Product Details

• Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: February 6, 2001
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000056IE8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,842 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

childrens vhs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 19 month old Maisy fan happy with this new release, February 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Maisy's ABC [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you currently own other Maisy videos, you'll find this one to be a little different. Instead of 5 mini-episodes, it is one long one. It introduces each alphabet letter, the sound it makes, and then for 5-30 seconds Maisy finds things that begin with that letter, and the word appears on the screen. Many of the scenes are taken from prior shows, like "E" is demonstrated by Eddy Elephant in the egghunt episode. But there are plenty new sequences as well. My only disappointment is that they use all the same old music. And no new songs are introduced like the other videos. Whether it effectively teaches ABC's or not, I'm not sure. I think my daughter is too young to tell, but it's a fine introduction to the alphabet and certainly 3-4 year olds should benefit. All in all, a well done video and a must for die-hard Maisy fans.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for introducing the alphabet!, May 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Maisy's ABC [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We bought this video shortly after my son turned 2, when he had just mastered his numbers up to 12 and was starting to take an interest in letters and had started pointing out a few letters on signs.

He was absolutely riveted to this video! We already owned 2 other Maisy videos, which he also loved, but he asked for this one exclusively for a month until he had mastered the entire alphabet. What a thrill it was for him and for us when 3 or 4 weeks later he could say all the letters in order as they flashed by in the closing credits. Sometimes we hear him practicing his alphabet after we tuck him in for the night. His pronunciation of letters has also improved a lot. He points out letters and spells out the letters in words everywhere we go now--on street signs, on license plates, on trucks, in the grocery store, you name it.

I was worried that once he learned all the letters he would lose interest, but that hasn't been the case. In this video they also teach kids what sound each letter makes and several words that start with that letter. Before long, my son would see an "H" on a sign someplace and would yell "H" then "huh" (the sound of the letter) then he would say a couple of words from the video that start with the H sound--"horse" and "hop." He does this especially with letters that remind him of his favorite segments in the video--we all get a real kick out of him saying "J....jaguar" whenever he sees a J or "S...snake...ssssss" when he sees an S.

When he does this, I try to add on a few extra words that he already knows which start with the same letter but which aren't featured in the video (e.g. "hat" and "head" when he says "H...huh...horse...hop"), and he seems to recognize the similarity in sound.

I have one quibble--I know there aren't many words that start with X, but most of the words they feature for X start with the X SOUND, not the letter X. The narrator will say something like "X is in 'excuse me' too." To their credit, they do show the word on screen with the X highlighted, but the distinction is probably lost on younger viewers.

I think that for my son, this was a case of the right video at the right time. We enjoy the whole Maisy series, and parents will love the fact that the understated music is very pleasant and enhances the tape without ever being annoying.

This one is highly recommended, and for preschoolers working on numbers, Count with Maisy is another good choice.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do N O T buy this video - - trust a teacher, October 24, 2004

By 

Myth Margaret (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maisy's ABC [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I bought this video because my 2 year old adores Maisy, which she sees on "Noggin". However, I had to cringe, horrified when I watched this: the phonics taught in this ABC video are tremendously WRONG. For example, "B" is for "buh". "S" is for "suh" (should be "ssss"). "T' is for "tuh" (should be "ttt").

As a reading specialist, I can't tell how many children have developed problems in decoding due to this type of faulty phonics instruction.

If, for instance, your child tried to phonetically sound out the word, "big" - she would say "buh-ig". Or for "snake": "suh-nake".

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Do NOT buy this video. It is extremely bad pedagogy!

As much as we love Maisy, we are exchanging it for another story.