Customer Reviews

Leap Frog - Talking Words Factory 2 - Code Word Caper [VHS]

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The other reviews are right. If you like the Talking Words Factory, you should like this follow-on video.

In this episode, children are taught about long vowel sounds, 'silent E", blended letters (such as sh and th), as well as blended vowels (the old when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking).

In addition, children are shown how vowels are forced to say their names when E's are added to their ends. Fat becomes long-A fate, for example.

Worth the money, for sure. [Certainly my 2.5 year-old would not know his letters and their sounds without these videos.]

You DO learn something new every day, and this DVD will give you a few days worth.

While visiting the Complex Words Complex with their Dad and the Professor, Leap, Lily and Tad accidentally cause Mr. Websley to lose his voice in the Silent E Machine, and have to solve a word puzzle to get it back for him.

This DVD teaches three lessons in an easy and fun way that will have kids singing along and actually enjoying an educational program.

First of all, we learn about the silent E, visually depicted by a semi-transparent letter E with band-aids across its mouth. Next, we learn about the sounds CH, SH and TH, and finally, how to pronounce words where two vowels come together.

Of course, given the complexities of the English language, these simple rules don’t work in all cases, but your kids will easily grasp the basic concepts.

My one problem is in the opening sequence, where it sounds as if the Professor is incorrectly singing “the O says Aaaaah”, but that may be a case of either a strange accent or a bad audio transfer, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

It certainly opened my eyes to a few learning tools, and I would recommend it to the parent or guardian of any child between 2 and 6 years old.


Amanda Richards, May 1, 2006

My son has every Leapfrog DVD and they're all *excellent*. Code Word Caper is no different, showing children long vowel sounds, how the silent "e" changes a word, vowel blends, etc.

This DVD explains how that although there are 26 letters in the alphabet, there are far more sounds than just 26.

Through an engaging caper at the Complex Word Complex, Tad, Leap and Lily learn about A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y. At the Silent E Machine, it's explained that the silent "e" makes the first vowel say it's "name". For example, cap and cape, pet and Pete, hid and hide, hope and hope, cut and cute, dim and dime, not and note. There's a fun song reinforcing this principle with lots of examples.

Then, at the Ch-Sh-Th Sound Machine, the youngsters are shown how to make blends and how they sound, e.g., chin, chat, ship, shop, thin, and think. Using another fun song, children are shown how consonant combos form blends: "First you take a letter C then you add a letter H--put them both together and a whole new sound you make."

Lastly, Code Word Capers demonstrates "vowel teams"...when two vowels are "stuck" together. For example, oa, ea, and ie. An excellent song (whose lyrics were once on either Sesame Street or the Electric Company...I remember it as a kid!) says "When 2 vowels go walking, the first one does the talking". So the first vowel says its name in a vowel team. E.g. team, tail, leap, pay, pie, goat, boat, bee, and see.

My son really enjoys this DVD and it wasn't long before he was singing the songs around the house! Code Word Caper has helped him read consonant blends, vowel teams, and words with the silent 'e'...the results are very noticeable.

I highly recommend this DVD for children who have mastered short vowel sounds and 3-letter words and are ready to move on to more advanced Phonics.

We have had this video for two days and the kids have already memorized the songs. Leapfrog is a great company encorporating fun with learning. I recommend watching the first two videos first if your child is still learning their letters and letter sounds.
There is now a total of 3 videos on letters and phonics. You must get all three. The songs are catchy and it makes the concepts lots of fun. Both my three and half and five year old love to watch them over and over again, but most importantly, they have really absorbed the concepts.
I highly recommend these educational videos. Leapfrog has truly done it again.

Let me begin by saying that I have all the old Leap Frog DVD's. I didn't purchase this for myself, since I figured that the same title meant the same video. I did purchase these for friends with preschool age children. As an early childhood and later an elementary school teacher, I have taught many children how to read. I have also seen many different videos, books, and other materials meant to aid children in the process that learning to read is. I have to admit that this video series is simply one of the best phonics learning aids I have encountered in all my years teaching. I recommend these to parents all the time. These videos are the very best products ever produced by LeapFrog, and that is saying something since many of their toys are good. The videos are 30 minutes long and targest basic phonics skills that children must master in order to learn how to read. The running time for these movies is perfect considering the attention span of the children it targets. The songs used are catchy, and the story lines are fun for most kids. The crowning jewels of the series are the first three phonics videos.

The Letter Factory teaches children the names and sounds of all the letters in the alphabet. The vowels are only given their short sounds at this point, but that is ok for this level of learning.

The Talking Words Factory teaches children how to put letters and their sounds together to make simple words, mostly with the consonant-vowel-consonant pattern and a few consonant blends.

The Word Caper movie goes on to introduce silent E, long vowel sounds, and vowel-vowel combinations.

The Math Circus video from this series is also good for children learning their numbers and basic addition/subtraction.

Are these videos enough to teach a child to read? No. Will they help a child learn concepts faster and easier? Yes. Is it a good resource for parents who want to help their children have a head start in their reading instruction or who want to help their children who are struggling with basic phonics? Definitely.

Learning phonics skills early and well is essential for pre-school and school age children. When a child struggles it must be addressed immediately, otherwise reading gets harder each grade level and students fall further behind until catching up is almost impossible. These videos help to set a good foundation for children. Watching the movies with their children and asking them questions based on the videos can also help parents know what their child should be learning and if they are struggling with these skills.

This video series is highly recommended.

PS REMEMBER - Look at the title of the movies before purchasing. This is the re-release of the older video series (You don't mess with a great thing!) If you have the older DVD's in good working order, then you don't need these titles. LeapFrog has released some newer videos which you might be interested in. None are better than these originals though and they do not target the same skills.

