Growing up Wild - TOS Review

Growing up Wild is a collection of educational DVDs that takes you deep into the jungles of Indonesia and introduces you the daily life of four brothers from a missionary family. 

They share examples of life in the jungle, local wildlife and introduces you to the Wano tribe and culture. I received two of the DVDs 

Volume 1 which covers

• Home Sweet Hut - you get a glimpse of the Wild brothers house and how the Wano tribe live.
• Supply Trip - all about bulk buying the supplies they can't produce themselves.
• Sun & Water - how they use nature to provide the electricity they need.

and Volume 4 covering

• Amazing World Around Us - takes a look at some of the amazing wildlife. 
• Adventures In Culture - an exploration of the Wano culture including war, hunting and nose piercing.
• Tribal Calling - explores how the Wilds found their calling. 

Each episode is approximatley 15 mins long and for the most part it is narrated by the mother as you watch the boys daily life unfold. Each DVD comes with an additional activity guide (on cd-rom) jam packed with suggested activities to help them explore topics covered in the DVD's. Some additional materials will be needed for a couple of these activities (like clay, sticks, paint etc.) but are usually items you will have around the house. You can view a sample guide to see what you think.

I was so excited when these arrived - we haven't studied Indonesia in detail yet and I thought this would be a fantastic introduction and it is!
But it did so much more that just introduce them to a new culture and a different way of living. It also got them thinking about the important things in life - how family, the Gospel and community are so much more important then objects (Tulip couldn't believe that they only had a lego loft, she's not sure she could cope with just lego but if she could take dolls, lego and colouring then she would be happy to leave the rest behind)

The activity guides were varied and enjoyable. They included reading Scriptures, exploring your surroundings, research, field trips, crafts, worksheets and more. I loved how it incorporated educational elements into real life situations. I think my personal favourite was the girls trying to create their own solar water heaters - it's minus 3 outside but they still tried : )

but they enjoyed the hut building activity the most - which ended up turning into a 3 hour activity building different types of huts.

I loved how the Wilds share the importance of God in their life and the use of scriptural quotes in each episode.

It is aimed at 5-12 year olds, but everyone will enjoy it. Rose joined in (she's just turned 4) and hubby  (30 something) even sat and watched a couple with us - he especially liked the snake episode and it lead to some great tales of his childhood in Nigeria when he apparently had snake for dinner.

Each DVD is available for $18.99 or you can get a 15% discount and buy all 5 for $80.99.

You can see what my crew mates thought over at the TOS Blog

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of the DVD so I could provide an open and honest review.