My son is turning 3 this month ( very busy son might I add) and I am looking into getting him the Leapfrog Leapster2 Learning Game. He is always needing entertainment when we are out and about and a lot of times he wants to play with our iphone which does not have that many educational games. The age recommendation for the leapster is 4-8, do you think he is too young? He loves books so I thought about the leapfrog tag reader junior but I really think he will get bored or only play with it at home. Any thoughts?? Thanks!
My kids love their lapsers. They got them at age 3 and 5. They have had them for two years now and still play with them, although I try to restrict them to drs. Visits, waiting room time, long car rides and such. That way they don't get sick of them. Also just an FYI. We got so many games from craigslist and used from a friend with older kids who don't use them anymore. I think I paid no more than $5 for every game.
We looked into that for our 4 year old and decided on the Leapster Explorer. It is our "going out" toy. He loves it and I feel just perfect for his age bracket and he can learn the games himself without someone hovering over him. I would recommend the Explorer to anyone!
Echoing the others - absolutely not! My son turned 5 in November and we bought him a Leapster Explorer (Games: Mr. Pencil saves Doodleburg; Penguins of Madegasgar; Globe Explorer).
Our just over 2.5 year old LOVES Doodleburg. Sometimes she will just watch while her brother plays, but she loves to play too.
We chose the Explorer over the Leapster2 since it was higher resolution screen, and other minor differences seemed to suggest that it was the model ultimately replacing the Leapster2 (unfortunately, the games from Leapster2 and Explorer are totally different and not mutually compatible, so once you make the choice, you don't have the flexibility to change your mind). I think we'll be getting our younger one an Explorer for her 3rd birthday.
Hi L.!
We purchased two Leapster2 back in 2009 for our 5 & 4 year olds.
This past Christmas we purchased the NEW Explorer and gave it to the 5-year old and then gave our 2-year old the older Leapster2.
By all means...just skip the Leapster2 and purchase the Explorer. The screen resolution is FANTASTIC!
Our 2-year old just loves to play with it. The game Mr. Pencil would be great for him and also already loaded on the game is Pet Path that is really simple to do (kinda like Pet Pals for Leapster 2). AND you can download books onto the Explorer and then it's super similar to the Tag (which we also own and highly recommend).
The Explorer and Tag are GREAT products.
HIGHLY recommend the case & the recharging battery for the Explorer or even for the Leapster2.
He's definitely not too young. He'll need help at first but if he's playing with your iphone he should be fine. My son loves his!
I think three is fine. My second son had one at that age and could easily play with it. It was also a toy that lasted a long time. I think he played with it until he was six. Watch for good sales on the cartridges. This Christmas I saw them as low as $15.00, which was an incredible price.
The toy is also pretty indestructable too by the way.:)
.
My oldest loved the Leapster. She is 6 now and still uses it from time to time.
Last year I got my daughter the Tag Jr Reader (she was 3) and she loves it; however I feel she out grew it quickly (I should have bought it when she was 2 because she loves books). What I would recommend is the Tag Reader and get a few of the Jr books (Tag can read both the Tag & Tag Jr. books but not the other way around. It will read the whole page like the Jr does for those books and read the Tag books like it should. The Jr will only read the Jr books).
As for the Leapster, it would be fine for your 3 year old but it really depends on which games you get to go w/ it (try to not get games that are way above him or they may be too hard for him right now).
My son still loves his Leapster and he got it last Christmas (2009) at 3-1/2 - so now he's almost 5 and still uses it - not all the time cuz he has a lot more but he loves to play it in the car especially!!
the tag jr is awesome i got it for my daughter when she was 2, but your son is three i would up grade to the tag. it will last him longer. and there are more books, for the tag.
also i got my daughter the v smile motion for christmas, and she loves it. the screen resolution is kinda crappy. but it keeps her entertained for hours. there are many games for it too.
I have 4 year old twins and we have both the Leapster and Mobigo (Vtech) and they are very similar. The Mobogo is a little more expensive and I think newer. I have found the Leapster on sale and the games also on sale. The mobigo was a gift and I have not bought any games for it yet, as they are expensive. I like both systems. The mobigo has a pop out keyboard, and I do like that better for number and letter recognition. We have had the Leapster for few years now. We got it for our oldest. Our twins have been using it since they were three, so I think it is age appropriate. Also the Mobigo is for 3-8 year olds. All of the games are age specific as well, so you can buy things geared to a specific age group. Good luck.
We have the leapster 2, TAG, and TAG jr. My favorite of the 3 is the TAG. He'll outgrow the Jr. too fast. The TAG is AWESOME!!! I think my son actually taught himself to read at age 4 because of it. That would be my first choice. You can always get him the leapster in a few months or next Christmas! I think my son was 3.5 when we got the leapster and he really liked it, but it was a few months until he really understood what to do with some of the younger games.
