Leappad?

la79al

DD1 has decided she wants a Leappad for Christmas.  She already has a Leapster (old, I know) that she rarely plays.  We also have a Kindle Fire that has more kid games than adult games (all the free ones though).  I'm wondering whether people recommend a Leappad for a 5.5 year old.  She is not one of these kids who has an electronic in their hand every time they are required to entertain themselves for 30 seconds so I'm kind of leaning toward just giving her cash instead and letting her buy different games for the Kindle.  On the other hand, she has a pretty reasonable Christmas list so I'm thinking about just getting her all that she is asking for (3 things, she's definitely getting the other 2).  

Virgo&Aquarius

Speaking from experience I wish I'd never bought my daughter a leappad. It was such a waste of money and besides, the leapster isn't all that different. The games were way expensive. I think we got it for her 6th birthday. She tired of it rather quickly and really ended up wanting a more "grown up" like tablet because the leappad became baby like in her eyes and didn't have angry birds or temple run or stuff that was popular. We ended up getting her a nexus7 when she was 8.

neverblushed

I would steer away from the LeapPad at this point.  Educationally, I think the principles behind the Leap-whatever systems are fine.  I loved the videos when my kids were in the early stages of learning to read.  And we did have a LeapPad when my DD was about 4. 

But there's just not enough depth to in terms of the games and activities to justify buying the pad AND continuing to buy expensive games for it.  At age 5, she'll tire of this type of easy educational game pretty quickly.  There's only a short span in a given kid's life when they are into games of this nature.

If LeapFrog was smart, they'd drop their hardware and focus on developing really awesome educational gaming apps for iPhone and Android. 

nevertune

I think your daughter might be a bit to old to really enjoy a Leappad. She'd probably get more long-term use and enjoyment from a DS. My son is 6.5 and prefers a desktop computer to any of his other gadgets and gaming systems. I would trust your instincts and just let her purchase some games on the Kindle.

jnksmom

I would not get the leap pad. DD asked Santa for one last year so we got it. She plays on my iPad way more than her leap pad. I wish I had talked her out of it. I seriously think after the first 2-3 days she has played on it maybe 10 times. She is 5yrs old fwiw.