Need help w/ this gift: Little Touch LeapPad

[ha98ed14]

DD got this from DH's parents for Christmas. We were at SIL's house when she opened it, so she did not get to open the box. Now that we are home, I figured out how it works, but the stupid thing seems really poorly designed for a 20 mo old. (It says it is good for 6-36 mo.)

She got some "books" that go with it, but in order to stay on the right page, the child has to push the green go button on each page for the computer knows what page the book is open to. My kid cannot figure this out. She is good at pushing buttons that look like buttons, but these don't- no raised bump or anything to give it away. Is this a toy she will grow into or is this just a poorly designed toy?

[o_mom]

Yes, we have this and this is my big issue with it. It is not a 'play alone' toy until much later. By the time they can do it themselves, they are old enough for a regular leappad, IME. My 3 and 5 yos use it and I didn't pay for it (hand-me-down), so I have kept it, but I wouldn't go buy one.

[ha98ed14]

Thanks! Glad to know I am not alone in my dislike, but I feel really bad that this was DD's gift from her grandparents. (Not that they knew it was lousy.) I would Goodwill it ASAP, but I *know* that MIL with want to play with it with her when she comes over. Sigh. More noisy junk to fill up my already too small place.

ETA: I am watching DD "play" with it right now and the thing talks so calmly while DD jumps on it. It is a very funny sight. Maybe it will break. :)

[deborah_r]

DS1 received this at 7 months old, and never grew any interest in it. He's 5 years old now.

[mariza]

Both of my kids did the same thing, I would try to read it with them, but they just wanted to push buttons and flip pages with no regard for waiting to hear the story. Now that they are 2.5 & 4 I figured it was time to get it out of the house. I asked a friend if her 1 yo had one and she said that they had one at her Mom's house and her DD loved it. I gave her ours to keep at her house so her DD had one there to play with. She would have told me not to bring it if she didn't think it would get play time (she's said no to other stuff I offered up) so I have to assume that it just depends on the baby. I'm glad some one is getting use out of it.
On the other hand, my DD also got the V-Tech Whiz Kid which got horrible reviews, but both of my kids loved it and listened to the stories. They are currently on clearance at my B&M TRU and you can often find the books for about $5. You can also hook it up to your PC for more content, but we never bothered with that feature. My kids fought over this so much I may go to TRU and pick up another one.

[erosenst]

If you have room, I'd keep it. Around 3, Abby loved it...and she still occasionally plays with it at almost 5...it's a good "hanging out on a car ride" toy for us.

Emily
Abby 4.11

[hellokitty]

It's not you, it's inappropriately labeled for the age. I don't think that it's really a toy that a child could use until they are at LEAST three. I don't know if they ever changed the design, but one of my biggest pet peeve with this toy was that the power button was RIGHT there at a very reachable spot. So, my kids would always hit it and then we'd have to start over again. My kids also had a hard time pushing down hard enough on the objects on the page many times to set off the computer. It's just not a very well thought out toy, esp one that is marketed toward BABIES.

[nov04]

I'm so glad I saw this. We've had it for ages and I thought I was a just a turd and couldn't do a good enough job helping dd1 figure it out. She has a leapster and regular books and loves them, just not mixed together! :)

[sidmand]

Interesting, my three-year-old loves this but he's always been a bit young for his age and a) yes, it's way too complicated for the age range it says it's geared for but I thought that b) by the time they could figure this one out they would be more interested in one of the other LeapPads. But at the moment, this one is probably DS's favorite and like a pp said, he uses it in the car all the time. We usually keep it in the car and it keeps him busy. But I think some (many?) kids would be bored with it by the time they can figure it out.

[Melaine]

I'm pretty annoyed about these....for some reason i thought they were super fun looking and bought two for the girls long ago (don't worry, I bought them both used and cheap!). The only time they would use this toy and enjoy it is when I can't read a book to them....but they need my help to do it even now at 26 months. They don't grasp the concept of always having to push the green go button, which results in them "learning" that an Igloo makes the sound of "Meowww" because the last time they pushed the green go button was on the page with the "C". I think these may wind up in the yard sale pile for spring....

[vonfirmath]

I'm SO glad its not just me!
16 month old son got it for Christmas -- for a plane trip gift. (they are being discontinued, btw, so almost not available at all anymore. I got mine used with 4 books)

All he wants to do is hit the on/off button. Even when I put the animal alphabet in and get it set up right, he can't just touch the screen and make it work, but the on/off button does something Right Away Every Time he touches it!

(And he's a STRONG boy. But he can't seem to touch the toy hard enough to make it work. As an adult, *I* am having problems making it work!)

I think this one goes back up on Craigslist.

[gatorsmom]

I haven't read all the other posters yet but Cha Cha is a very bright kid and he STILL has problems with this toy. He received it for Xmas last year while Gator received a Leapster LMax last year. Cha has better luck working the Lmax than he does the Leappad. I have to use it with him. Yet he has no problem finding the video games on DH's cell phone.

I wish I had just bought him an Lmax, frankly. jmho

[mecawa]

We had this problem too. I think it is really poorly designed for the age group in which it is intended. DD got to one from the in laws for her 1st bday (I think). She is now 4 and has played with the thing once. By the time she was old enough to really work it on her own she was using a regular leap pad, which in my opinion the regular leap pad is great, it seems to have much more of a purpose than the little touch one. We ended up donating our little touch one, I didn't even bother saving it for DD#2.

[hellokitty]

I'm pretty annoyed about these....for some reason i thought they were super fun looking and bought two for the girls long ago (don't worry, I bought them both used and cheap!). The only time they would use this toy and enjoy it is when I can't read a book to them....but they need my help to do it even now at 26 months. They don't grasp the concept of always having to push the green go button, which results in them "learning" that an Igloo makes the sound of "Meowww" because the last time they pushed the green go button was on the page with the "C". I think these may wind up in the yard sale pile for spring....

I got so sick of sounding like a broken record. "Make sure you push the green button first!" I guess the, "good" thing about this is that when your kids move on to the leap pad, they have to push a green button as well. However, babies and toddlers just want to push whatever they want to push on the page and don't understand the concept of pushing the green button FIRST each time the page is flipped.