LeapFrog: Letter Factory
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Movie Reviews of LeapFrog: Letter Factory
Movie Review: Wuh-Wuh-WOW!!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have two little boys, age 4 1/2 and 18 months, who have been recieving Leapfrog toys from my mother-in-law since they were infants, and they always seem to be the toys that get the most play time. So when my husband saw the "Letter Factory" and "Word Factory" DVD's and suggested that maybe Santa should bring them to us for Christmas, I figured they might be worth trying. I was totally unprepared for the effect these DVD's have had, and continue to have on my sons, especially the 4 year old. We have been trying here and there over the last year to get him interested in the alphabet, but he was always too busy with other things to really get into it. We stuck this DVD into the player on Christmas day and have played it at least once a day since, and both of my boys are glued for the entire 30 minutes every time it is on.Here is the reason I am so impressed, and therefore writing this review: My four year old walked up to me just now, looked at my shirt and informed me of every letter printed on it, AND what the letter sounds like, AND a list of words that start with the letter mentioned, without difficulty. There were 15 different letters.
WOW.
This is all a result of the Word Factory and Letter Factory DVD's, and we have had them for less than a month.
The creators behind this DVD set are brilliant to say the least. They somehow seem to know just what goes on inside preschoolers heads. The characters and songs are cute without being "cutesy" and they somehow manage to repeat each letter or word and its sound several times without being redundant. The main adult character, Professor Quigley, teaches the three siblings, Leap, Lily and Tad, by helping them complete a project. The kids learn by working alongside the professor, as opposed to being talked down to or simply lectured to. And because of that they feel like they are really accomplishing something. All of this is done in such a subtle way that I had to sit down and watch it all the way through to figure out exactly why it is so effective. Simply put, when my 4 year old watches this, he sees that the kids are the ones accomplishing the goal and reaping the benefits and not just watching the grown-ups do everything fun and exciting. Once again, whoever created these DVD's knows how to get (and keep) the attention of preschoolers, which is a pretty tough thing to do.
Obviously, my 18 month old is too young to grasp the structure and objective of these DVD's, but he is just as entranced with them as my oldest, which says alot for a toddler just begining to speak is first coherent words. I am looking forward to seeing how quickly he starts putting the concepts together the way my 4 year old has.
My only dissapointment with these DVD's is that they didn't come out a year ago! Way to go, Leapfrog!!! I hope to see more educational DVD's in the near future.
Movie Review: Best DVD for Phonics
Summary: 5 Stars
I have a 3 year old son. he was good with his alphabet recognition and names since a very long time and i was wanting him to learn phonics and then eventually start reading, as he is crazily attracted to books.
I had a concern that he very picky about what interests him and i certainly did not want phonics to be something he does'nt like learning. So it was important for me to make acorrect choice of DVD which entertains him thorougly while making him learn.
Leap frog letter factory gave him the perfect first introduction to phonics. It clicked with him so well that he wants to watch it over and over again. To my surprise he has already started sounding letters specilly the ones he like.
Tedd and prof uigley actually visit the various letter rooms to learn the sounds. In these rooms the letters (from letter factory)are learning their own sounds. During each room visit, the letter sound is taught, prof quigley gives a few words starting from that sound, he also writes the letter on a slate (this helps children know how the letter is written and helps when they eventually learn writing), also the catchy jingle after every letter. The letters and sounds are repeated after every 4 new letters are taught. while in particular letter room, many words starting with that particular letter are deliberately used to give children a discreet sense of what the letter sounds like.
The best part about this DVD is that they have made the most perfect pronunciation / sounds of letters, along with associting them with mnay real life situations, where you hear those sounds. hence it becomes very easy for the child to associate the sound with something, rather than learning it as a stand sound of the letter. vowels which are particularly dificult to remember (soundwise) even for adults have been so beautifully sounded in the dvd, associating them with different things.
for example the sound of a (as pronounced in apple) is taught as a response when someone scares you. It is funny for children to see tedd getting scared with the 'ae' sound and they instantly register it.
similarly the sound of O is taught through a jungle theme, tarzan sound.
Children can easily differentiate between sounds through these associations.
To begin with you might find the DVD going fast from one letter to another but I think the sped is perfect for children, as if too much time is invetsed on each letter, children may loose interest. After watching it a few times you will find the speed appropriate.
It is for me the bets way to teach phonics at home.
Movie Review: Fantastic DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
My son was diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified when he was 3. PDD-NOS is on the Autism spectrum, and children with this diagnosis often have developmental delays.
My son had a speech delay and other developmental delays. His speech is great now...no one can detect that he has this diagnosis. However, the delays have, understandably, affected his learning in some areas.
