Leapster Explorer? - Payne,OH

My kids got it for christmas. They like it. Mr. Pencil is a great game. I'd start with that. I have girls so Tangled is pretty popular and Toy Story was impressive too. My daughter is learning with it. It's helping her sound out words to spell. Now she can sound out and spell many 3 letter words. (She loves books so that helps too.) But I believe the concept of sounding out words came from the games. I generally dislike video game systems but this is a good one. My husband forced me into it and I don't regret it.

My son is 3.5 and loves his leapster. I got it used and purchase the games from ebay which saves a lot of money.
It's great for long car rides.

my kids (3 and 5 at that time) loved playing with one at daycare (another kid brought theirs). I am not a huge advocate for video games. But once I saw what they were "learning" on it, I started to see the benefits. We ended up getting one for each of our kids right before our big Thanksgiving trip. It was awesome in the car! They love the games and they are educational. I still don't let them be plugged in 24/7, but they are better than cartoons when they wake up early on Saturday. :) and great for car rides.

My son just turned 4 this past weekend and we got him the learn to draw and write game and he loves it, but I think his 6 yo sister loves it more. Its pretty cool even I play it.

if you do get it, invest the 10 dollars for the case, its a lifesaver because it keeps everything together and protects the game when dropped, believe me it will be dropped. :)

We got my son one for Christmas (he turned 4 in January). He really likes it. We don't allow him to play it a lot but we are leaving on vacation soon and I am thinking it will be a lifesaver in the car (12 hours!). He currently has 3 games and we got him a new one for the trip. I agree that the games are expensive and that there is not a wide selection but I got 3 games for the price of 2 (Toys R Us) and the ones that he has he likes.

Oh yes! My son (5) loves his leapster explorer! and for long car trips is a really saver... just get him a new game, that he has not played before just starting the road and you will have him very happy and busy for a good amount of time!

The game is very friendly and resistant, we had the leapster2 before and now my little girl (2) "plays" with it...and it still works and is not broken!

My 3 1/2 year old loves his explorer! I researched tons on all the preschool handhelds and decided on the explorer. I bought it direct from the leapfrog.com website around Christmas time when he turned 3 and they had a bundle (handheld, 3 games and an accessory) for a pretty good discount! He has Mr Pencil, Kai Lan, Toy Story 3 and I bought him Wolverine separately-he loves superheros-and my accessory was the storage bag! I ended up getting a free camera with the bundle (the website made a mistake with my order so they sent that as an "I'm sorry"), but my son's explorer is so full with his Leapfrog movies that he has no memory left for pictures, which is fine because he adores the 30 minute movies (you have to purchase the leaplet download cards to download the movies, e-books and other games). He has 2 games, 3 e-books and 4 movies and that takes up most of the internal memory...so I just occasionally change out the movies and the e-books. My suggestion...I would purchase 4-6 leaplet cards (2-3 packs) to start with to download the movies/books/games and go from there. Total, I have purchased 10 leaplet cards so far over the past year. His favorite downloadable game is the brushing teeth game!

It is something he takes in the car with us, plays while daddy plays xbox and he takes it when we go shopping. He would play all day if I let him...but it is educational and I have seen him learning things (for example, he now can spell multiple words thanks to Wolverine, he knows all the sounds each letter makes thanks to a Leapfrog movie, he is working on colors and drawing lines thanks to Mr Pencil which now allows him to write his name pretty clearly and on and on!)

My one suggestion would be to invest in the charger station or you will go through SO many batteries! The charge lasts a long time!

The only frustration I have had is with the computer program that you have to download from the website to update your explorer, add the programs and "purchase" the items for their pet (they get points for playing games that go towards that)- it gets a little glitchy sometimes and is slllloooooowwww sometimes, but it has been okay lately so maybe they fixed it!

I bought one for my daughter when she was 4.5. She loves to play with NickJr.com so I figured she'd love it. She hardly uses it. She has a few games but she prefers the computer.

I would try going to Game Stop to see if they have a used one to buy. Or at least used games.

Funny side story - we were watching the news about young kids and iPads. When it was over, my daughter said - oh, can I have one? Jeez - I don't even have one yet.

Santa got my 5 year olds each one for Christmas, and it was one of the best presents they ever received. The games are worth the $20 - especially when Toys R Us has buy 2 get one Free specials on them. The games also grow with the child after they've mastered certain things; and most of them go up to 8 or 9 years old. Plus, when you purchase the leapster (or the camera - or both) you get a free "app" called a Leaplet that you download a game or book. They work just as well as the purchased games - just cheaper and there isn't a cartrige becuase it stays on the hand held. They hand held is also very durable. We are very pleased with these game systems for our girls. The "Globe" game has taught them a lot about geography, and the princess games keep them hooked. We also purchased the camera for them, and my girls became very creative - creating videos, playing games with their pictures etc.

My daughter loves her leapster explorer. We take it almost every where we go. Like the other post says you can sometimes find deals on the games.

My son who is 6 1/2 now got a leapster explorer at his 6th birthday. He absolutely loves it and we use it on car trips and plane flights. He uses it at home from time to time but it is a good little gadget to take when there may be times when they get bored in the car or plane or wherever. From time to time there are deals on the actual games, we got a two for one deal at Toys R us and bought up several games to dole out at various times throughout the year. Good luck we thought it was a good investment.

We have it and it's been played with off and on for a year... it helps with letters a bit without any games, and offers some free download games that are ok. Yes the games are expensive LOL we have only ONE game!

My son loves his and the games are long so one goes a long way.

We have the V-Tech MobiGo, which is the same thing, just different brand. I think the V-Tech system itself is of better quality (my twin nieces have the Leapster one and have had some issues with it, although the newer version might be better). The pro for the Leapster model though is that you have a much wider selection of games. But my son LOVES his and has used it well past getting our money's worth for it. Games are spendy for both brands, but we just add one here and there, before a vacation or birthday. I think you should go for it! Great for the car and a great alternative for her to watching movies. He also has the Tag Reader and LOVES it too.

We have one and i would say it is well worth the money. The games are expensive but if you buy at Toys R us and have their perks card for every 3 you buy you get one free and they do not have to be bought all at one time. Amazon also has great sales on them from time to time.

My son is 4 and he loves it. We limit his time on it and do not let him play it the second we get in the car but wait till he needs a distraction. He loves to play and is getting much better with some of his skills and his writing.

There is a pet game that comes with the handheld that you have to hook it to the computer and "buy "more treats with. They earn coins for playing and learning and then use these to buy things. They can also play games on the computer to earn the coins. I do not let my son do this though. We buy his treats and I give it back to him.

In my opinion it is well worth it!

My daughter loves it...she chooses it over her Nintendo DS any day....she just turned 5 in April...The only thing I dont like is that there arent that many games...I think she has pretty much all of the games for girls...maybe 5 or 6..
Meg.

Our 5 yo twins love theirs. We also bought a rechargeable battery pack and a carrying case for each one. Check different stores and the leapfrog website to find the best price.