My First LeapPad
When ‘My First LeapPad’ came out of the box to be tested the children’s excitement was palpable. The testers were a five-year-old beginning to learn to read at school, a nearly three-year-old, and a handy ten-year-old who came to visit. This toy literally kept my two main testers entertained for hours, and held a remarkable fascination for even the ten-year-old.
My First LeapPad has won a number of awards since it was launched in 2001. In the UK it was awarded Silver in the 2003 Right Start Awards and Silver in the 2002 Practical Preschool Awards. It has won various global awards including the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Seal Award and the T.O.T.Y. Toy of the Year Award for Best Educational Toy.
My First LeapPad consists of a sturdy plastic base station, available in either blue or pink, which has a pen attached to it. This pen is all the user needs to play with the LeapPad, and is chunky and easy to grip so as even a toddler can hold it. All you have to do then is attach any one of a range of books to it and insert the accompanying cartridge.
Each book allows the child to have a story read to them, to read it themselves and to play educational games which support the learning of numbers, shapes letters and colours. The pad comes with a book called ‘Leap’s Big Day’, a story featuring Leap the Frog and all the adventures he has chasing a lost kite. Turn the book over and each page features a different fun learning activity, with songs, counting games, naming parts of the body and even a ‘Paper Piano’ to get your child familiar with a different sort of keyboard to the one in front of you now. The huge range of things to do that are included in this book make it very good value.
The books are made from sturdy card which can be easily wiped clean should you child play with their LeapPad with sticky fingers.
As the LeapPad is used, a comforting voice gently prompts the child, guides them how to use the book and suggests that they play a game or choose an activity. However this toy in no way spoon-feeds the activities to your child; there is a wide scope for exploration and experimentation. Each page includes a number of fun features which the child will only find by trying things for themselves – in fact the satisfaction of discovering out how each section works is a big part of the enjoyment.
The toy is recommended for 3 to 5 year olds, and an older child will be able to use this toy on their own immediately. For a younger child a little guidance is needed until they get used to the instructions and to handling the pen. They can then gain just as much fun as an older child, both by themselves and with an adult to help out.
I was honestly amazed by quite how successful this toy was with my children. Both became quite engrossed in investigating all the possibilities that this toy offers. Any toy that offers a definite ‘cause and effect’ is popular but in the case of My First LeapPad, the sheer quantity of activities included along with the ease of use makes this toy a huge success and great value for money.
comes with 1 book
extra book can be bought for rm20 each at juaimurah
RM92 - sold
