When to sit down for Ms Rachel, and when to leave her on

If Ms Rachel goes on so you can start dinner or fold the laundry, that’s a perfectly good use of her. Most of her videos are worth sitting beside your child for when you can, and a few run fine on their own. Here are the ones to save for when you can sit down, and the ones to leave on.

Sit down for her speech videos, the slow ones with her mouth in close-up

In these videos she speaks to the camera one word at a time, with her mouth in close-up so the shape of each sound is plain, and in some she shows baby signs with her hands. The Ms Rachel video Talking Time works through early speech sounds and simple words, and counts toy ducks. Her speech videos Teach Toddler To Talk and Learn To Talk: Help Take Care of Dolls go the same way: Teach Toddler To Talk does first words and simple signs with toy cars, and in Learn To Talk she feeds, bathes and rocks baby dolls while showing the signs for milk, help and all done. Her video Learn Farm Animals belongs with them, putting animal sounds and counting eggs alongside trips to see real farm animals, which she pets gently.

Her mouth in close-up, from the Ms Rachel video Learn To Talk: Help Take Care of Dolls.

A few Ms Rachel videos run fine on their own

The Ms Rachel video Pout-Pout Fish Song sings a picture book through over drawn animation, and she isn’t on screen for it at all; words like glum and scowl come up as the fish’s mood turns. So do Caterpillar Song and ABC Song, which go from one song straight into the next, bright and upbeat, with counting, letter sounds and colors along the way.

How old is too old for Ms Rachel?

Most Ms Rachel videos have stopped fitting by the time your child is six, though they work for babies and preschoolers alike. Her speech videos lean youngest, toward babies and toddlers.

Nothing in these Ms Rachel videos is frightening

There’s no rough play or crude language in them, and nothing in them is selling a toy.