Customer Reviews

LeapFrog: The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Having taught Kindergarten for 9 years I can say that this video is cute but not as good as previous Leap Frog videos. The Letter Factory is a much better presentation of the letters with emphasis on letter sounds (needed to learn to read) vs. letter names. If you buy only one leap frog video I would recommend the Letter Factory video.

Along with LeapFrog: Numbers Ahoy, "The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park" is the newest release in the LeapFrog DVD series. It features the new design first seen in LeapFrog: Let's Go to School and also introduces a new character, Scout, who LeapFrog fans might be familiar with if they own, or know of LeapFrog My Pal Scout.

Like most LeapFrog releases, this is done well. Scout is a fun addition to the series, though if you were expecting him to talk, forget it. He is Lily and Tad's pet dog through and through and he communicates through barking, yipping and body language. But he is a curious and also mischievous little scamp and adds a lot of entertainment value. The animation is fun to watch, the educational content is strong and the songs are generally fun and catchy.

In this adventure, Tad and Lily find themselves in a bit of a jam when Scout snatches letters from around town and buries them in their yard. They want to return the letters to their owners, but they don't know which is which. Edison, the firefly, offers to take them on the Learning Path to the Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park. But a cotton candy mishap causes Edison to get stuck to a ferris wheel. The rides at the park are all powered down and Lily & Tad must learn to recognize letter shapes, both uppercase and lowercase, in order to power them back up. They also learn about rhyming.

If some of this feels familiar, it is. There was already an extensive alphabet song back in "Let's Go to School," so those that are watching here might rightly wonder why Tad & Lily still can't recognize letters. And while the alphabet song works well in short bits throughout the film, it really drags when they present the entire thing together at the end. Also, Tad & Lily refer to the letters throughout as "big and small," but there is no reference to the proper terminology of "uppercase and lowercase." I know that that may be a bit much for younger children, but I think they should have used those terms at least once, just so that if the kids hear parents or educators using them, they won't be completely unfamiliar with them.

Despite these somewhat minor faults, this is an excellent release and it also comes with some great bonus features. There is a preview for "Numbers Ahoy!" at the end of the film, though if you bought that along with this DVD, then you won't need it. Another really fun bonus feature is "Being a Puppy (The Scout Song)." Not just yipping or barking - this song is both about Scout and performed by him! One really welcome bonus feature (one that would have been great on past DVD releases) is a series of commentaries by Dr. Carolyn Jaynes, the educational consultant for these releases. She explains for parents and educators exactly what concepts are reinforced by the DVD, and how to best use it. Other bonus features include sing-alongs, vowel shorts and trailers. Also, the DVD is fully closed-captioned, something that is very pleasing, since the DVDs before the redesign never had captioning.

I was delighted to find this and other Leap Frog videos available on instant play from **the popular DVD rental/streaming video company** to which we subscribe. My 4.5 yr. old and I watched The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park today and I found the video to be disappointing. As an elementary teacher, I have to say that the original Letter Factory is so much more effective for teaching letters/sounds. The most disappointing part of this video was that it doesn't teach letter sounds at all. It basically teaches two skills: letter recognition and rhyming. On a positive note, I thought the video did a good job of pointing out differences in letters that look similar (such as "i" and "j"). They also effectively presented both uppercase and lowercase letters simultaneously. Overall, this is a decent video for toddlers and younger preschoolers. But, if you're looking to make a purchase, I recommend buying the Letter Factory instead of this one.

I think the first review gives a great summary of this DVD. I think this DVD is aimed at those that are somewhere between 18 months and 3 years of age (or any child that doesn't know their letters). This movie was quite boring for my 3.5 year old that knows all of his letters and their sounds. I thought it would be a fun alphabet refresher for him but it didn't work out that way. It did talk a bit about the concept of rhyming but I'm pretty sure that will go right over the heads of the ones that will actually enjoy this DVD.

I think Leap Frog could have done a better job than this.

I was so excited to buy this at the store when it first came out. We already own "The Letter Factory" and "The Talking Words Factory", but we had never seen this one, "The Amazing Alphabet" before. Oh my gosh, what a disappointment. Please don't waste your money on this one! This definitely goes into the category of "edutainment", meaning that there is too much cartoon and not enough learning. (On a side note, the music from this video sounds a little bit like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".)

I loved that this video really teaches Big and Little letters, as the Letter Factory leapfrog movie doesn't. There was a lot of great repetition, and my 2yr old loves it. The cadence of the singing voice throughout most of the movie is kind of creepy sounding and strange to me. My son doesn't care though, and it's not too weird to watch. He likes the dog and calls out the letters with the narrator/singer. Definitely worth buying, and seems right at a very early alphabet learners level.

My 3 year old loves this movie. She has known her letters for a while but she still really likes the show. I like that it shows her both the Capital (Big) letter and the lowercase (small) letter. In my experience most preschools, daycare's, etc. only teach them the capital letter. I highly recommend this product.

The alphabet has a whole new meaning now! I viewed this with my 3 year old niece and I am well pleased that we made these choices for her. Leap frog learning DVDs offer a new perspective on imparting knowledge and proves that this can be done successfully and in a very fun way.
My niecs will view thse DBDs over and over. We are seeing the fruits now.

My daughter who is four really likes this series, including this episode at the amusement park. The audio can be slightly annoying for me but they are really teaching the children a lot with these videos. It is for young kids but it isn't babyish. I recommend this one for children 3-6, who are just on the verge of reading or who are very beginning readers.

My girls are 2 and 4 and can't get enough of the Leap Frog learning. I have seen a huge increase in their vocabulary and knowledge of letters. Thank you so much!!