June 2012 New Specialty Toys — Videos & DVDs

Luis Perez, educator, ceramist, and musician gives a brief history of Pre-Columbian musical instruments – wind and percussion, and shows the materials used in a demonstration of clay whistle construction. He explains the basic principles of sound and how symmetry and asymmetry is applied to the making of finger holes for sound production. He makes an acoustic chamber, creates an aperture for sound, the mouth piece, and the finger holes. He produces the sounds of a clay whistle using various types of finished whistles. Many examples are shown. Grades 6-12. DVD, 23 minutes.

Peggy Flores sets up several still lifes using a variety of subjects, and shows how to display them for the best perspective. She also cuts out templates of various shapes to show how students could compose a still life on a piece of paper. She draws the still lifes in pencil or outlines the paper cutouts and colors them with watercolor, tempera, markers, and colored pencils. Many finished examples are shown. DVD, 18 minutes.

Brainetics teaches how to MASTER all the vitally important learning SKILLS (focus, concentration, problem solving, thinking outside the box, organizational, increased mental capacity and memory) that are rarely taught in schools and people lack throughout their lives. Brainetics TRAINS two different parts of the MIND to work simultaneously yet independently of each other. One part memorizes information while another part is sorting and processing new information. The mind will begin to work much more efficiently and be more powerful giving Brainetics kids a huge advantage throughout their academic lives and beyond. Brainetics can either be learned alone, or entire families can learn together. Package includes 5 DVDs, Parents Manual, Playbook with practices and exercises, flash cards, and playing cards.
Awards: Parents Choice Gold Award; Dr. Toy's Best Classic Toys 2012.