I started homeschooling my daughter last fall, and I am always on the lookout for new learning materials to supplement her education. I have previously reviewed DVDs from Rock ‘N Learn, so, when the company recently approached me about reviewing a new Early Childhood Collection of DVDs and board books, I eagerly accepted the opportunity. I received the exclusive web-pack that consists of one (1) Alphabet DVD, one (1) Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book, one (1) Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD, and one (1) Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book. Alphabet Al leads youngsters on an adventure to explore letters and boost vocabulary. Rollie Roundman and friends teach preschoolers about colors, shapes, and counting up to 20.
Price
The Early Childhood Collection from Rock ‘N Learn currently retails for $47.99, which comes at a savings of $9.97 compared to buying each DVD and board book separately. The thirty-page board books cost $8.99 each, which is comparable to other similar publications. The DVDs cost $19.99 each, which is also comparable to other similar educational programs. Overall, I rate the price of the Early Childhood Collection extremely highly.
Book Quality
My children own quite the little library of board books, some highly quality than others. Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book and Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book both feature thick, sturdy pages and a flexible, durable binding. I am confident that both books will withstand many readings from both my daughter and my son. I rate the Early Childhood Collection books extremely highly in terms of physical quality.
Book Text
As a linguist, I am a huge fan of rhyming text because rhyme helps children with early language development. I was pleased to learn that both Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book and Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book feature rhymed text. At thirty pages long each, both books are fairly long reads for a preschool audience. However, my daughter generally sits still long enough to hear each read aloud. My son also enjoys listening to me read the board books to his big sister. The rhymed text definitely helps keep the youngest preschooler engaged.
In terms of content, both board books are perfect supplements to my homeschool preschool curriculum. My daughter and I started with colors and shapes last fall. This spring she and I have started working on letters and will end the year with numbers. The information in the books complements the daily lessons that I share with my daughter and helps reinforce her learning. I rate the Rock ‘N Learn Early Childhood Collection board books extremely highly in terms of textual quality.
Book Illustrations
My daughter loves looking at brightly illustrated books. In additional to the engaging text, the colorful pictures in Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book and Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book help engage her attention. I particularly like the simple pictures that accompany each letter in the alphabet book. My daughter is really working on mastering her ABCs at the moment, so the familiar pictures definitely help her with her letter recognition. My infant son also seems to enjoy looking at all the bright colors in the two Rock ‘N Learn Early Childhood Collection board books. I rate both books extremely highly in terms of the illustrations.
DVD Content
I try to limit the screen time that my daughter watches, but I have been happy to allow her to watch the Alphabet DVD and Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD from Rock ‘N Learn a few times a day because of the strong educational content. The Alphabet DVD focuses on each letter of the alphabet including how to print letters and numbers:
- Alphabet Al’s Alphabet Song
- Letter A Song
- Letter B Song
- Letter C Song
- Letter D Song
- Letter E Song
- Letter F Song
- Letter G Song
- Letter H Song
- Letter I Song
- Letter J Song
- Letter K Song
- Letter L Song
- Letter M Song
- Letter N Song
- Letter O Song
- Letter P Song
- Letter Q Song
- Letter R Song
- Letter S Song
- Letter T Song
- Letter U Song
- Letter V Song
- Letter W Song
- Letter X Song
- Letter Y Song
- Letter Z Song
- Al’s Alphabet
- Funny-Looking Letters Game
- The Name Game
- Traditional Alphabet Song
- Print the Letters
- Print the Numbers
The Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD focuses on kindergarten readiness activities including learning to count objects by color, shape, or a combination of both:
- Meet Rollie Roundman
- Colors, Colors All Around
- Basic Colors
- Preschool Color Practice
- Learn Our Shapes
- Shapes Are All Around Us
- What Color Is It?
- Name That Shape
- Music Helps Me Count to Five
- What About Zero?
- Mixing Colors
- Counting Up to 10
- How Many Shapes?
- So Many Shapes
- So Many Colors
- The Ellipse
- Diamonds and Squares
- Four Cool Shapes
- What Are Polygons?
- The Polygon Song
- Let’s Count to 20
- Fun Time Quiz
- Colors All Around
In just the short time that my daughter has been watching both DVDs, she has already started singing some of the songs and repeating some of the information back to me. (She particularly likes the “black licorice” part!)
With the same animation style as the illustrations in the board books, the Rock ‘N Learn Early Childhood Collection DVDs hold the attention of my preschooler for the entire length of each film. She will even watch the movies again and again if I let her. And I can already attest that, in addition to captivating the attention of young learners, the DVDs have helped reinforce many of the concepts that my daughter and I have explored during homeschool preschool. I therefore rate both the Alphabet DVD and the Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD extremely highly in terms of visual and educational quality.
Final Verdict
Both my daughter and I are extremely pleased with the Rock ‘N Learn Early Childhood Collection. The board books feature rhymed text and bright illustrations that effectively hold the attention of the youngest readers. The DVDs are equally engaging. The entire collection complements a typical preschool curriculum. If you are searching for educational material on letters, numbers, colors, and shapes, I highly recommend the Early Childhood Collection of board books and DVDs from Rock ‘N Learn.
For more information or to make a purchase, check out Rock ‘N Learn online. You can also follow Rock ‘N Learn via email newsletter and on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Use the coupon code KR8822 for 25% off online purchases.
Image Credits
Rock ‘N Learn Early Childhood Collection © 2015 Heather Johnson
Alphabet DVD and Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book © 2015 Heather Johnson
Colors, Shapes & Counting DVD and Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book © 2015 Heather Johnson
Alphabet Al’s ABC Board Book © 2015 Heather Johnson
Colors, Shapes & Counting Board Book © 2015 Heather Johnson