Leap Frog - Math Circus Reviews

• A Great Intro Video to Math Concepts for kids--math circus

  
  By AQ6AGWKWMTY8H on 2004-12-28
  Unlike the previous reviewers I thought this video was great. Though it could be longer, it gives kids (mine are 4.5 and 2.5) a good introduction to basic math concepts: association, addition and subtraction.
  
  One of the problems small children have is that they memorize numbers and can "count" but they don't associate the numbers with an actual quantity. This video uses small white mobile cubes called "quidgets" to teach them that numbers `correspond' to a certain number of objects.
  
  My kids are pretty engrossed by this video and I am overjoyed that I can now give my four-year-old simple hand problems and she can solve them.
  
  
  Video Outline:
  
  --Numbers are produced: "0 to 10".
  --Numbers are associated with corresponding numbers of quidgets, coins, fingers, etc.
  For example, no quidgets, then one quidget. The white box gets a number 1 which jumps onto it and stays.
  Two quidgets stack vertically... the number one jumps off and the 2 jumps on and so forth.
  --A song with 1 quidget, then 1 coin, then 1 finger and a 1 "digit" color worm... and so on until there are 10 quidgets, 10 coins, 10 fingers and a 10 segmented worm. The quidgets are piled vertically, and the worm grows horizontally until it is 10 units long: all numbers are shown in their worm segment.
  --Then to the circus.
  --Review of counting with quidgets stacking vertically.
  --Using a high wire act with two swings, the quidget's do addition and then subtraction.
  Two quidgets, for example, swing across and are joined by another quidget from the other swing. The numbers 2 and 1 drop off and the number 3 sticks itself to the stack of three quidgets. The reverse is done for subtraction.
  
  --At the end, stacks of ten quidgets are flung into the ring until their are ten stacks of them demonstrating how we can go from 10 to 100 by ten's.
  
  

• They have certainly got some explaining to do

  
  By A37PV5GMP2ILJC on 2006-05-04
  Parents and children who loved the other Leap Frog DVDs about letters, words and reading will find this one disappointing.
  
  Advertised as beginning math, this one is mixed up in its focus, spending quite a bit of time on recognizing the numbers from 0 to 10 (especially zero) and relating them to “quidgets”, then quickly jumping to addition and subtraction without sufficient explanation or introduction of the concepts. Starting with simple counting, by the end of the 35 minutes, they’re showing us ten times tables up to one hundred.
  
  Very young children will probably like the repetitive cowboy “numbers” song, and may even stick around for the “circus” acts and accompanying slapstick routines, but the concepts advance too quickly for this age group. Kids who already know their numbers won’t learn anything new from the beginning of the presentation, but then again, they probably won’t learn anything from the rest of it either.
  
  Clearly one should not expect kids to learn math in 35 minutes, which makes you wonder what they were thinking when they made this one. A more sensible approach would be to have different DVDs for each level, as they did in the reading series, so that they could spend more time going into the nitty-gritty, and making it fun.
  
  This one is a rush job, and was not properly thought out for the intended audience. Definitely not a tool you should count on to introduce your kids to math.
  
  
  
  Amanda Richards, May 4, 2006
  
  
  
  

• Not as good as the Letter Factory or Word Factories 1&2..

  
  By A3X3VQV4S5MWJ on 2005-01-06
  I bought this DVD after my son learned most of his letters from the letter factory. My son enjoys the other 3 Leapfrog DVD's but since day 1 he just walks away from this one. It's boring.. they don't spend enuff time on the numbers themselves (but it did teach him the number 0 wich I'd forgotten about) and the quidgets don't even count out the numbers (ex. they say 3+2=5 instead of 3+2=5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) If your child already knows his/her numbers than maybe it'll be more interesting to them. My son doesn't ask for this video.. I recommend BumbleBee Kids 123's or Brainy Baby 123's. If all else fails there's Sesame Street's 123 Count With Me (wich my son LOVES and asks for almost every day). This DVD was a waste of time and money, I'm going to try Richard Scarry's 123's and probably will sell this one on eBay..
  
  

• Brilliant!

