Leapster

I just bought the leapster 2 for my son for Xmas at costco for $66. It also came w/ the game Up (from the movie). We used to have the regular leapster until my son spilled hand sanitizer on the screen. My son has really enjoyed the games and they are educational. We bought his first one on black friday for $30 so you might be able to get a better deal. Games run $15-$25. Highly recommend this.

I have 2 leapsters for my 4 year old twin girls. They are the original ones, and they get played A LOT! One was given to us as a hand me down when their cousin upgraded to the leapster 2, and since they had a hard time sharing I picked up another one on Craigslist. It came with a whole bunch of games, but they also really liked playing the built in game before we had any others. Their favorite games now are Pet Pals, Cars, Tinkerbell, and Draw and Write. I would highly recommend this toy for a 4 year old! And keep an eye on Craigslist for good deals. We got the leapster and 9 games for $90! One of ours has a charger and the other just takes batteries and is not rechargable, but both seem to last quite awhile so it doesn't really make a difference to us.

Just letting you know, I was at costco yesterday and I saw a Leapster 2 package there. No idea how much but just telling you I saw it there. My daughter has the leapster and she loves the Cars game.

Hi C.:

I really like the Leapster 2. My son is 4 1/2 and we gave it to him shortly after he turned 4. He LOVES it and has learned a lot. I love that the games are educational and the kids don't really realize it. What's cool is that you can connect it to your computer and track play time and learning progression, and there are free downloadable games.

C.,

We bought the Leapster (the original) for my son 2 years ago for his 4th birthday. That was either right before, or right as the Leapster 2 was coming out. My 2 year old also has her own Leapster so that she'd stop stealing her brother's. They are a GREAT! investment.

From what I gather the Leapster 2 has a component in it that allows you to connect it to the internet for more prizes and expanded play. I'm guessing the Diji (sp?) is like the game boy or the PSP but I don't know much about it.

There is also a kit or some such that will allow you to connect the Leapster to the TV for the kids to play at home. We only have 1 TV in the house though so that isn't even a thought for us.

You can also go to leapfrog.com to get more info.

Hope this help,
Melissa

My daughter loves her Leapster! We have the Leapster 2, alothough we never hook it up to the internet. We slso only have one TV, so didn't think that version wuld get used. We probably could have gotten the original Leapster, but it is harder to find. Costco uually has a good bundle deal this time of year and I know Fred Meyer had a major sale last Black Friday.
My daughter' favorite games are the 2 Disney Princess games, Pet Pals, Mr. Pencil Learns to Draw and Write and Disney Fairies.

If you buy one, opt for the insurance coverage! We bought one for our child and it broke after 8 months. I wish we had paid the extra few buck for insurance in retrospect. Kids are rough on Leapsters and they can be loved to death.

We have the leapster 2, which plays the original leapster and leapster 2 games. My four year old's favorite games are pet pals and the princess games. They're all really fun I think! She has learned how to write letters, problem solving, puzzles, logic, basic math, and a lot more with it. In pet pals she gets to take care of the poodle we may never have :) it's her own personal pet! You get to train it, dress it, bathe, walk, and feed your pet. We got a package deal at costco last year for the price of the leapster alone. And games go on sale at target or toys r us every so often. There were some good deals around christmas time last year!