LeapFrog Math Adventure to the Moon Review

LeapFrog's Tad and Lily are back with an all new adventure — a Math Adventure to the Moon. (All you parents out there: better rest up before you pop this disc in -- it's going to be a wild ride as you “launch your child's math skills!”)

I was always a pretty good math student, but 13 years of arithmetic never taught me what LeapFrog has. After watching Math Adventure to the Moon, I now know that “math is everywhere” and “everything around you's really math-TASTIC!”

Tad and Lily must bring to school a collection of exactly 10 things (why it has to be exactly 10 I'm not sure). Lily wants to bring her earthworms but isn't sure how many she has; Tad wants to bring his trucks but has already used them for show and tell. Thankfully Edison the firefly shows up, and they decide that they'll bring in moon rocks.

Of course! Moon rocks, why not? They won't be difficult to come by — especially now that they have Edison, who has a glowing green stone that can create a “learning path,” or for all intents and purposes, a wormhole that leads them to an island with a rocket ship.

There they must each choose 10 supplies to bring with them (which sets up the best part of the movie: Tad bringing a framed photograph of himself), and then they're off. Their rocket ship helps them learn how to count by twos, fives, and tens. However, they get so excited that they overshoot their mark, and end up in “deep deep space,” where they come across a planet that has colorful perfect cube-rocks and tiny multicolored space bugs who are in danger of being sucked into a black hole.

By using math (somehow) they manage to save the bugs and then make it back home, where they have their collection of weird bug planet rocks. All is awesome, and what's more, everything is still math-TASTIC!

I honestly can't remember how I learned math -- I'm sure flashcards had something to do with it -- so I can't vouch for how effective this DVD will be in your quest to teach your children how to add and subtract. I suppose it's aimed to be a learning aid rather than full-on "your child will become a math whiz!" lesson. Based on the company's popularity, that it's been around for 15 years, and that it's apparently won over 3,000 awards (for what I'm not really sure) I'm assuming it's at least somewhat helpful. I don't know what keeps youngsters (ages 3-6 specifically) riveted these days, but I guess this gets the job done. Kiddies will surely sit enthralled by their old frog friends (who undoubtedly have a faithful following, maybe something along the lines of Dora the Explorer's fanbase)

The only real problem with Math Adventures to the Moon is that Tad and Lily are kind of insufferable (I would have liked to see some of their little friends, which comprise a turtle, a dog, a cat, a duck and a pig, just to mix things up a bit). As an adult watching this with your child, you may find yourself resenting the little tyke, plus you'll probably have to explain to him or her that the moon isn't quite the hop, skip and jump away the story portrays. It's aimed at little kids, and so has a lot of leeway in terms of how ridiculous it can be, but still -- LeapFrog's film catalog isn't so extensive that they've completely exhausted all the many places right on earth that are filled with math (because, and let's not forget, "math is everywhere!").

DVD Bonus Features

Since the actual movie only clocks in at 36 minutes, some fun 'n games have been tagged on to better your kid's understanding of mathematics (I guess). There's a sorting game, four sing-a-long ditties, and The Alphabet Song from Let's Go to School.