Recommendations for leapfrog stuff?

[jrose_lee]

Hey!

I'm new to the whole leapfrog thing and it seems like there are some different options.

Ds is almost 4 and has been watching more videos than I like lately. (5 month old ds2 is having trouble taking naps without me in the bed and his naps in the carrier stink).

I thought I might try to work something in that was at least somewhat educational.

Does anyone have any recommendations for leapfrog stuff for this age? Maybe stuff with learning letter sounds and beginning reading stuff? I thought he might think it is fun....

Thanks!
jessica

[jlpumkin]

I think I read either on here or another hsing board a glowing recommendation for the Letter Factory group of Leap Frog videos. We sort of waffled about it for quite sometime. But finally went and bought them last week. We/he loves them. DS was already very interested in letters and picking up quite a few of the names/sounds though. For me it's extremely helpful to have him occupied in a semi-educational activity while I concentrate on teaching a concept to my DD. He's not always up for something quiet or in another room ~ but then again what 4 yo boy is always ready to be quiet?

[ocelotmom]

We have the Letter/Word factory videos and a leapster with a few games. Both my 3 and 6 year old use the leapster, so a 4 year old probably can too.

I'm not going to try to claim that it's highly educationally beneficial, but I suppose it is better than some of the alternatives. I do feel that the games are awfully expensive, and not all that much cheaper used.

[IncompetentHousewife]

Like all of you I'm not big on just sitting my child in front of the TV, but my girls received a gift of a LeapFrog DVD and now I recommend it highly. They first received Talking Letter Factory, then we got Word Factory and Math Circus.

Although I spent a lot of time with my oldest daughter teaching her the letters and letter sounds, I must admit that much of what she learned came from Talking Letter Factory because the songs and stories make the letters and their sounds so memorable. I'd definitely start with that one. I started using their songs in our one-on-one learning time and it helped a lot.

Someone else gave us the Fridge Magnet set and that's also great for reinforcing letters and sounds. My little one doesn't ever seem to want to sing along with us singing the ABC song (she's shy) but will now sing along with the toy.

We also have the Farm Fridge Magnet, but it's more of an annoying noisy toy to me. It's better than some, but not something I'd go out and buy.

We have a hand-me-down LeapPad and a couple books/cartridges that we use sometimes. They're nice, though I wouldn't spend a ton on them. We've never tried Leapster or anything like that.

My daughter does have a LeapFrog letter toy where you press buttons to hear letter sounds and can play games, but I wouldn't buy that either. The sound clarity is probably better than other electronic toys, but it's still electronic and plastic and it's hard to distinguish a T sound from a P sound. Also, my kids flip the switches from game to game without ever really concentrating on one to actually play it.

HTH.