I have never felt strong enough to actually take the time to write a review. I am a certified k-6 teacher who has told everyone I know about Leap Frog's 4 amazing movie and now I am telling you...
LF Letter Factory: This was the first (out of 4) Leap Frog Movie that my children watched. My 3 1/2 year old and 2 years 2 month old boys are allowed to watch 1 movie a day. Each Day they agreed, in excitement, to watched this movie. Under a week my 3 1/2 year old knew his letter sounds. He could sing the letter sound song almost as fast as he could sing the alphabet. After a week, he amazed us when he sat down on the ground and wrote out the entire alphabet like a 4th grader. Had NO idea he could write like this! Shortly thereafter, the 2 year old knew all his letter sounds and letter recognition.

Talking Words Factory: I was so impressed that I bought them the Talking Words Factory that 2nd week. I wasn't surprised that my 3 1/2 year old began to spell, writing, and sounding out 3 letter words. He told me all about how the vowels were all sticky and their job was to stick letters together to make words. He went around singing the vowel song.

My kids loved the videos so much that for 10 months...My son's (who used to play with Thomas the Trains and puppies) were obsessed with letters and words. They made their own letter and word factory machines out of their toys and tubs, drew each letter cartoon character, and sang the letter and vowel songs, and the older one wrote, yes wrote, many of his own homemade books.

Talking Word Factory 2: It doesn't stop there...They got the Talking Word Factory 2 and Math Circus when they came out this Christmas. In a couple of days, the now 4 year old, was telling me all about sh, ch, th, and other blends. He told me how the silent e at the end of the word made the other vowel say its name (long vowel sound). He went on to tell me also how "when 2 vowels go walking the first one does the talking." And he wrote and read new complex words such as, boat, home, dime, wait, etc. This really increased his ability to read many, many new words - 8 letter words too!

Math Circus: They loved it too! Though it is fast moving for beginners, it is entertaining and has an easy concept. Adding and subtracting now comes pretty easy for my 4 year old. I gave him a math work sheet for addition and subtraction just for kicks. Wouldn't you know it, he did all of them with no problem. He was so interested in adding that he started asking about problems such as 3 + 3 + 3. Which helped him learn the concept of multiplication 3 x 3, 3 x 4, etc. But, we told him that he had plenty of time to learn that later!

The only negative comments that I have to say about these Leap Frog videos: Nothing, Oh, except that I wish my children weren't so obsessed with letters! They eat, breath, and sleep letters. Sometimes I just wish they would play with the trains, cars, and other toys. They will have their entire school life to learn about letters and reading! I just hope that when the time comes for school that they won't have grown board of it!

Other Leap Frog learning tools that reinforce what they learned on the videos:

LF Fridge Phonics Magnets - Love it. It sings each letters song when you put the letter in the hole.

LF Word Whammer Fridge Phonics Set - LF just came out with this. I know that they will love. I bought it for the next birthday! It is like the Fridge Phonics, but you can spell 3 letter words.

LF Letter Factory Board Game - Love it too! It is interactive and the board game talks and sings!

LF Sing Along Letters Flash Cards & CD - Songs from the DVDs. Not that you don't hear the songs sang enough from your children!
Wish they would make computer CD's too!

LF Leap Pad - Fun but they got board with the same books over & over. $14 a book!

There are many others, but I had to draw the line somewhere!

If you check all the other reviews, I am not alone. Only two out of 121 people gave this movie less than 5 stars! It is about time someone made a movie that parents and children both agree on! Thank you Leap Frog!

My 4 and 5 year olds LOVE this video. They watch it all the time. We had our kindergarten conferenaces and my children reference this video. The teacher was surprised by what they knew. i.e. the "Slient e". The teacher said "that video was well worth your money" and is buying the video for her class!!!

We own all of the DVD's in the leapfrog collection and this one, just like all of the others are a hit with my daughter. She is 3 years old and as we are walking around in the stores, I hear her singing the songs of the leap frog dvd's. "It's a whole new sound".

And these are videos that I don't mind her watching all of the time. They are educationally sound and in a way where it's easily absorbed by the children. People are amazed that my daughter not only knows all of her alphabet, but can sound out and spell simple words at 3 years old. Even though I would like to take all of the credit for what she has learned, I have to tell any and everyone who asks that it's the leapfrog movies that do most of the teaching.

This movie, incorporated with the Letter Factory Game and the Word Whammer fridge toy, did it for me. I would recommend this and all of the other leapfrog products to anyone.

We own four DVDs in this series: Math Circus, Code Word Caper, The Letter Factory, and the Talking Words Factory. We bought them when our boys were ages five and three. We've had them for about a year now, and the boys still enjoy them. We get a lot more use out of them than the Leap Pads, which our kids never really got into. Our younger boy is in speech therapy, and seeing these DVDs has improved his articulation of letters. I love that he requests to watch these. I will hear him sounding out each letter along with the Frog, and know he's developing skills. Our older son has picked up on how to build words and spell with this series. It explains how phonics work, and in a simple-to-understand way. We found all of the DVDs in this series exceptionally educational, and see tangible results from the children watching them. I can't say that about any other toy we own.

Okay - we own a LOT of Leap Frog products. We've liked the educational value of all their toys, and they've proven to be quite durable as well.
We own the first two Leap Frog DVD's (Letter Factory and Word Factory), and we were excited to see new DVD's come out for it. Our 3-year old (almost 4) has loved the first two DVD's, so I thought she would like these new ones too.
I went out this morning and bought them at a local store, and she wanted to watch them right away. We're now on our second viewing of the movie, and she's already starting to sing and dance along with the Frog family.
I really like how the content is explained to the kids, and I know our daughter isn't watching some "brain numbing" show on TV.
Bravo Leap Frog!!! Keep up the great work! I would highly recommend these DVD's to anyone!