S.S.
(ETA I posted using my phone and it is driving me nuts that I have spelling errors but my little screen won't let me scroll to correct then, so I apologize in advance and hope you are able to interpret the words I was meaning that my phone autocorrected! Ugh! Lol!)
I am a big supporter of the Leapster/LeapPad...my son got the original Leapster Explorer when he was about 2 1/2 and in the process of a few months taught HIMSELF the entire alphabet plus the sounds plus all the numbers 1-10 (he watched the Leapfrog Alphabet video daily plus a math one that you can get in the app store...highly recommend)...by 3, he was spelling simple words thanks to Wolverine! At 4, he is becoming a pretty good reader plus can count to 100. I have to limit play because they would play all day if I let them so it is mainly when daddy plays his game plus mornings when we want to try to sleep in a little more and long car trips and during errands. When my younger son turned 2 1/2, he started messing around on his brothers game and I thought it may be too hard for him (he wanted to play Wolverine which is spelling) but to my amazement, it did a bunch of pre-k letter recognition for him and he is breeding through...he also taught himself the alphabet and sounds from it like his brother...following right on his footsteps. So he turns 3 tomorrow (yikes, I know!) And while my boys did fantastic taking turns with the Explorer, I thought is was time to get him a game of his own so I preordered the LeapPad2 which he got earlier this month because we were going on a long car ride...i love how much memory it has! The Explorer can hold about 3 video apps (if they are shorter), a couple game apps and a couple e-books and thats it...the LeapPad can hold every app we have boughten in the last 3 years plus has tons of room left over for more plus it came with a free app (the LeapFrog alphabet movie is one option that I would recommend, but there is a Rolly Polly Picnic game that teaches them about the new movement feature with the LeapPad2 so because we already had the movie, I went with that.) I also love that they now have episodes of Team Umizoomi and other Nick Jr shows as apps which definitely helped the monotony of a long car drive, but is educational! I feel I should warn you of two things though: first, I allowed my sins to take the case to their room and a game cartridge got lost (my son later said his little brother threw it in the trash, but who knows) so now they have to trade games out with me (oh and guess I'll make this 1a...lol...invest in the charger for the Explorer or a rechargable battery system from the store for the LeapPad2 because it goes through batteries like a child goes through candy!) And 2, the computer program that you use to update and add apps and do your parent thing on is super glitchy and will often shut down and takes a but of patience on your part but is so worth the educational value of the systems! Definitely worth every penny I paid! Hope this helps!
