Book of Mormon Animation Videos

Reading the scriptures can be difficult and confusing for children to understand. I think it's clever that Living Scriptures have come out with a series of dvd's to illustrate and teach children about the important stories in the scriptures.

As the videos are visually appealing to children and youth, they enjoy watching these films and become interested in the stories of the gospel. Parents seem to appreciate these films as they know the messages are uplifting and impart knowledge on there children.

I have watched a few of these movies myself and thought they did a adequate job on retelling the stories while also explaining the important messages and meanings involved.

To include a different perspective , my Professor for my Cognitive Development class felt that children tended to focus on trivial details in these scripture animation movies. He gave an example that in after showing his grandchildren the story of "Nephi and the Brass Plates", he asked them about Laban and the children could only remember that he sneezed. A random detail in the movie that has no importance to the story line. He felt that children became to focused on the visual stimulation and neglected to understand the purpose of the videos.

I found it interesting to include this in my blog. I agree with my Professor to an extent that young children (age being the determining factor) do not have the cognitive processes to combine the visual animation and the messages within the story. I feel that these videos, and videos in general which are targeting for learning, should not replace scripture study (or again any learning in general). I appreciate that the producers of Living Scriptures have stated this point in saying that " Our videos do not replace scripture study- they enhance it." With the combination of video and family scripture study, then I believe children can develop a significant and true understanding of the scriptures.