January with Sir Rebrum having a snowball fight with a snowman. January is all about getting at least 10 minutes of activity/exercise in six times per day (one hour in total). All children should be active and/or exercise at least one hour a day, every day.
May is Calci’s month. In May the healthy habit is to eat or drink at least 3 calcium rich products every day and get some sunshine outside (sunshine helps with Vitamin D).
August features Peri Stolic (intestines). This month children need to eat at least six high fiber foods each day.
Each day within the calendar shows the healthy habit a child is learning about and allows a child to circle each habit as its completed. I could easily see parents rewarding children at the end of each week or month with a HEALTHY reward for doing so good.
The Organ Wise Guys offers so much more educational materials for both home and classroom use. You can learn more about them and check out the great educational products they offer on their official website, www.OrganWiseGuys.com.
With the holiday season coming up the Organ Wise Guys DVDs, Cd’s, plush and activity books would make a great gift idea.
Kimberly
*I received product samples for free in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
