Sound Safari (Children's Video Series)

Youth Services librarians are constantly on the lookout for new and exciting programming ideas. In the era of COVID-19, much virtual content has been created. Here's our two cents.

MPL Sound Safari Video Playlist

by Mooresville (Indiana) Public Library

Sound Safari is a video series devoted to exploring sounds from the world (and maybe beyond). It is recommended for ALL AGES, but especially for preschoolers and early elementary school age viewers and their caregivers.

Each Sound Safari episode includes video clips with accompanying audio tracks that match visual and auditory aspects of various types of sounds. Often, the video clips are mute (or their soundtracks are poorly rendered), so separate audio tracks must be inserted. The library obtains nearly all of its audio and video clips free-of-charge from Freesound.org and Pexels.com. These usually require a source attribution in the video credits.

It can sometimes be challenging to find and download free audio-visual files that fit a particular theme. This requires some creativity in designing video content. For example, in Sound Safari #13, "Air Sounds," having been unable to locate a suitable free video clip of a semi-tractor trailer truck's air horn, we decided upon a video clip of kids blowing into party favors, which we could match to a separate audio file of the sound party favors make (the video had no soundtrack).

The advantage of a video series such as Sound Safari is that the content may be uploaded to a social media site, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, which may then be watched at the viewer's convenience. Digital content also has the potential to reach a much larger audience than most library in-person programs.

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