LeapFrog Talking Words Factory Provides Excellent Introduction to Reading

Professor Quigley, Leap, Lily, and Tad are back in Talking Words Factory, the logical sequel to the Letter Factory DVD from LeapFrog.

In this follow-up, the young cartoon frogs spend a day at the Talking Words Factory with Professor Quigley as they learn how words are formed.

The story first tackles the most important letters: vowels. Professor Quigley demonstrates that vowels are special because they stick letters together to form words. From there, Quigley uses the Word Whammer 3000 to form simple three-letter words like cat and bat. Then he moves on to four-letter words (like stop and best) that use blended consonant sounds. (A toy version of the Word Whammer 3000 is available from LeapFrog as a complement to this DVD.)

Each phase of the story includes a catchy little musical number to add to the fun and help your child remember each lesson. The story uses many of the familiar talking letter characters from the Letter Factory video to remind your child of the previous lessons in phonics.

The Talking Words Factory DVD is very thorough. In a little more than half an hour, the characters present the basics of reading. The one negative about this video is that it moves very quickly and contains a tremendous amount of information for a young mind to absorb. The producers should have considered not going beyond three-letter words for this DVD and saved the four-letter words for the next sequel.

Please note that, since Talking Words Factory is rather advanced, your child must have the alphabet and phonics mastered before he or she will be able to understand this video. Even though this DVD does stand on its own, it shares a lot of elements with Letter Factory. It is highly recommended to use the two videos together.

Overall, Talking Words Factory is an excellent teaching tool for introducing your child to reading. It will take dozens of viewings for the lessons to sink in, but this video illustrates some concepts that are invaluable to budding readers.

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory, the Best DVD for Pre-Readers

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is a video that teaches children the alphabet and the sounds of each letter through phonics.

The story is about Tad, Leap, and Lily (cartoon frogs) who spend a day with Professor Quigley at the Letter Factory. During the tour, characters move from room to room and learn about the individual letters of the alphabet. Each short segment features a different theme, a very brief skit with talking letters, and a catchy little song. These mini-lessons do an excellent job of introducing each letter and associating it with its sound. At the end of the story, all of the letters appear for a big musical finale to review the lesson.

LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is brilliant in its simplicity. Letter Factory reduces the alphabet to its most basic elements: the letters and their sounds. This simple content provides pre-readers with just what they need to know about the alphabet without overwhelming them with excessive information.

The catchy songs sung by cartoon letters cement each lesson and provide the child with an audio-visual mnemonic device for each letter of the alphabet. These well-imprinted memories will become invaluable when your child begins learning how to read. LeapFrog’s Letter Factory is educational, entertaining, and simply the best video for pre-readers on the market.

LeapFrog's Fridge Phonics toy is a complement to this DVD.

Jump into Learning with LeapFrog

LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc. is an educational toy and video company which is widely known for the revolutionary LeapPad electronic interactive reading tool. LeapFrog makes a wide variety of educational toys that promote basic learning skills through casual play. LeapFrog has a line of educational DVDs that teach letters, math, reading, etc. LeapFrog also has education products for children all the through way high school.