MonkiSee is a program for children ages 3 months to 3 years, created to teach the youngest children how to read. There are several components to the program, including DVDs, flash cards, books, and video flash cards on DVD. We received the “Baby’s First Words” DVD and a book, “Know Your Monkey”.
This DVD introduces 40 new words. The words to be learned are shown on the screen a few times, while the concepts, such as baby, neck, and hands, are explored through puppets, songs, rhymes and more. The video also includes a parent guide and a slideshow, which features each word on the screen, followed by a picture. The book has a very short and simple story, with the words on one spread without illustrations, and then the main words with pictures repeated on the next spread. The pictures are photographs of the cute little monkeys Skip and Howie on a paper collage background.
We have watched this video many times since we received it. I don’t think we quite made the recommended every-day goal, but we did use it a lot. We have had mixed reactions from Baby girl, but overall she really enjoyed it. There were some days when she just wasn’t interested, but most of the time she was happy to sit and watch it. The next question I am sure you want to ask, is if Baby Girl can read the words. No, she can’t. We did not have time to watch to movie every day for four weeks, as was suggested, before this review was due. However, I would like to go out on a limb here and say that without the accompanying flash cards and other reinforcement, I doubt that she would learn to recognize the words with this DVD alone. The words are shown relatively infrequently compared to the puppets, pictures, and songs, so I am not sure that the DVD would have enough repetition to soak into the wiggly little brain of my own monkey.
However, she did enjoy the DVD, and if she was younger or more attentive my story may be different. My final comments would just have to be that she enjoyed the DVD a lot but it is not for us, as a reading program. If you want to teach your child to read with this method, I would suggest investing in all of the available materials. They have a kit with 3 Monki See DVDs, a parent’s guide DVD, 2 video flash cards, 5 sets of physical flash cards, and 2 books, for $139.95 on sale. You can buy the individual DVDs for $19.95, and they have three titles: First Words, All About Colors, and All About Shapes. The paperback books are $9.95 each, and they have two titles: Know Your Monkey, and Monkeys Like the Color…
Be sure to stop by The Old Schoolhouse blog to read more reviews for Monki See!
I received this product free of charge as a member of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew, for review purposes. I promise to be honest and fair in my reviews, and I received no other compensation in exchange for my review. You can visit The Old Schoolhouse Crew blog to read more reviews on this product.
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