We bought Caitlyn the LeapReader for her third birthday last year. I did not give it to her at the time, as I felt she was too young. I recently started giving her the LeapReader to play with and this is how it has been going.
LerapFrog LeapReader: What does it do?
The LeapReader is an electronic pen, that is used in conjunction with LeapReader books. The tip of the pen has a sensor, and when it touches a word or an icon on a page it can read the whole page or sound out the word. This can help a child learn to read and can also be used for tracing to help a child with learning to write.
Who is it for?
The leap reader is targeted at kids aged 4 to 8. Caitlyn is two months shy of four and she is enjoying it.
We started by sitting with her and showing her how it works. It is really easy to use and she caught on very quickly. The LeapReader comes with a sample LeapReader book and there are a few sample of stories included.
What made the LeapReader really fun and useful:
- Caitlyn could use it easily, it is very simple and straightforward
- It has the benefits of an audio book and an actual book combined. The LeapReader has a function where you touch a specific icon on a page and it will read aloud that specific page
- Besides reading a whole page or sounding out words, the characters in the book also come alive through audio when you touched them on the pages. Very entertaining for a 3 year old, trust me!
- She would literally sit by herself for 20 – 30 minutes playing with it. This is always a good thing 🙂
- The LeapReader book also includes games and quizzes and this was a lot of fun. We had to do the games together, because these particular games were a bit advanced but it was fun nonetheless
- You can also download additional audio books and LeapFrog songs, from a LeapFrog account, which we already had set up as we have a LeapPad
- It also has a headphone jack, very handy if you need some quiet time.
What we did not like
What did we not like? Hmm….
Although the leap reader came in at around R 800 on takealot. The LeapReader books that you are required to buy with the LeapReader is at least R 200 – R 350 each, this can add up and can be quite costly if you want to buy a couple of these books.
In closing
This is a fun and educational toy for young kids, and enhances learning. I would definitely recommend it for this age group. In my opinion, the LeapReader is a good learning system that can complement (not replace) normal learning to read and write activities.