Leapster LeapPad?

ECUGirl2004

I know there was some discussion about the LeapPad at Christmas, but I was wondering if anyone has actually gotten one for their child? I'm thinking of getting it for Nate for his 4th birthday, especially since it may come in handy with a new baby around and with our journey across the world.

Reviews on Amazon are so mixed... it seems like a lot of people recommend buying a Kindle Fire or an iPod Touch instead. Have any of you guys gotten one of those instead? Nate's not going to care about brand or anything, of course. What's going to matter to us is functionality and durability.

crescentmoon99

Liam got a LeapPad for Christmas, and he LOVES it. I probably never would have gotten him one (it was a gift from MIL) but he will sit an play it for an hour straight, easily. I can't compare it to the Kindle Fire, and DH never let Liam touch is iPod Touch, but the LeapPad is great. It seems pretty sturdy. Liam's pretty careful with it, but he's a kid, I've seen him carry it by the stylus, he's dropped it, stepped on it, etc.

He loves the games on it, and some of them seem to have pretty good learning potential too. It's got a built in camera and video camera, which Liam loves. I like that everything in it is designed to preschoolers, so even the menus are designed for them to navigate. It talks them through it and tells them what to click if they get stuck somewhere.

Also, compared to something like an Ipod or Kindle, I like that the LeapPad is ONLY for toddlers. It can't connect to the internet or accidentally download anything I don't want him to have, you know? I have to connect it to my laptop with a cable to put new stuff on it. I'd be afraid he would be surfing the web or something on a Kindle, or downloading books LOL.

If we have another MNO or something, I'd be happy to bring ours and let you play around with it if you'd like. 

Oh, and yes it is great for plane rides! Although we did have an argument on one flight about volume level, and a flight attendant on another flight told us we had to use headphones (which I thought was lame b/c over the sound of the airplane, you could barely hear it...it was quieter than other people's conversation, and much quieter than my otherwise bored and whiny toddler). Let's just say, people started complaining after I had to take it away from him and the flight attendant later told me to give it back to him LOL! 

futureJHL

we decided to go with the ipod touch bc the apps are so much cheaper for it (and there's free stuff too). it would have ended up being more expensive for the leap-pad.

 I've also read that for the leap pad, you need to get rechargeable batteries.  

 We knew that nora would be ok with handling it, but we did get a really heavy duty case for it- I think it's called the otterbox or something like that.

crescentmoon99

futureJHL:

I've also read that for the leap pad, you need to get rechargeable batteries.

Yes, it eats batteries like crazy! MIL also hooked us up with rechargable batteries for it, luckily. 

Rasz39

futureJHL:

we decided to go with the ipod touch bc the apps are so much cheaper for it (and there's free stuff too). it would have ended up being more expensive for the leap-pad. 

We knew that nora would be ok with handling it, but we did get a really heavy duty case for it- I think it's called the otterbox or something like that.

Em uses by iPod and her dad's iPhone pretty well, actually. And she regularly snitches my Kindle Fire. DH has the otterbox for his iPhone (after a scary step drop that cracked the first one's screen) and it survives working in stocking/receiving, so we know it is pretty toddler-safe. I like the fact that these are things that can grow with her and that I can control what is loaded on the devices.