Learning Videos for Pre School Age

Echoing the LeapFrog videos! I first heard about them here and ordered a few. They are great! My 5 year old is getting something out of them but also my 2 year old! She always asks for the "ABC Frogs" movie. I can now hold up a letter and she can quite often tell me what sound it makes! Amazing! I read to both kids daily but these videos really do teach them letters and sounds. There are some for math too but I didn't get them.

Believe it or not I found the most success with no video at all. I got he foam bath letters and we played with them in the bath tub. All of my kids so far knew all their letters, numbers and sounds before even starting preschool (by 2 1/2 latest).

Good luck!

Love the Leap Frog videos!!!

My son loved the Winnie the Pooh word and W the P letters videos.
also Word world which we DVR;d from TV

I bought the preschool Jumpstart at target. My kids loved it. i went ahead and bought the lifetime membership and both my kids enjoy it. the online is play stuff only and not educational so I only let them play that once they have reached a goal on the learning game. my kinder daughter is on 2nd grade level games and my preschool son is on 1st grade level games. It teaches abc's, sounds, order, numbers, simply addition & subtraction, graphs, charts, order, and it teaches by having them play games that incoporate the lesson and when they master the game, then they earn a gem, once they have several gems, they can buy things from the store like a pet and food for the pet and toys and soap etc. my kids have several pigs, cats, dogs, etc.... and they learn that when they are out of money, they have to go master more games. It also gives instructions and gives them special tasks that they have to complete by following each step of the instructions correctly. really cute system and my kids would play all day if I let them, but i limit them. they have to do their chores & homework first and then they can play and then for only 30-1hr. depending on their attitudes while playing. my son plays daily, but my daughter prefers to play several hours on saturday. hope this helps

There's a neat series called "Preschool Power", which is Montessori-based. It's less academic that what you are describing (and really, you can teach all of this in the moment) but I think one of the better ones when it comes to content. As a preschool teacher, it's one I'd highly recommend.

Preschoolers are developmentally ready to focus on social skills and self-help skills. This is typically an age of skill building, and I think this series speaks to that. Kids generally pick up the phonics, advanced counting (beyond 10 objects-- and you can just do lots of pointing/touch counting-- counting books will be more effective than a video, IMO) and colors through our drawing their attention to them. Just wanted to share why I think the Preschool Power set was so great for this age.

I love the Leapfrog series. My son started watching those at the age of 2 and he loved it. They have all different ones and the kids pick it up very quickly. Einstien Baby's is good for the children under 2.

The Leapfrog Letter Factory video is AMAZING...you have to try it. It really helped to teach my older son to read at an early age. It does a great job of introducing letters and the sounds they make. After that get the Leapfrog Talking Words Factory to start making simple words.

"Preschool Prep Pack - 4 DVDs (Meet the Letters, Meet the Numbers, Meet the Shapes, Meet the Colors)"

From Amazon

Also good are the LeapFrog learning videos. "Letter Factory" and they have a number series as well, and sight words.

Personally I wouldn't waste my money on videos. My son learned the alphabet from watching Sesame Street, those letter magnets for the fridge, and our reading together. He learned colors because I would tell him the colors. When getting dressed I'd tell him I was putting on his yellow shirt, or whatever. And I'd tell him that the fire truck was red, the car is blue, etc. I taught him numbers using the fridge magnet numbers too, and by counting things. We'd count the steps as we walked, or count how many bites he took of a food, or how many toy cars he was playing with.
It was just exposing him to the numbers, letters, and colors often and making it fun. It was never a sit down and learn situation using a video or flash cards or a program.

leapfrog.com has bundle packages for a great price......also go to your library

Leap Frog! My boys loved the Letter Factory, Talking Words Factory, Math Circus, etc. My 2nd son picked up his letters and their sounds before his second birthday (he's a smarty pants, but still!!!) from the videos. And they're great because they taught ME how to teach letter sounds and be consistent. Their toys are also consistent. We have the Word Whammer fridge magnet toy and they've played with it for years and years. Now my 15 month old carries it around like a little boom box, playing the ABC song to his heart's content.

We love the Doman Institute stuff to an extent, but the Your Baby Can Read stuff is great! Can't remember who does it right now, but my kids love(d) it!

The Leapfrog videos are GREAT! Both my girls loved them and they really help with learning letters in a fun and entertaining way. They have videos for learning letters and also words and math. All are fantastic. The Leapfrog fridge letter magnets are also great. They sing the same letter song as on the videos when a child puts the letter magnet in the special letter box, thus more continuous recognition to reinforce learning.

A.

I am also a big fan of the Leap frog Letter and Word factory series for teacher letters and letter sounds and how to build words. If you can try to get a set that includes the flash cards. When I bought mine I couldn't find the flash cards but now they sell a set of DVDs with cards. Our preschool teacher used the flashcards in class and I think that it is a great series. I also think that a couple of the new shows on PBS are awesome like Word World. Check their website they will list what concepts their shows focus on like word building or science, etc.

While there are some good videos out there (anything Leap Frog is good) I would lean more toward reading with your child and talking about the letters and words in the books. This will give him/her special time with you as well as a model who he/she trusts on how words and letters are supposed to sound. Take your child to story times at your local library. As for things to help your child learn on his/her own. We have the Leap Frog Magnetic Word Builder. Our daughter has enjoyed that for a couple years now. It covers everything from letter sounds to basic C-V-C word building.
Don't push too much with learning the academics. Your child will learn so much just from everyday life. Enjoy it! :)