LeapFrog® Tag Reading System

After seeing a neighbor's LeapPad, and wanting to get my just-turned-5-year-old more into letters and words, I did some research and got him a Tag Reader. Wish I'd gotten a used LeapPad instead. Did not realize just how dependent on downloading this product is until I bought the first add-on book and found, only after opening the package, that downloading is required to use the book I had just made a trip to the store to acquire. Now I had to find time to go online to make it useable too? I'm plenty internet savvy and no Luddite, but with two small kids I do not appreciate having to go online as often as it is now apparent I will have to with this product. (I know, I know, I could have found this all out ahead of time with more research. But I didn't invest the time, OK?, and the packaging does not at all make the computer dependency obvious.) Had I known this I would definitely have looked for a good used LeapPad instead, with its self-contained books and tethered (i.e. harder to lose) optical pen. And just how durable is the Tag's pen, anyway? What happens when my two-year-old gets ahold of it and throws it tip-first into the floor? Parents of preschoolers, look for a good used LeapPad instead, they're plentiful on Ebay.

There was an article about this toy before it came out in Wired Magazine. It basically interviewed the inventor and peaked my curiosity. So I purchased it. It is an impressive device by any modern day standards. Basically it's a camera that recognizes words and images on specialized paper (the limited series of books that you purchase). Once recognized it plays sound bites or reads the word(s) on the page that you are passing the pen over. It's smartly designed and a child quickly understands how to operate it.

At first it's a game and your child will just want to click on everything to hear the sound bites. As time goes by they start exploring the less than obvious features like read back and games. Before you know it you have a totally transfixed kid. It's great for a long drive and it certainly beats the pants off a dvd. I do believe that this device is positively contributing to my child's learning. I will say that the books vary in quality. I am writing reviews on most of them ; ) so you can follow along if you wish. To start with get Sponge Bob as it is the best of the bunch followed by Kung Fu Panda or Cars.

Last thought if you're still with me. This is a wonderful invention. I do recommend it especially for parent's that are looking for an alternative to TV. I just wish to caution that it is not a substitute for quality reading time with your child so make sure to read to them as well. Overall a great investment.

I hope this review helps.

I bought this for my three year old son for his birthday and he's having so much fun with it. I know it says 4-8 on most of the books and pen, but he's enjoying it and it's working out great. I love the software you use to track their progress, it helps so much. The only downfall of the pen, or at least I haven't found a way around it, is it's only for one child, so we will be buying another one for my older son for his birthday.

My nonverbal autistic son loves all things Leapfrog and loves story readers. Leapfrog has combined the best of two worlds with the story reader component along with interactive features. I was worried the tip would be delicate and he would break it but no problems so far. The download is very user friendly, the only drawback is only being able to load 5 products at a time so if you have more than that you have to delete and reload but this isn't a huge deal. The positive feedback for the game features is a very nice touch - not only praise for correct answers, but hints to encourage success and promote self esteem instead of "no, that's wrong" or some other negative statement like many toys. Would highly recommend this product for both fun and education.

I bought this for my five year old daughter. She loves the toy! It reads the storys well and the games are fun. The only problem we have with it is when we downloaded the software from the internet the server was busy and kept cutting us off and starting over. There is a FAQ on there that has an alternative download if you are having problems. After we found this everything else worked flawlessly! I wish you could put more books on there!