Influenster: Dino Lingo.

So I received an email from Influenster about a new language learning program for kids that they wanted us to review via YouTube and blog about. At first I was a little reluctant because I've come across some kiddo language programs in the past that were pretty rough and way too advanced. So I gathered up the little one and clicked on the link assuming that she'd probably only sit thru one short 3 minute clip. I was quite surprised when she not only sat through the Spanish and English one -- but we watched a clip in Dutch, Hebrew and German before she grew bored and wanted to get down. I think though if these would've been on the big TV screen, she might've sat there for a lot longer. The YouTube clips were mainly centered around learning greetings and animals, which I definitely think helped with the attention span. She got particularly excited about the Spanish one since she's in a local Spanish immersion school two days a week -- and she loves dogs and cats which happened to be the first two animals that they went over. The graphics on the videos were quite interesting -- they went from real life pictures, to animations to weird little graphics. In my personal opinion, I think it's more geared towards younger children because of this, but I think overall, it depends on each individual child.

The program targets 30 different languages and from what I can tell, they're adding new ones on a regular basis, the latest ones being French and Hebrew. They have an entire page that explains to parents the 'science' behind why there program works and what you can expect from the videos -- I was impressed at how much thought actually went into the discs.

Like I mentioned, the kiddo is in a Spanish immersion school, so I decided to see what the Spanish program would run me and was thrilled that there were several different options. The big package consists of (5) 35-minute DVDS, 150 flash cards, 10 posters, a vocabulary book, a coloring book, a world map, Spanish flag, parents teaching book and a dinosaur plush for $148.95+free shipping. At first I thought this was kind of steep, well truthfully I still think it is -- but when I started looking at everything that came with it, I guess it's not that bad of a deal. It looks like the posters, flash cards and vocab book are equally as important as the DVD set since it covers all the basics from animals to numbers to fruits/veggies to colors and so much more. The 5 DVDs run $89.95 for the set, so I think the rest of it is worth getting for just $60 bucks more. And it looks like they do a 10% discount/refund if you order $500 worth of language discs. Best part of the whole deal is that they do a 100% satisfaction guarantee for a full refund if you're not happy with the program.

I personally am thinking that I might invest for the kiddo -- maybe for Christmas *wink wink* -- and I plan on passing the word on to her school. Right now is such a crucial time in their learning process. They say it's much easier for a child to learn multiple languages now then it is for them to try and learn when they're adults. As someone who took two years of Spanish in high school and passed with flying colors, I'm sad to say that I've lost almost all of my ability to carry on intelligent conversation with someone who speaks Spanish only. Maybe we can both learn together :)

If you could teach your child a language -- what would it be?

**Disclaimer: I was able to review these clip(s) complimentary through Influenster. All products that are mentioned and reviewed on my blog are my own personal and honest opinions, or those of someone I've shared my goodies with. I am not being compensated additionally for my thoughts or posted reviews -- whether good, bad or indifferent.