 "Great for use with dvd xtra games, too!" | 2008-12-11 |
| - Reviewed By carisa_l_kluver |
We got this for our 2 year old who loves the games that we bought (we finally got all 10 that are available). Since it is being discontinued, I found the system for only $14.99 at Tuesday Morning recently, so it wasn't a big investment. The set up for our 3 year old Panasonic DVD player took barely 2 minutes. Very simple. The games are not amazing, nor are they full of content, but my son does enjoy them and has begun to show signs of learning to follow directions, sing along and even pronounce words better (he has a speech delay and the speech therapist has noticed improvements in words the videos introduce).
The best thing about the product, though, has nothing to do with the little leaps game system. Since it sync's with the dvd player, it takes over for the basic function of the enter and arrow keys of the dvd player, allowing the 'extra' features on dvds (like the games on pbs kid's dvds) to be played more easily by children. Now my son can play the games on his curious george dvds without destroying our remote control! Besides, playing a video game using a remote control's arrow keys is pretty confusing, so the joy stick is a serious improvement. This expands the educational uses of this product enough to justify my 5 stars.
My husband & I even played the 'pollination game' on the 'Bee Movie' dvd for over an hour. Silly, yes, but still more fun than using the remote. We should probably get out more! |
| |
 "great educational toy" | 2008-09-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1STQ12KF7JMJ4 |
| i lovve leap frog products this is the second one im purchasing the first was for my own children three years ago and this one is for a friends daughters first birthday.we have gradually graduated ourself up thrue these products up to the computer now and we will keep buying as our children get older absolutly recommendet! |
| |
 "Not very happy with LeapFrog..." | 2008-08-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2JCRICTLINISR |
| I got this for my 1 yr old last christmas, it did take me forever to set it up we have a TV/DVD player and I had to use the extra codes to get it to work... My son didnt seem to grasp which button to push on the controller, we have EVERY DISC, I would point to it and then he would push it... I guess maybe thats what you should do... now he is 20 months and has no intrest in it at all... the controller is very durrible as my son has tossed it around his room... I wish they had Elmo in their disc's though... I should have gotten the v-smile for baby.. It is just frustrating when you spend the time and money and it doesnt seem to get you any where but a head ache... for parents, when your child does not push the right button or push it at all the voice will keep saying "push a button" again and again... quite annoying!! |
| |
 "Dissapointing" | 2008-08-08 |
| - Reviewed By mariajl |
I find this thing more annoying than educational.
First, it wouldn't set up easily with the Magnavox DVD player we have. I had to look up alternate codes online (that people just happened to find).
Then, for some reason (even though we did the initial set-up correctly) every time we start it up, it plays in Spanish and we have to go through the menus to select English.
Lastly, most frustrating, is how slow it is.
My 20month old gets excited to see his game put on... and is then bored 3-4 minutes into the game (and he can pay good attention to other videos or games).
There is just too long a delay between "push a button" and the DVD then churning to the result.
Overall, the games aren't impressive and don't provide anymore learning than we give him when reading him his books.
Maybe if we had gotten it when he was 9 months it would have been more appropriate. But at this age -- even with different purchased discs -- he is just bored. |
| |
| "Incredibly frustrating to install, but a great idea and educational" | 2008-08-05 |
| - Reviewed By stuzle |
I read a lot of the other reviews about how hard this game is to install, and all of them are right! I think the problem is mainly the incredibly bad instructions. I figured out after an hour that the code for my DVD player was fine the first time, I just wasn't pushing the red button fast enough, as the instructions made it sound like the screen would tell you when to push it, but actually the screen just shows a picture of the game floating around in space and you are supposed to guess that means your code was accepted and you need to push the button! I figured it out mostly by chance, after trying the web site and the 800 number. Shame on you, Leapfrog---you could write better instructions than that!!
However, once I got the game going and figured out (also by chance) how to make it be in English and not Spanish) I was pleased to some extent with the product. The game that came with the system is really just a demo, but my box came with another game attached to the outside and that one is better. It has a variety of learning activities, like a car going down a road and you use a joystick to pick which way you want to go, thereby seeing a video about one of two animals. I liked the real videos, as opposed to cartoons.
My daughter is autistic and learns in unconventional ways, so although she is almost 4, this is a great product for her. I had bought a V-Smile and it's so much beyond her. Even her video game whiz 10 year old brother got frustrated with the games! In this case, she easily can make SOMETHING happen, and so she actually pays attention. I have never been a fan of electronic learning, but after a while, you do what works, and she will play for hours with an electronic phone that only plays a few sounds, so this will let her have a more varied experience!
I haven't tried all the games I bought to go with this, but I will soon and will review them.
So a mixed feeling---terrible instructions for adults, fairly engaging toy for kids. |
| |
| "More pros than cons" | 2008-07-31 |
| - Reviewed By nleerussell |
| Bottom line the set up sucks! I had this thing initally set up in about 5 minutes, however after changing DVD players (my previous unit went out on me) set up just would not take even after a frustrating 25 minute call to customer service. I am disappointed because now I have this useless unit and some unopened additional software for this thing. Overall this is a good learning tool for a 10-24 month old child, IF you can get it functional. |
| |
Expedited Available
