Even though I am much older than the target audience for this show, I must say that the this DVD excels at introducing letters of the alphabet while making it fun and interesting. Throughout the different episodes and stories, there is letter recognition, spelling and the opportunity to write out each letter. These are just a few of the learning mechanisms contained in this volume.
This particular volume focuses on the letters I, J, K and L. Of course, it is very informative with these letters of the alphabet and, at the same time entertains little ones in this aspect of early language learning. The story revolves around the letters missing. They are nowhere to be found. The family and friends of the people that live in Capital Castle must solve riddles and clues to find these missing letters, one episode at a time.
It has many different bright colors which are visually fun and catch the attention of young viewers. The sing along songs are enjoyable and, at the beginning of every episode, I found myself singing the opening song. I enjoyed the songs and like how they transition from one letter to the next as well. My favorite character is the Princess because she is very optimistic and curious - things I relate to. She just wants to know stuff. My favorite episode is "L" mostly because I enjoyed the word choices. Each episode leaves you with wanting more and more. One facet of this show that I don't particularly like is the length. Each episode is about 30 minutes which, in my opinion, is a bit too long to focus on one letter and just three words associated with it.
Parents, this is a great tool to help you introduce your preschooler to words and phonics. You can even watch it with them and show how excited you are when they are learning. Learning is exciting and fun and this is a great age to do so.
I recommend this DVD for ages 2 to 5 and give it 3½ out of 5 stars due to its length and limited word choice. It is a great learning DVD for preschoolers and I'm sure the little ones will truly have fun and enjoy it.
ABC Monsters: Adventures in Alphabet Gardens! Starring IJKL is available now DVD, so please check it out.
Reviewed by Brianna Hope B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, age 16
The younger children saw the DVD sleeve and were excited to watch this video. The concept of the alphabet monsters is a very fun one. The story is engaging and despite that the DVD is for younger kids the older kids were singing along and watching as well. Younger kids were singing the alphabet song in the beginning. This is an educational video but the kids were none the wiser (except for older kids)! Reviewed by Ruth A., KIDS FIRST! Juror.
My 4-year-old granddaughter liked the Holey Moley song and the ABC song as well as her 18 month old brother. She said she liked the cartoons and the music. She also liked telling the answers about finding the missing letters M and helping solve the mystery of the Alphabet Garden. She also enjoyed Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry. She remembered the words marbles, medal and map and said she knew the word map from Dora. I helped her sound out map and now she can spell it! She's very proud of that. In the clip, Noodlicious, she said she liked finding the letters N too. She liked Holey Moley more and we ended up watching it three times in two days.
Reviewed by Tina B., KIDS FIRST! Juror
In this DVD, embark on adventures to find the letters I, J, K, and L On an icy cold day, monster I goes missing. Alice, Brian, and Cherry Berry need to find him soon especially since the weather is supposed to get even colder! Will they be able to find him on this icy cold day? Then, Cherry Berry wants to enter the Jester Jamboree but in order to win she feels like she needs to perform something nobody has ever seen before. However, at this same time, J monster goes missing. So once again, Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry go off to find J monster. Where could she have gone? These fun educational adventures continue with finding K and L. Will Alice, Brian and Cherry Berry be able to get all four letter monsters back to Capital Castle before the sun goes down? Find out!
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