Thoughts on the Leapster 2 for 5 Year Old?

[Indianamom2]

I know nothing about the Leapster except just very basic knowledge of what it is. Are the games any good?

My DD #1 is turning 5 on Tuesday. I don't want more toys. We are overwhelmed now. She loves computer and WII games and still plays with her Leapfrog Clickstart computer, but she has all the games she's interested in that they make.

Is the Leapster 2 any good or would something else similar be better? I don't want to make the investment if it really isn't that great.

Thanks,
Christina

[Pennylane]

You might think about a ds for a 5 year old. My 4 year olds have a leapster and they love it, but you are really limited on the games.

The ds has so many more options and your dd could use it for many more years.

Ann

[s_gosney]

My 5 y/o still likes her leapster (reg, not L2), but if I were buying her something now, I would look at the Nintendo DS (better for older kids, not "babyish", more games). Leapster also makes something called the Didj which I am not really familiar with but it might be worth looking into.

[Indianamom2]

All the different systems get so confusing!

She likes educational games, and I prefer those too. She still needs help with numbers and letters...does the DS offer that type of thing?

Christina

[s_gosney]

I will have to defer on this question. There are lots of others here who have the DS and can speak better to your question. GL finding a good fit!

[calv]

DS IMHO is pure gaming and the the leapster, L-Max and Leapster 2 are all mainly very educational. We have close to 20 games and love them all. New ones come out all the time. From walle to leap frog letter factory to sonic.

[calv]

DUP post, sorry.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

My son is turning 5 in 2 weeks and he is getting a Leapster 2.

We, especially DH, were really considering the DS, but after talking with friends and asking around decided to go with the Leapster. At least there is some semblance of educational value. :) Friends who got their kids the DS were really negative about - it really is just a video game and it caused a lot of problems with the kids wanting to play all the time ,etc. She much preferred the Leapster.

He may be only interested in it for a year or so, but that's okay. We paid $50 for the Leapster 2 + 1 game, and then I got 2 more games on clearance for $10 each, so we don't have a lot invested in it.

From the way he is talking, though, he is going to love it. :p

Plus, DS is super excited about it. He is dying for a Leapster, which cracks me up. I'm sure next year it will be something

[deannanb]

DS will be 5 in October -
we just bought him a Leapster in August -
He has an old DS and use of an iTouch

I would not hesitate to buy the Leapster over a DS - Educational Leapster - not one educational game on the DS - (think Super Mario Brothers for every game - just different characters)

We have a Diego game, Eye Spy (which DS thinks is a little hard) and Cars -
(I read the Amazon reviews before buying them on sale at Target - 19.99)

[mom2binsd]

A great idea!!!!!!!

DD got a Leapster 2 for Christmas, it is one of her fav things...awesome for long trips but she will often sit quietly for ages and play, the games are educationally based which I prefer. We tend to keep it in the van and she will pick it up while we're driving around. She LOVES LOVES LOVES the game PET PALS but enjoys the others too. It is very different from a DS which is really a video game system.

I highly recommend it- we also got the battery pack, the rechargeable one, it holds about 11 hours of playing time. Without it you'd be buying batteries all the time. We try to buy new games when we see them on sale. I have to say I've been impressed with the content on the games.

DD is now 6 and will play with the PreK-1st games and the 1st-3rd games....

[stephanie2377]

We plan on getting our 4yo a Leapster 2 for Christmas. He has been dying for a handheld game! He has a My First Leapster, but has completely outgrown it.

Can you all list your child's favorite games? I know about PetPals and Cars, but that is about it. I'd love to hear what you all love the most.

Does the Leapster 2 come with a rechargeable battery pack? Do you all have a carry case?

I am trying to think early on this!
Thanks
Stephanie

[mommylamb]

What's the difference between regular leapster and leapster 2?

[mykidsmom]

Is the battery pack the same as the charging station?

[Percycat]

My 5 y/o still likes her leapster (reg, not L2), but if I were buying her something now, I would look at the Nintendo DS (better for older kids, not "babyish", more games). Leapster also makes something called the Didj which I am not really familiar with but it might be worth looking into.

Son(6) received a digi last year from grandparents for Christmas. Son is not excessively interested in video games, but he does enjoy the digi. Although the game selection is limited, compared to the DS, it is more than sufficient for our needs. The games are educational, interspersed with typical video game. For instance, the one of Son's games (sonic?) has a game that seems similar to mario brother type game and once a level is reached, it will have some type of spelling activity/game. These games alternate. My Son really likes this. Another feature of the digi is the ability to customize the games. Bad parents that we are, we just learned how to customize the digi this past weekend. Son had mastered all of the spelling words that were programmed with his game, but we were able to go online and identify new words (from suggested lists or our own lists) and update his game system. We also updated his math games to a higher "grade level". We can track his learning progress by 'sinking' the digi with our computer. We have a couple math games and a couple word games. I saw on the leapfrog website that there are some new games incorporating additional English language skills and science.

My Son is advanced academically and really enjoys math, reading, spelling.... My daughter (4.5) is learning at a more typical rate and would not be able to play any of the games we own for the digi. She also probably doesn't have the fine motor skills at this point to operate the controls, although I expect these might quickly improve with practice.

One interesting feature of the DS is the ability for kids to play with/against each other. We saw unrelated kids meet on an airplane and play with their DS. So, in some ways the DS can be a social game

[MMEand1]

My 6yo got a Leapster 2 at the end of K as a way to keep him interested in continuing to work on math during the summer. He loves it and we have purchased more games that help him with other aspects of school. We recently bought my 4yo DD one and in the space of 4 days we had to replace the batteries twice in each of theirs (it's time for the rechargeable battery packs!). They LOVE them and enjoy learning new things. My DD was so excited that she said "Mom, my leapster is making me learn!"

I certainly do not think that 5 years old is too old for a leapster as long as you have a few games that he can change out. There are a lot of games that the kids can play that makes learning fun!