While his spatial skills have been way above average--as has his grasp of science (such as planets and their attributes)--he has resisted reading. He gets tired and frustrated.
Well, trying many approaches for helping him, I thought I'd take a chance and get Letter Factory from Amazon.com, especially since the reviews were so good.
I am so THRILLED that I did! I thought for SURE he'd suspect that I was "getting him to learn" (make no mistake, PDD-NOS doesn't mean a low IQ!), but surprisingly, he's been watching Letter Factory on a consistent basis for WEEKS now! I'll even hear him singing the catchy songs to himself as he goes about his business.
In the DVD, Tad (Leap's younger brother) joins Professor Quigley to all the different rooms where new letters learn their sounds. For example, when they enter the A room, there's a silly purpose monster that scares the little A's into saying "ahhhh!" In the K room, the little K's are practicing their karate kicks as they learn how to make the "kay" sound.
What's especially great about the Letter Factory is that it combines the visuals of the letters with the sound that the letter makes in a very catchy tune. For example, as the F's are flying, they sing "the F says 'eff', the F says 'eff'...every letter makes a sound, the F says 'eff'". This method helps both audio and visual learners to grasp the sounds...not to mention those that are more musically inclined.
I see my son applying what he's learned (very quickly, I might add!) to books. He'll now pick up books from the library ON HIS OWN, and attempt to sound out the words. Combined with the DVD's Talking Words Factory I and Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory, I KNOW The Letter Factory has contributed to his progress in a BIG way.
Highly recommended!
Movie Review: Wonderful Learning Tool
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this video for my 3 year old daughter who is beginning to learn her letters. I was not sure what to expect when I bought it, but I was confident on the quality of Leap Frog products in general. This video is no exception. The cartoon features a story which takes the younger of the Frog kids, Tad, through the Letter Factory training rooms where he learns all the sounds the letters make. Each letter is afforded about a minute of time, which does not seem like much, but with repetition (my daughter asks to see this video several times every day since I purchased it) the children remember more and more of the letters and sounds. The video is 35 minutes long. The story is interesting to children and uses a combination of songs and visual prompts to help the kids learn and remember the letters and their sounds. My daughter was singing along with this video the first time she saw it. While I don't think this video is enough to teach children their letters, I do think that as part of a learning program it is a wonderful learning tool. I use the video, then bring out my daughter's My First Leap Pad (I Know My ABC's) for her to use, I help her write the letters on her Magna Doodle, set up art activites for her with the letters, read her ABC books, cut out textured sand paper letters for her to play with, etc. The only things I found missing in this video are that they only give the short vowel sounds and that they don't talk enough about lower case letters. However it is only a 35 minute video, and I can teach her those other concepts myself. I also thought they went through the letters a bit fast for kids having trouble with basic letter recognition, but again, it is a short video and parents can always use other techniques to help their children with letter recognition (plus repetitive viewing of the video can help). Overall, the video serves its purpose very well. I highly recommend this DVD. It's interesting enough to hold the children's attention and it teaches useful concepts in a fun way. I am definitely purchasing the next Leap Frog video (Word Factory) once she learns her letters a little better, so she can start to learn the concept of how letters come together to make words. Learning happens one step at a time.Movie Review: My 2 1/2 year old learn all the letter sounds after watching this DVD 4 times!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very impressive DVD!
Since my son had just learned his uppercase letters and had such excitement at picking them out on signs etc. I thought learning the sounds they make would be fun for him.
Since he picked up so many words from Blue's clues, which I highly recommend for 2 and under, he seemed to learn from dvds and I thought this would be a nice upgrade.
Well, in 2 weeks, he only watched this DVD 4 times total, and not even completely each time.
So I wasn't expecting much and was really shocked he had learned all the letter sounds, except for I (i), which he confused with the sound for Y (yi). The I came about 2 weeks later.
In fact, he comes up to us to 'quiz' him, and says 'The A says..' then he chirps 'Aaah!'. And will stand there and wait for us to go thru the whole alphabet!
He is so proud of himself, like he cracked some big code, which I guess, he did!
Its been very empowering for him! :D
At the grocery store, he's on the lookout now for letters and then he says the sound it makes, so its made what used to be a boring trip for him, really entertaining. Thank you for that Leapfrog. ;)
My only (minor) disappointment with the DVD is that I expect each Letter to have a different song, and while each one has a different clever 'story' on how they make their sound, the song they sing at the end of learning each letter is the same. The B says... the B says... every letter makes a sound, the B says... And so on.
I thought each letter having its own song would be more distinctive and easier to learn for toddlers, but this is minor as it didn't slow my son down one bit!
This is the most valuable dvd in our collection, my toddler asked for it often. Now that he's mastered it, I'm buying the next one in the series... we are moving onto words!