LeapFrog: Letter Factory
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Movie Reviews of LeapFrog: Letter Factory
Movie Review: Learning letter sounds in three days!
Summary: 5 Stars
My son just turned three and he has been watching this DVD for three days. He has watched it two or three times a day, and he can already tell me sounds for letters that I've never tried to teach him. The only way he could be learning them is from this magnificent video. My daughter, who already knows the letter sounds, finds those sounds reinforced as she watches the show.
For the real stickler, I can think of two things in this video that adults might not like. First, after Tad (the youngest frog) learns the sound of the letter M, he burps. However, the burp is very small (not a rude belch like so many shows have these days) and Tad says "Excuse me" immediately after. It didn't bother me, but some might find it offensive. The other item concerns the letter W, the sound of which is done to rap music. I personally wish LeapFrog had chosen music other than rap since I don't want my children to develop a taste for that kind of music, but I believe that a small showing of it will be more than balanced by the music we normally listen to. I mention this so people who are thinking of buying this DVD will know about anything to which they might possibly object.
On the plus side, this DVD has many positives besides teaching letter sounds. The frog children, Leap, Lily, and Tad do not bicker with each other, but instead treat each other lovingly while they try to help each other. In addition, they do not back talk to their parents.
Despite the two minor flaws, this gem of a DVD really teaches letter sounds in a loving, happy way, and my kids, age 3 and 5, love it enough to watch it several times a day. And since it's so educational, I love letting them watch it! (I also recommend the related DVD, Talking Words Factory.)
Movie Review: One more 5 star review!
Summary: 5 Stars
My 26 month old son loves watching this, and it really does what it's meant to do. I bought Melissa and Doug magnetic fridge letters at the same time, and he almost immediately began naming letters using the sounds he learned in the video. Every week there are a couple more letters he recognizes. He points to the A and says AAAAH! He takes the J out of his name puzzle and says 'jump, jump!' and makes it jump around. When he sees and S, he hisses like a snake. And every time he sees a circle, he says "o!" It really works! Not that I think a 2 year old needs to be pushed in any way, but my older children were early readers, and I figured I'd try it and see if he was interested. Kids are always eager for new ways to make sense of their world, and what better gift to give them than the keys to reading? This video is a fun, well-crafted way to introduce these foundational concepts. I'm looking forward to using the word factory video in a year or so. And I wish Leap Frog could work this same magic for potty training, but that's a different story :)
As far as the criticism about only upper case letters-- it's true, but you do have to start somewhere, and phonics newbies need to first grasp the letter-sound correspondence before the next steps are relevant. The video does briefly touch on the idea that there are small letters that have the same sound. And in my past experience, small letters are so much part of the child's environment that once they are engaged with their own emerging phonics skills and asking a million questions about the books and other print they see, this problem sorts itself out organically.
Highly recommended for any pre-reading child, two and up.
Movie Review: Finally she is interested
Summary: 5 Stars
My daughter received the Leap Frog Fridge Phonics as a birthday gift last year and had absolutely no interest in it. I thought it was great, but it ended up on the shelf. We also got the Leap Frog Letter Factory little board book at a yard sale that rarely got read (us reading it to her.) Despite these and other toys that are supposed to help little ones learn their letters, my daughter seemed to have little interest in the subject. She could recognize 3 or 4 letters, but otherwise she didn't much care and we didn't push.
That all changed once I got this video! She watched it twice the first time we popped it in. Once I realized that the story in the video matched the story in the book, I got it out and she eagerly followed along, turning the page for each letter. After watching it a few more times within a week she started playing with the Fridge Phonics. The songs match the ones on the video and I hear her singing along, "S says sssss....every letter makes a sound..." Now she points out a letter or at least make the phonetic sound when we are out and about. It is great!
The video itself is pleasant to watch. It is not too "cutesy" and the story is nice. The songs are catchy but not annoying. I was happy to sit down and watch it with my daughter, even if more than once in a day.
I don't know what it is about this video, but our daughter is finally interested in learning her letters. It may still be awhile before she gets them all down, but at least she is finally excited to learn about them. I also love that she is learning the phonetic sounds. All in all I am very happy with this video. Great buy!
Movie Review: 10 STARS!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I almost didn't write this review because there is an overwhelming number of 5 star reviews (which it deserves!) but I'll add to them. I bought this at the recommendation of another mom at Walmart when we were looking at the Leap Frog books for Leap Pad. My daughter is two, but I bought it anyway because we prefer educational videos and there aren't alot for her age. To my surprise she asked for "frogs" quite a bit. One day while giving my second daughter her bottle and reading a NORA ROBERTS novel simultaneously, my two year old walked up, tapped the outside of my book and said "O". My imagination or lucky guess for her, right? I tapped the next letter she said "R". I tapped the "A" and she got it again! Imagine my excitement! "Maddie, what's this one?" And you guessed it, she spelled out R-O-B-E-R-T-S! I had never worked on letters with her prior to this, she learned it entirely on her own, from the video! She was two, I had no idea she would be able to self-learn so successfully. Now we own the LF Word Factory and Math Circus and she enjoys them all very much. She loves the refrigerater set, enjoys playing with the letters while I work in the kitchen. She can almost sing the entire alphabet song on her own. I've taught her to write the easiest letters, O and L and I, and we are working on the rest. These videos are truelly amazing. They are entertaining - she LOVES to watch them - and she still enjoys them at almost age 3. As a bonus - they are not expensive! Cheaper than Barney (who she loves) and Disney.(Bonus for me? My mother-in-law actually went home and bragged about Maddie!)Movie Review: TV really can Teach
Summary: 5 Stars
I want to add my comments to the chorus of other parents who love this DVD.
I purchased this for my 16 month old daughter for Christmas.
When we went to watch it I was initially disappointed. It is poorly animated, and has a pretty lame story line. The characters are predictable and the plot doesn't even make sense at points.
But my daughter loved it.
I know a 16 month old should not be watching television. But we let her watch this almost every day to wind down before nap time.
In about two weeks, our 17 month old new her alphabet.
She could say her alphabet, she could tell you what letters made what sounds.
When we would show friends and family how great she was at her alphabet they were shocked, and filled us with compliments about what awesome parents we must be. Truth be told, be gave all the credit to the movie.
It has a lot of repetition, songs and silliness that appeal to toddlers and work towards a learning goal.
Now my daughter is three. She can read small words and is constantly pointing out letters and their sounds, spelling words just for fun, and writing short words, etc. I think her advanced reading and writing skills at this age are a direct result of her coming to love letters so early.
I am actually online looking at this product to order a new one for our 17 month old son. Our fist copy broke and I want him to have the same love for letters.
I recommend this book to everyone who wants their children to learn letters and sounds.