Bicycle Safety Camp

More often than not, when it's video review time at home, my family suddenly has serious business to attend to--assessing the length and visibility of their nose hair, for example--so that I'm usually left to watch tapes all by my lonesome. Believe it or not, this children's instructional tape not only stopped olfactory inspections, but my daughter actually dragged friends off the street to come in and watch. Using a perfect mixture of instruction and entertainment, Bicycle Safety Camp introduces four kids who have all been sent to "camp" to learn the proper way to ride their bikes. Grumbling and moaning, the quartet sit and speculate about their wasted summers (all except for Arthur, the bookworm, who is armed with a fat textbook on bicycles), when they are suddenly interrupted by a streak of motion on the other side of the park. The streak turns out to be instructor Sam Sprocket (played by Jim Pirri), who breakdances and funky chickens his way on over (using speed-up camera work) and then launches into some serious rap instruction on the do's and don'ts of bike safety. The importance of wearing a helmet, the correct way to hand signal, various rules of the road, riding in different environments, and simple cautionary common sense tips are all presented with verve by the magical Sprocket. Kids will love this program--and there's enough corn here (more, actually, than might be found in half a dozen counties in Iowa) for adults to enjoy this tape too. The ending credits, with Pirri doing a hilarious jerk-start walk off the field, are a must see. Highly recommended. (Available from: Super Sitters, Inc. , P.O. Box 218, Mequon, WI 53092.)