  
  By A27UO85IFC33E4 on 2005-12-09
  We own four DVDs in this series: Math Circus, Code Word Caper, The Letter Factory, and the Talking Words Factory. We bought them when our boys were ages five and three. We've had them for about a year now, and the boys still enjoy them. We get a lot more use out of them than the Leap Pads, which our kids never really got into. Our younger boy is in speech therapy, and seeing these DVDs has improved his articulation of letters. I love that he requests to watch these. I will hear him sounding out each letter along with the Frog, and know he's developing skills. Our older son has picked up on how to build words and spell with this series. It explains how phonics work, and in a simple-to-understand way. We found all of the DVDs in this series exceptionally educational, and see tangible results from the children watching them. I can't say that about any other toy we own.
  
  

• My kids like but I'm not crazy about it.

  
  By A17KDRGY12JWEP on 2005-03-14
  My 3 and 4 year old daughters like it. My eldest is learning addition so she understands it. However I was surprised that the format isn't very clear. It seems to quickly jump from counting to addition then to subtraction (a more difficult concept). I wouldn't recommend it unless your child has had some exposure to addition. And I agree with another reviewer about the attitude on Mr. Websley. This is the first LeapFrog video I've bought; not sure if I'll buy more.
  
  
• not as good as the other leap videos
  By A3JWDUC20ZVL2G on 2005-01-05
  Compared to other leap videos, this one falls short. It spends more than half the video teaching counting from 1 to 10 and blasts through the addition and subtraction without much explanation. The video should have assumed the kid knows how to count to 10 and focused on the title of "math circus" and its claim to teach addition and subtraction. Do look to other leap DVD titles like letter and word factory I & II those are great!
  
  
• TOTALLY DISSAPOINTED
  By A15LTGSHLDOEF2 on 2005-02-18
  The Math Circus is a disaster. After a REALLY GREAT EXPERIENCE with The Letter Factory and The Word Factory, The Math Circus is not reccommended. It can not be compared with the prior videos of Leap Frog in any way. My child (3.5) never watch it all over. It's very boring to him. Also, I don't like the grumpy and aggressive attitude of Mr. Websley in this video. It doesn't make sense and is not in armony with the teaching process of my child.
  
  I reccommend to Leap Frog to separate the counting from 1 to at least 20, and the recognition of numbers in one video and the addition and substraction techniques in other. They don't mix together for a 3 years old child.
  
  
• The only mediocre "Leap" video
  By AXBRQ9AZ9RTKZ on 2005-05-06
  My sons likes this DVD, but doesn't ask to watch it over and over, like the other three Leap DVDs we own (which he loves, and I think are wonderful). As for me - apart from teaching what zero means, I find this one repetitive and a bit creepy (Mr. Websley has morphed into somewhat of a stalker). There is a meaningless barrage of addition and subtraction, which goes too quickly to cement the concepts. And Mrs. Leap appears NOWHERE - her ever-decreasing presence in these DVDs has diminished to NOTHING. So if you are the sole, female parent of a small child, and you are concerned about your child seeing only males as imparters of knowledge (Tad's dad, Prof Quigley, and Mr. Websley), this isn't the video for you. Message to the "Leap" makers: let Mrs. Leap teach the kids something, too!
  
  
• Math learned quickly
  By A34N2DZFGOWT5Z on 2006-09-06
  My three-year-old nephew already knew his numbers. He loves watching this video---picks it over Dora and others. He can now add all the single-digit numbers and some double digits. He has some blocks that look like the quidgets in this video and that helps reinforce the concepts when he isn't watching. He loves to stack them up, starting with, say, 2 blocks and 4 blocks, and putting them together to make !!6 blocks!! He gets so excited.
  
  
• Uneducational and boring
  By on 2006-02-26
  I enjoyed Letter Factory and Code word Caper but this is ridiculous! I think the main problem is that they tried the put too many concepts into one half hour video. You just simply can't spend 10 minutes on numbers and sink in addition and subtraction in a mere 5 minutes. To start off with the cute little letters are gone and replaced with unintresting numbers and disgusting quidgets. The numbers spend a few minutes in animation and then get ploped onto the plain quidgets. The numbers song is very cheesy and has an uncatchy tune. They go to he math circus and count... maybe okay for the young. It gets worse. For addition and subtraction the quidgets just stick on and pry off and all they say is 3+2=5 or 9-2=7 without any exclamation! If your going to put a part that won't teach anything clearly (or at all) DON'T PUT IT IN! It was absolutely ridiculous! Then the quidgets counted by tens to 100. A whole movie from scratch numbers to counting multiples! BIG WHOFF! DO YOU REALLY EXPECT A CHILD WHO KNOWS NOTHING OF NUMBERS TO UNDERSTAND COUNTING BY 10S!!!!!
  
