Friday, June 18, 2010

Leap Frog Letters

When I heard my granddaughter running around saying the alphabet and each letter's corresponding sound I was really impressed. She is only 3 afterall. My  first daughter told me she learned it all from the Leap Frog Letter Factory video. I promptly went out to buy it and now my 3 yr old and 5 yr old are running around doing the same thing. My 3 yr old also asks me what sound each letter makes and I say it to him. The funny thing is he already knows the answer so I guess he just like to play with me or verify his information. My second daughter tells me these are big sellers where she works and the parents have rave reviews as well. What I like about this video is that by teaching the sounds of the letters it introduces them to the next idea which is reading.

4 comments:

  1. ASA -- I wonder what she thinks of the Leapfrog Game system (kinda like a gameboy/nintendo thing for toddlers/preschoolers)

    I've heard wonderful things from people about this, but I'd like to get advice from someone who's "real" - meaning, who's not full of crap! Know what I mean!?

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  2. Salaams:

    I've lost track of the number of times my son watched the Leap Frog Letter Factory video. It really was a good reinforcement to the letters and words he heard being spoken and read to him everyday. When he knew the alphabet letters we introduced him to the Leap Frog Talking Words Factory (which has the vowels and simple blends e.g. at, it, an words) and Talking Words Factory 2 (which has the ch, th blends etc.). The Leap Frog Storybook Factory shows children how to put words together to make sentences. And there is Leap Frog Math Circus (which introduces addition and subtraction) but it not as well done as the letter and reading videos.

    Okay, so it's clear I like Leap Frog but I as I said at the start, I only used it to reinforce what I was teaching my son. I found the most effective method in preparing my son to read was to read to him everday, while pointing to the words. And we didn't just read books! We read everything from cereal boxes to road signs to magazines etc. Make reading fun and part of your daily life and it will come naturally to a child.

    Sorry for being so lengthy :)

    Ma'salaama

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  3. Wa alaikum salaam

    So you taught your son to read yourself then? I always let the school do it although of course I always read to them and helped them with homework.

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  4. Salaams again:

    I never really taught my child to read. What I did was to always surrounded him with books (even as a baby he had those fabric books and the plastic ones as well). I always talked to him and sang nursery rhymes. Then when he would sit still, I read books to him; always pointing to the words and talking about the pictures. We also learned the sounds of the alphabet letters during all of this by making it part of everday life.

    However, reading aloud every day to him was the key I think to helping recognise words on his own so that he could read easily. For example he knew the sight words this way (I never had a list to teach him). He knows most of the blends now, too. AlhamduLillah.

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