LeapFrog Learn Create and Share Party

I recently had the opportunity to host a LeapFrog “Learn, Create & Share” Party. My kids have had several LeapFrog products throughout the years and I have always enjoyed them because of their ability to combine learning with fun so I was very excited to see what new products they had out.  For the party I was sent;

• One LeapPad learning tablet (the kids like to call this their own Ipad). This came preloaded with Disney-Pixar Cars 2 Ultra eBook, Roly Poly Picnic game, Letter Factory video plus Art Studio., Story Studio and Pet Pad apps. Plus we also received the LeapSchool Reading cartridge game.
• One Tag Reading System along with the Learn to Read Series 1: Short Vowels
• An Interactive World Map to be used with the Tag reader
• We also received coupons, fact sheets and coloring pages to share with our guests

I was really impressed with the LeapFrog products sent for the party. My older kids had the My First LeapPad and the old school LeapPad with the attached pen when they were younger and these products have sure advanced since then.

The LeapPad Explorer was a huge hit with all the kids at the party. The age range listed on the package was 4-9 but the two and 3 year olds at the party loved watching the older kids play with it and my two year old even tried out the Art Studio application on it and loved it. The oldest at our party was my 11 year old and he thought the LeapPad was very cool, especially the camera and video camera that comes on it. It seemed  like a great toy that the kids would not get bored with easily since it came with a variety of things to do on it plus you can always buy more games to add to it. The Cars eBook was interesting because it is very interactive. It adjusts based on a child’s reading level and remembers that for next time as well as adjusting as they improve their reading skills. The LeapSchool Reading is a great game for kids learning to read and I’m looking forward to seeing what other great games are available to add eventually. You could use it for Geography, Reading, Math or Science depending on what you decide to add to it but even without adding to it the parents can build in customized skills like math and spelling for each kid so the kids are learning while playing. Because this one seemed to be a big hit with all of the kids no matter what age I think this will be a great activity for the kids when I have some work I need to get done from home.

The Tag Reading system was a big jump from the reading systems I had used with the old LeapFrog My First LeapPad. You can use the Tag reader to read the entire page but you can also run it along a word to read the individual word for those beginning readers trying to sound it out themselves. You can also point to the individual letters and it will name the letters for you. One great thing I liked about the system as compared to the older LeapFrog products I have is that you don’t have to worry about losing any cartridges that go with it.The books and Tag reader were a big hit with all of the younger kids at the party and as a homeschooling Mom I thought it was a great activity to use when your younger kids are finished with school and you still have work to do with the older ones. Send the younger ones off to “play” with this and little do they know they are still learning while having fun!

My personal favorite from the party though was the Interactive World Map used with the Tag Reader. Again, all ages of kids at the party seemed to enjoy playing with this. It is very simple to use so even the two and three year olds had a blast playing with it all the way up to the older kids. I see this as a product that I will be incorporating into our homeschool studies frequently.

When you touch different parts of the map with the Tag it tells you something about that country. It teaches children map skills by learning to locate places on the map. It has a feature where you can “meet” children from other parts of the world and learn things like what they have for breakfast, what kind of music they listen to and how they say hello in their language. We are currently studying Australia in our geography at home so the kids were having fun using the map to find out different fun facts about Australia and I am looking forward to digging this out for our weekly lessons to make Geography more fun.

I received free LeapFrog products in order to host a Learn, Create and Share Party. LeapFrog did not influence my opinions expressed here as a result.