Christmas Shopping - I'm over It and Haven't Even Started!!

I was looking into one of the educational tablets by either V-tech or Leapfrog as well. My husband and I decided to just get her a cheap android tablet. You can sometimes find one for about the same price, but you can do more with a tablet. We wanted something that we could put her DVDs on for long trips and that had WiFi. There are educational apps for the android tablets, and they cost less than the apps that you have to buy for the others.

I don't know if this will help or not but my kids love video games. Because of this I felt bad buying my kids video games when they were little so I bought them leapster products I think a leap pad and some handheld thing that connected to the TV. I may has well have set my money on fire for the little bit of use they got out of them compared to any hand held video games.

I get the wanting them to play learning games but I guess I am just throwing this out there for consideration, kids like video games better.

My kids got the leap pad when it first came out. (about 10 yrs ago ish) They barely ever played with it. Maybe it evolved since then?

I think if they are used to the ipad....it's just not going to compare. I am having the same problem here. My boys want an ipod touch but I don't think they are old enough to really take care of it.

My kids are the same age. I ended up getting them the Leapfrog Learning DVD's (letter factory/word factory and the math ones).

I don't have any idea how leap pad is. But I know when my daughter was around 3 my mom got her the leapster....she outgrew that after a year. My youngest got to play it after that. But this past summer before my youngest even turned 4 I sold it in a mom to mom sale. Not sure if it would be the same for the leap pad...but just my opinion of leap frog items. Plus the games are always so expensive, in my opinion!

I am right with you, I always go back and forth and have no idea what I'm doing this year. Ugh!

My friend is giving away a LeapPad on her blog. Maybe you can win it and save yourself the trouble! http://themavenofsocialmedia.com/2011/10/couponcabin%E2%8...

I hope you'll also check out my Discovery Toys page. I have great educational toys and games for children, including some particularly fun ones for kids in the 3-5 age group. http://www.discoverytoyslink.com/karenchao
Check out Motor Works, Short Vowel Fun, Zingo, and anything else that catches your eye. : )

Im over it too!! lol. I am a total review reader and it takes me forever to decide because of this. We just actually decided to not get our oldest (4) the leappad or the vtech thing. There were some good comparative reviews on amazon, but neither really had what we wanted, so we are opting to get a "family ipad" so they can play educational games, watch movies ect, under our supervision and then we can use it too!
We did by him the FisherPrice ixl last year for christmas and he didnt play with it much until recently when his younger brother has taken an interest! Now he plays with it everyday, but the games for it (and the leap pad ect) are so expensive for something that probably wont be of interest in a couple years. So, although its nice for the occasional long car ride, Im not sure I would buy it again.

We are going to probably invest in the tag reader and some books, and they have an interactive map that I think my kids would like too. Its not new, but at least I feel like they are learning something important, like reading skills! Other than that, santa is stumped this year! If you think of any more good ideas, please share them!!

Good luck!

I was going to get my 3 year old a leapster last Christmas, but ended up getting her a DSi b/c she loved her sister's so much. Since then I've been SO glad I made that choice. She won't outgrow the DSi nearly as fast, and it was actually about $50 cheaper. Just my humble opinion.

I remember we got my daughter one at about that age and it barely got used. She didn't like it very much. She likes playing on her dad's iPad now. I think leap pads could seem "lame" to kids after playing on an iPad.

I don't do video games or other electronic learning devices. I am a bit old school on that one. However, I did break down and get my kids (5 and 3 at the time) leapsters around Thanksgiving time last year for a long trip. They love them and I limit their time on them to when we have long trips or those rare Saturday mornings when we just get to stay home and "veg" in the rain.

My advise is that if its something that you think they will love then go for it. Leap frog learning toys are good quality and most kids I know love them!