  
• GOES TOO FAST
  By AH4B7PO6G1GVT on 2006-02-28
  This DVD covers addition from 1 plus 1 to 3 plus 3 plus 3 in about 60 seconds! It does not give enough BODY to the addition explanation and is hard to follow. It was a pure waste of money.
  
  
• Could be better
  By A30QPHGBKYDUJR on 2005-02-09
  I have to agree it was disapointing. I would not go as far as not teaching anything, But there is definitly a hotch potch of information here. I think it reinforces the visual numerals, and shows there is more than counting to numbers, but I do not think the adding and subtracting in the way they have shown it will teach much to a child without previous adding and subraction knowledge. Maybe a good reviewing tool. However compared to their other products this is not at all comparable. Maybe rent it or borrow from a friend before buying this one...I had high hopes for this product, glad I purchased the video not the DVD!
  
  
• Could have been much better
  By A37NHGD0WTRYFH on 2005-11-08
  In its defense, I'll say that my child loves to watch this. However, I wasn't wanting only entertainment, I was wanting quality education. And my child likes almost all children's videos.
  
  My complaints are that speech of the characters is difficult to understand, the sound is harsh, the visuals are unnecessarily busy and the action happens too fast. Its more entertainment than education. The concept of adding is introduced but the addition tables not taught. A child that can already count will get very little from this other than amuzement.
  
  
  
  
• Math genius in the making
  By A1PU0WCHJKH12G on 2005-11-22
  My 6 year old likes this dvd. It has helped her with both her addition and subtraction. She is better able to visualize what is required when she is given a problem to do.
  
  
• Okay to Watch
  By A2QBOOOQS7VS3S on 2007-05-31
  I am a Kindergarten teacher and I absolutely love the Leapfrog videos. I buy them for my classroom and recommend parents to purchase them for their children since they are so helpful in learning some of the skills they need for school. I was not supremely impressed with the Math Circus. I liked how the introduced the numbers but the quidget idea confused my students. We did not watch this one as much as the language Leap Frog videos.
  
  
• Disappointed
  By A1L878PUUVR7MI on 2004-12-24
  I have to start by saying that I love leap frog products. In this case I was highly disappointed. It does not explain the concept of math it just starts adding things together. The songs were not intertaining and my 3.6 year old was not interested. Overall not a good purchase.
  
  
• Good but could be better
  By A1C507FVROAIH4 on 2005-01-29
  The only "real" problem I have with this video is that it doesn't count up to 20...only 1-10 and it's only 30 minutes long. My son is 3.7yrs. old and he already knows how to count to 10. My son really liked it and asked to watch it again after it was over.
  
  
• Don't waste your money
  By A1U6CHVXKER7DV on 2005-07-11
  Very dissappointed since the letter factory was so great! It does not keep my 2 year old's attention. I don't see my son learning too much from this video. They go through the numbers too fast.
  
  
• Lacks the magic of the letter factory, but OK
  By A1MP4NG18QD5J on 2005-10-23
  I'd hoped Leap Frog would take on numbers, and unfortunately I was a little disappointed with the result. We own every Leap Frog DVD, and this is the only one that I really don't care for much. The concepts are a lot to fit into the time, so there are problems destined from the start. My kids both count pretty well already, so I'm hopeful that over time the adding and subtracting will sink in. My main annoyance with this is that Quigley's voice is different. The redeeming point is one great song that gets stuck in our heads. Other than the song, it's just OK.
  
  
• Great DVD
  By A14VN471KFE06V on 2006-08-05
  A friend with a three year old told us about this product and we purchased it. Wow! Our three year old girl kept wanting to watch it over and over. We used the DVD along with us talking about numbers and she was doing great. Before pre-school started she was able to add and subtract numbers between 0 - 10.
  
