There are several things in life that I learned while I was younger, decided I was “too busy” for them, quit, and now regret it. Playing the piano is one (seriously, what was I doing when I was 12 that made me “too busy” to practice?!), and learning Spanish is another. I took three years of Spanish in high school, and two semesters in college, but never kept up with it by practicing, so naturally, most of the Spanish I know is reduced to the menu at Taco Bell. Scientific research has shown that babies, toddlers and preschoolers are born able to learn more than one language with ease, so it makes sense to expose your children to language learning at a very early age. With this in mind, Little Pim was created.

Little Pim was created by Julia Pimsleur Levine, who was inspired by her own bilingual childhood. She knows how important it is for children to be bilingual in our global world and developed a new method of learning called The Entertainment Immersion Method. According to the website,

“Each of our educational DVDs has a unique, child-friendly theme, such as eating, playtime and feelings. The method teaches 360 words and phrases, providing the essential building blocks for language learning. A child only needs 500 words to be considered “conversational” in a language. Babies, toddlers and kids respond enthusiastically to Little Pim’s format, which combines animated and live-action videos.” 

Little Pim is the leading method of teaching children a second language, and I can see why! We chose to review a DVD in Spanish and were sent Disc 6 of the Spanish series, “I Can Count!” The first time we watched it, my 3 1/2 year old was hooked. He laughed at the Panda and his friends, and seemed to be really engrossed in the Spanish parts. When the movie was over, I saw him look at me, get a sneaky look on his face, then walk over to the DVD remote. I didn’t know what he was doing (obviously something naughty), until he pressed the play button and started the movie over again! The second time through he was repeating phrases and actually counting in Spanish. I couldn’t believe it! We’ve watched it a few times since, but haven’t watched it in a week or so, yet just today I heard him count his chicken nuggets in Spanish at lunch!  I am sold.

Each DVD is around 30 minutes long, and features silly cartoon sections with Little Pim and his friends, and then the instructional parts with videos of real people and things. The quick cartoon pieces with Little Pim and his friends are fun and instantly hooked my kids,  keeping them interested. The Spanish instruction parts are pretty clear, showing a video of something, sometimes circling it in red, and then saying its name in Spanish. Most of the time my son would know what it was they were pointing to, though occasionally it was slightly unclear; for instance, he’d say “feet” but they were really saying the word for “toes.” Luckily, the DVD comes with subtitles in English so I could read along and help him out. You can see samples of videos in every language here, or you can watch a short video about Little Pim below:

Little Pim has so many products to choose from, including Gift Sets in all languages, Digital Downloads so you can watch the DVDs on your smartphone or tablet, and Apps in several languages for the iPhone/iPod, iPad and LeapPad. If you follow Little Pim on facebook, twitter and pinterest, you can receive special discounts and offers. If you can’t decide which set to buy just yet, enter our giveaway to try one out first!

Enter to win a DVD in the language of your choice!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

** This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only.
** The winner of this giveaway will be drawn no later than the morning of August 17th, 2013 and will be emailed within 24 hours. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new winner will be drawn.
** This posting and giveaway were sponsored by Little Pim, but all opinions are strictly my own.