Customer Reviews

Leapfrog Learning DVDs 5-Pack (Talking Words Factory / Talking Words Factory II / Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory / Letter Factory /Math Circus)

5 star:		(156)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have to admit, I am the type of homeschool mother who reads reviews before purchasing what I use in training my children. Most of the reviews I read on the Leap Frog Learning DVD'S were positive and BOY were they ever right!! I have a 5 year old (almost 6) daughter who STRUGGLED learning alpha letters and sounds. She had her favorite letters, but I had to sit with her and go over and over and over the others....this was completely frustrating to her and I. That is until we received Leap Frog Learning DVD's 5 pack. These dvd's are educationally and musically stimulating. My daughter learned all of the alphabet sounds in less than a week, FOR REAL! She has taken to singing the songs and sounding out the letters so much that she is driving her brother crazy. She sounds her letters to sleep. She writes the alphabet on everything, upper and lower case. She tells us what a period, exclamation point and a comma is. And of course sings like mad! She has starting reading and LOVES it. This is by far the best money ever spent on teaching materials ~

Every morning when my 28 month old daughter wakes up she says "I want to watch the green frogs". She has learned all her beginning phonics and she sings the "sounds" song from "The Letter Factory" DVD everywhere. We even sing it in the grocery store to keep her "engaged" in something constructive. She also has learned how to read simple words ("The Talking Words Factor" and "Code Word Caper") and now she is very interested in learning to read. She asks me to spell different words all the time. She even knows how to spell her first name "Melody" and even her last name. The "Math Circus" DVD is fabulous too. I only wish that it focused on counting past ten, too. Now we count as we do errands in the car and we sing "The Numbers Song". These DVDs really have jump-started her interest in learning to read and to count.

I recommended these DVDs to my nephew who did not have as much interest in learning his numbers or letters and now he is on his way to reading, too.

These are fabulous.
Update: January 2008. My daughter is now three. She just had her third birthday and she requested a "green frog" birthday. She enjoys watching the Leapfrog DVDs so much. She is continuing to learn both math and reading. She now sounds out almost every word she sees, including words on cereal boxes and road signs, not to mention words in her books. She tells her 16 month old brother to "sound it out" when they are playing and they are looking at books or anything with words. Amazingly, my son only knows how to speak a little over a handful of words, but at 16 months, he knows over 50% of his phonics as I quiz him on the alphabet. So,I continue to highly recommend this set of learning DVDs.

My husband and I are very particular about screening material before it comes in contact with my children. Luckily, the Leap Frog and Leap Pad products excel above the rest. With having a very intellectual 4 year old, you realize that even some of the products you would think you could trust, you can't. A lot of companies have tried to add an "adult edge" to movies and programs to try and get the parents more involved. We have even been upset with some of the programming on "kid friendly" broadcasting stations (like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel - have you seen the way they portray kids talking back and being smart mouths to their parents and friends like there's nothing wrong with it?). Fortunately with Leap Frog you can't go wrong. These videos speak to the kids at their level, without talking to them like they're babies. They manage to do it in a way that the kids want to learn and have fun doing so. After only seeing "The Letter Factory" video a few times, my daughter sounds out every word, tries spelling it, and is having a much easier time with writing too. We also have the Junior Explorer Globe, Pretend and Learn Cash Register, Fridge Phonics, etc. Leap Frog has definitely developed a fabulouse series of learning tools that I recommend to all parents.

I just received this in the mail today and watched the video with my son twice. When we reviewed our alphabet flashcards after watching the video and played the game, he did much better at recognizing the letters than he had just hours before. Now he is happily watching the Math Circus DVD. I highly recommend this set.

We LOVE the letter factory and the second word factory movie. The letter factory does a GREAT job teaching the sounds, and Capital letter recognition. They don't focus much on the lowercase letters and now I am trying to teach my daughter lowercase letters on my own with flash cards. But I'm okay with that, I think the most important thing is that she can recognize the letter in some form and say it's sound. I was amazed at how quickly she started to pick up on them.

The second talking words factory teaches some of the rule to reading like silent E, When 2 vowels go walking the first one does the talking, and blends like Sh. Each rule has a song that I think is helpful for remembering the rule. It also has a short song about the vowels.
but the other 3 movies I didn't like. I think they focused too much on the plot and trying to be exciting, resulting in missing the mark on actually teaching children the content of the movie. I especially did not like the number movie and the first talking words movie. I found the storybook factory a bit anoying, but I could see it being usefull when my daughter is ready to do more advanced reading.

My advice would be to buy the letter factory and the talking words factory II, then forget the other movies. There has got to be some better options on the market for those ones.

The Letter Factory video was particulary good. This was the tool that I needed to get my 3 year old son interested in learning the alphabet. Before this video he was only interested in the letters in his first name. Now, in less than one month he knows all of the letters A-Z and the sounds that they make. He can tell me the letters in signs that he sees on stores, etc. Before the video we had tried reading, alphabet blocks, puzzles, songs, and many other techniques to no avail. He is very verbal, so I knew he had the capability...this video created the interest and now I am thrilled!

The Math Circus is ok. It does seem a bit short, but it is a good review for my 5 year old.

The Word Factory and Story Factory are also great. They are more of an introductory level, and it is hard for me to judge them since my daughter reads at almost a second grade level, so they are just a fun review for her, but great exposure for my 3 year old.

For children learning to read this package is outstanding. I was hesitant that the video about letters would be too simple for my 5 year old...but with the sounds and songs associated with each letter it is great. All the videos build upon one another so as a package it is wonderful. From learning letters for younger kids to learning to put complex words together for more advanced it is a great package to add to your library.

My son is 6 and is a stuggling reader. Last year, a friend had given us the Leap Frog Letter Factory...and he loved it. He and I both walked around the house singing the letter learning songs!When he continued having trouble after learning his letter sounds, I purchased this pack.
This pack includes the letter factory ..but has fantastic higher level videos that helps understand how words have silent letters and blending the words together for smooth reading. This was the best money I have spent in a long time!It truly explained reading in ways I couldn't.

My two, three, and five year olds love this box set. We had letter factory for a couple years. They watched it all the time. I felt it was time to take it to the next level and this set did the trick. My five year old is reading and my three year old is learning to read. I highly recommend this set to everyone! Even my two year old, who is a late talker, says the alphabet and sounds. This is a great tool and well worth the investment! Great for the car... instead of movies! Your kids will love learning because these DVD's make learning fun!!

I believe this is the best product Leap Frog has put out. My kids love it and have learned a lot from it. My son's kindergarten teacher uses these same videos in her class.