  
  
  
• Too much for one video
  By A3CJK6H1P0421W on 2007-02-07
  We have both Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory, which were amazing at teaching beginning reading to our preschooler. Those were definitely five star videos. This one, although fun, tries to pack in too much information at one time. Ideally they should have made two separate introductory math videos: one for addition and one for subtraction. If it stuck to the nice slow pace it began with, and stuck to addition it would've been great. But it speeds up too quickly with addition, and then starts throwing subtraction at you as well. Maybe the Leap Frog Company will realize this and decide to make some new, better versions of this video.
  
  
• Leapfrog Let Down!!!!!
  By AFCJ2P96DSRK5 on 2007-05-04
  Like other reviewers I was dissapointed with this DVD. There are too many concepts being introduced in the 35mins. Leapfrog would have been better to make 3 separate DVD's - Numbers to 20, Addition, Subtraction. I am a school teacher and you never introduce number sentences (3+2=5) until children have a firm understanding of basic nember concepts (one to one correspondence, number order, before and after etc...). The DVD is still entertaining for children but I wouldn't recommend buying this one for educational purposes. Maybe Leapfrog should stick to words and letters!!!!!
  
  
• Disappointing
  By AR0QIE63M3PC9 on 2004-12-27
  After buying the great leapfrog "letter factory" and "talking word factory" this DVD has been a big disappointment. It does not explain anything! Your child will gain no knowledge from seeing this DVD!
  
  
• If they're going to watch videos, it might as well be about Math!
  By A3LSZF504EPPQU on 2006-03-22
  This is a great video, nothing objectionable. My 3 year old sings along with it. Within a week, my son could recognize all numbers 1-10.
  
  
• Great Series
  By A33AG68OXUEX8E on 2006-07-31
  I love these Leap Frog DVD's. I don't think this one is as good as the Reading/Letter one's but it is still good. My daughter (3 years old) doesn't stay in front of the tv watching it like she does the other ones. I think it is a little hard for her so she doesn't pay as much attention. The ideas go pretty fast for this age I think. A little hard for them to grasp all at once. I think she will get it over time though.
  
  
• I was wrong
  By A38C92DQC0E8JE on 2007-09-03
  In my first review (quoted below), I detailed the disappointments we felt with this video. And truly, compared to the reading Leap Frog videos, it *is* inferior. However, our 6 year old kindergartener has learned more than we realized from watching it. He'll spontaneously bring up math equations he knows the answer to (from the video), which sparks others which he does not know (3 + 3 + 3 = 9...but what is 6 + 3?, for example). He's excited and interested in math and counting, which is priceless. If I could change my star rating to a 3 1/2 or 4, I would.
  
  "We have all the reading videos in this series and were really looking forward to the math one. Though my son definitely enjoys watching it, it is far less helpful in actually building his math skills than the others. There's too much information and it's too confusing - widgets or fingers or trapeze artists or whatever - adding sums, subtracting, no repetition...The value in it is encouraging his interest in counting and numbers, but he's not learning anything new at all. The reading videos, in contrast, have sparked his interest *and* taught him a lot about rules of grammar, phonics, basic word building, etc."
  
  
• Not as good as the other Leap Frog videos
  By AMGS52W0SZFUL on 2005-08-16
  Not as easy to learn with as the other Leap Frog videos. It is good but moves too fast for little ones to catch on.
  
  
• Excellent Educational Show
  By AK1BVMDCWHADN on 2006-11-23
  I think this whole series is excellent. My two pre-school aged sons love it. It teaches counting and math facts while it entertains. There are many lessons set to music, which usually helps children remember the information. I recommend this show, and all of the others in the series.
  
  
• Disappointing
  By A2F5M9FDNL1M8 on 2007-04-06
  Definately does not compare to the other Leap Frog movies. Try Brainy Baby - 123's instead. We loved (my 2 & 3 year old boys) Leap Frog's "The Letter Factory", but "Math Circus" was a huge disappointment (both entertainmnet & educational value).
  
  
• Fun but not highly educational
  By AH70062K6VYHK on 2007-06-05
  This is a fun dvd for my 3 & 5 yr olds, but I haven't seen any math comprehension skills developed from watching this dvd. It really is fast paced and doesn't focus much on any concept. But who knows what those little sponge minds are absorbing?
  
  

• Leap Frog - Talking Words Factory
• Leap Frog - Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory
• Leap Frog - Talking Words Factory 2 - Code Word Caper
• Leap Frog - Letter Factory
• Meet the Sight Words 1