Leapfrog: Letter Factory

I have a 3 year old son. he was good with his alphabet recognition and names since a very long time and i was wanting him to learn phonics and then eventually start reading, as he is crazily attracted to books. I had a concern that he very picky about what interests him and i certainly did not want phonics to be something he does'nt like learning. So it was important for me to make acorrect choice of DVD which entertains him thorougly while making him learn. Leap frog letter factory gave him the perfect first introduction to phonics. It clicked with him so well that he wants to watch it over and over again. To my surprise he has already started sounding letters specilly the ones he like. Tedd and prof uigley actually visit the various letter rooms to learn the sounds. In these rooms the letters (from letter factory)are learning their own sounds. During each room visit, the letter sound is taught, prof quigley gives a few words starting from that sound, he also writes the letter on a slate (this helps children know how the letter is written and helps when they eventually learn writing), also the catchy jingle after every letter. The letters and sounds are repeated after every 4 new letters are taught. while in particular letter room, many words starting with that particular letter are deliberately used to give children a discreet sense of what the letter sounds like. The best part about this DVD is that they have made the most perfect pronunciation / sounds of letters, along with associting them with mnay real life situations, where you hear those sounds. hence it becomes very easy for the child to associate the sound with something, rather than learning it as a stand sound of the letter. vowels which are particularly dificult to remember (soundwise) even for adults have been so beautifully sounded in the dvd, associating them with different things. for example the sound of a (as pronounced in apple) is taught as a response when someone scares you. It is funny for children to see tedd getting scared with the 'ae' sound and they instantly register it. similarly the sound of O is taught through a jungle theme, tarzan sound. Children can easily differentiate between sounds through these associations. To begin with you might find the DVD going fast from one letter to another but I think the sped is perfect for children, as if too much time is invetsed on each letter, children may loose interest. After watching it a few times you will find the speed appropriate. It is for me the bets way to teach phonics at home.

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.

I had heard great things about this DVD, but I was skeptical of some of the glowing reviews. Still, I figured it was worth a try. After my three and four-year-old watched it the first time, they begged to watch it again. For several days, they immersed themselves in it. That has subsided, but this DVD is still a favorite in our house, and even if they never watched it again, I would still say we got our money's worth because of how much they were able to learn from it. By the second day of watching it, they knew every letter sound on the DVD! Now, when we go places, they will point to signs, identify, the letters, and I will start singing the song that goes with every letter in this DVD (to the tune of the Farmer in the Dell), "The A says...," they will say, "Ahhh," and then we are on our way to sounding out a word. It is absolutely amazing! I like to think I have particularly bright kids, but they have never been identified as child prodigies or anything, just typical kids with a love of learning. We are a homeschooling family and use it to supplement Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which I also recommend, although that book is not as fun as the Letter Factory DVD for them, and I think it would have taken them a lot longer to grasp phonics if we had not supplemented with the DVD. Even if your child is not yet in school or attends a preschool outside of the home, I still highly recommend this DVD. It is both entertaining (for its intended audience, anyway...even for parents, it's not so bad you'll be wanting to stab your ears with Q-tips to make the singing go away like with some children's programming) and educational. My only regret is that we did not get it sooner.

My cousin recommended this, and I liked the snippet of it I saw at her house so I ordered it that week. It's fantastic. My son is two and watches it first thing most mornings. He is glued to the action from start to finish and although he's a late talker, I'm hearing many more letter noises in his babbling. He's shown much more interest in pointing at individual printed letters as well. There's a nice balance between talking and singing - I think too much of either would lose his interest - and it also shows very clearly how each letter is drawn. Entertaining and educational.

This dvd is incredible. My 3 1/2 year old daughter loves it and can't have enough of it! She watches it on repeat at least 4 times a day and my 22 month old daughter copies and says the sounds of most of the alphabest! The only downside of this that it is only available in region 1 code so you must have a multi-coded player and it being american I have "arguments" with my daughter on the pronunciation of the "Z" and "letter" pronounced as "ledder"! Never mind! Little details like these can be ironed out in no time! Will recommend it to any one!

This DVD is the right thing to buy for your kids.It's good and makes learning very simple and fun. My 3 year old daughter now knows the sounds the letters make, and she's trying to read words too.

From the age of 6 months my child has watched this DVD loads of times. He didn't watch it as much from the age of 18 months to 28 months but knows the alphabet perfectly. He can look at any letter and tell you what it is and read a few certain words. This DVD certainly helped him on his way with learning the alphabet. I would recommend it to anyone with a young child.

Great video and really cute. My 5 year old has a slight speech delay and therefore was slowing him down trying to do the sounds of letters trying to spell. He loves this video and signs the song to it. When we're spelling or reading, I just have to make the sound like they do in the video and he gets the letter right away. My 2 year old also loves it and will sign along too. This was recommended to me by another parent and I would recommend it as well, and for the price - why not!