FAMILY : ‘Rainy Day’ Video Offers Ideas for Do-It-Yourself Fun

Sometimes kids just need a little creative push to get them out of their couch-potato mode. “Things to Do on a Rainy Day (Or Any Day),” a new activity home video designed to be turned off, can help. Rain is not a prerequisite for this 40-minute, do-it-yourself entertainment guide encouraging the use of inexpensive materials, found items and imagination.

The video, featuring three appealing children and host Roger Rose, contains six activity categories, color-coded for easy searches: “No Bored Games,” “Let’s Put On a Show,” “Cooking Fun,” “Creative Crafts,” “Tricks & Secrets” and “All About Me.”

A sampling: Junior chefs learn to make peanut butter, ice cream and “Ants on a Log.” Artsy types can make fingerprint paintings, macaroni jewelry and a “living” mural. Budding writers are encouraged to put together a family tree and correspond with pen pals, the President or their representative in Congress (addresses are supplied).

Tongue twisters, jokes and games that require nothing but an imagination round out the show. Segments requiring an observant adult on hand--in the kitchen, for example--are marked with an “adult supervision” logo. The video targets ages 4 to 11, although viewers 6 and up will probably get the most out of it.

* “Things to Do on a Rainy Day (Or Any Day),” Lightyear Entertainment, $7.98; (800) 229-7867.

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Bringing Up Baby: Parents can share some quality time with infants and toddlers while watching “BabyVision,” an unusual, 44-minute home video designed, with child developmental tenets in mind, for quiet visual and auditory stimulation.

Divided into short, relaxing baby-friendly segments, this quality video features soothing original music, bright colors, computer animated shapes and leisurely close-ups of everyday objects, plants and animals. Since babies respond to faces, the nicest touch of all is the interweaving of close-ups of children and parent and grandparent types, talking directly to the infant viewer in gently upbeat, affectionate and playful tones.

Five percent of the profits for the sale of the videos are donated to the Guild for Infant Survival for SIDS research.

* “BabyVision,” Mother-Daughter Enterprises, $19.95; (800) 982-2297.