Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73040 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-07
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Digital Sound, Dolby, DVD, Original recording remastered, Surround Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 50 minutes

Amazon.com
The simple joys of hammering, sawing, and making productive messes will take on new importance for so-inclined youngsters who view Little Mammoth's The Big Renovation. In under an hour they will witness each step of turning a modest, one-level cottage into an updated, two-level family home. Child narrators explain the process in simple terms, enhancing a wealth of informative sound bites from the architect, contractor, plumber, electrician, and other construction team members needed to complete the job. Along the way, viewers learn fascinating tidbits about where lumber comes from, how tiles are made, and how bees and termites can invade the woodwork. But unlike most of the other Little Mammoth productions, including The Big Zoo and The Big Aquarium, The Big Renovation may appeal more to grownups than to kids. --Liane Thomas

Customer Reviews

Good visuals and narration... interesting
My 3 1/2 year old really loves this video. I have several littlemammoth videos (the publisher). They are well written, use children as narrators, and are very educational. The tape discusses the entire process of rebuilding a smaller home and modernizing it. It's begun with an architect drawing the plans, the demolition of the portions of the home that will no longer remain. Later aspects of framing, sheetrocking, following up by the architect and finish work. Damaged wood due to termites is discussed as well as an interesting visit to a university for a look at how termites follow smells. I have a deep respect for littlemammoth videos as they don't get "silly" and maintain children's attention throughout the movie. I refrained from a top rating primarily because of the ~5 minutes of advertisements in the beginning of the tape.

A Family Learning Adventure
Fans of "home improvement" shows will appreciate the educational aspects of this captivating DVD from the Little Mammoth BIG Adventure series. This particular adventure utilizes more diagrams than some of the other DVD's in the Little Mammoth series.

Follow a house renovation project for a family of 4 from start to finish in this great adventure. You first meet the architect who will propose plans to the homeowners and there is a discussion of the blue prints. Once the plans are chosen, meet the contractor who will estimate the cost of materials and determine what crews will be needed.

Once the house is emptied, the demolition crew arrives to turn the small 1-story house into a more spacious 2-story house. The demolition crew discovers an abandoned bee hive in between the walls which prompts one of the child narrators to ask about other insects. You take a brief but interesting "side-trip" to the Entomology Dept. at the Univ. of Ga to learn about termites.

In this video you will learn about:

* Framing the house & Roofing
* Plumbing
* Electrician's work
* HVAC with diagram showing how a Forced Air System works
* Pouring concrete
* Installing bathtub, shower, tiles
* Flooring, built-in shelving & cabinetry installation
* Sheetrock/ drywall process
* Painting process
* and more!

A great thrill in this DVD for my 6 year old son was a "side-trip" to a lumber mill where you see a large log truck & crane working as well as the lumber cutting process. One other interesting "side-trip" is to a tile making plant.

This video is so jam-packed with information and depicts so many different jobs that children will want to review this DVD time and again.