Leapfrog Toys

We bought my son the Leapster 2 Handheld for Christmas last year and we LOVE it!!! The games are educational and they have the characters that he likes so it keeps his interest. I think the Leapster is MUCH better than a Nintendo DS- there are other kids in his class that have that and there is no educational value.

We also have the Tag System. It is ok, but I am not as pleased with is because it is easy to bypass the "reading help" aspect of the wand. Each page has a button to press and it will just read the page. My son tends to lean toward doing that instead of using the reading help capability.

I think that the explorer is new and I am not familiar with it. But if it is just an expanded Leapster- I say go for it!!

Hi S.-
I recently bought my 4yrs old son the leapster 2 for his b-day in july and he loves it!! it is educational, I bought him the "CARS" game and it's recognizing upper and lower case letters and numbers. In the begining I would sit with him and watch him play and from time to time help him. Now he plays on his own and is getting good about knowing what is a letter and number, he enjoys it!!

We got our daughter a Leapster 2 for her 4th birthday and she LOVES it. You can get games that emphasize reading, math, or puzzle skills.

We have the Leapster and the Tag.

I would say yes to the Leapster - it's a great first video game, lots of educational cartridges for it, including math, reading, hand-eye coordination, writing, etc., and 4 is an excellent age for it.

I'd skip the Tag. All it does is read the words on the page, and make different sounds when it rolls over a butterfly, or whatever on the page. It's all programmed in, so there isn't any real interaction with the child. I worry it might stifle the urge to learn to read, so I allow my child minimal use of it. (Plus we read to her all the time - nothing takes the place of that!) A huge drawback of the Tag, that we didn't know until we opened it is that it has a very small memory - kinda stupid when you can get memory sticks for your computer that hold so much - it can only hold like 4-5 books, I think. It comes preloaded with one or two, and then for every new book you buy for it, you need to go online and download it into the handheld. You need to delete some books out if you want to put a new one in and it's over the memory for it. Overall, very limited use, and not something I would have chosen for my children, but it was a gift from grandparents, so what are you going to do, right?

So, I just googled Explorer, and it looks like a lot of overkill for a game system for the 4-9 group, personally. It's the newest system, so all the games, etc would be pretty expensive. I don't think a kid that young really needs an ebook reader or to watch videos on it either, but they are stuffing as many gadgets as they can in there. Realistically, by the time she is 6/7 she'll be wanting a Nintendo DS, which is more of a 'real' gaming system, less of an educational platform, because the older kids are not going to want to be seen toting around something that says 'Leapfrog' on it - it's associated with preschool learning (and it does a great job of it), and that's just the truth.

So, just my two cents, but YMMV.

My kids have loved the Leapfrog products since they were small. They wear the books and system out-I can't supply them enough! :)

The leapster explorer is brand new so prob not many reviews on it but we have the leapster 2 and the tag reader our son uses both frequently and enjoys them.
The tag reader dosen't just read the pages it also asks questions about the story, and has games also having to do the story.

My son is almost 5 and we got him both TAG and the Leapster this year. Love them both! The explorer wasn't out yet, so I don't know about that one. The Leapster games seem to run 4-8, so I think they will last a while too. And, since it's been out for a few years, they can be pretty cheap sometimes on sale! The TAG has been fabulous for helping reading. They even have more than just books. You can get animal flash cards and phonics workbooks. I don't think you can go wrong with Leapfrog.

Hi! I would say to get both. Our son is 4 1/2 and has had both for over a year now. He actually has the Leapster 2 instead of the explorer, but it's still has handheld games. The Leapster has held up really well.
The Tag is great for using at home. They have tons of book selections, with many based off of popular kid shows/movies. The books also have games. We use it mostly at home or send it with him when he stays the night with grandparents.
The handheld gaming system is perfect for in the car, or waiting at restaurants etc. I toss our son's Leapster in my bag anytime we go someplace that he may have to wait. It keeps him busy and he's learning at the same time.
Happy learning,
S.

Get the Leapster.
It is great.
Both my kids have it and have had it since they were 2.
They have used it on their own since then. It is very educational and fun. My kids love it and still, at their ages of recently made 4 and 7.
Leapster helps with reading too and numbers and counting and a host of other things.

It is worth it.