LeapFrog Games and Educational Toys

Parent Coach Annie Desantis, evaluates LeapFrog Games, and gives you ways to get the best deals for the most popular Leapfrog educational toys.

Why Do I recommend LeapFrog Games?

As a Parent Coach, I am pretty passionate about educational toys and games. Parents spend thousands of dollars on toys for their children, and many of them are simply a waste of money! I do have a couple of concerns about LeapFrog educational toys, as you will see below, but overall, Leapfrog Toys are well designed and reasonably robust if used as an educational toy with supervision. These are not a toy to have jumbled in the toy box.

LeapFrog Toys are grouped into approximate developmental learning stages, and many of them can be extended as the child masters different tasks. So Leapfrog games satisfies my requirement for a children's toy to provide learning opportunities, plus of course any game or toy needs to be fun. The designers of Leapfrog educational toys have done a really good job of blending the two - Functionality and Learning Outcomes, plus they definitely appeal to children.

I'll go into more detail on the range of Leapfrog educational toys, on various pages - you can click on the review links below.

• LeapFrog Leapster and Leapster 2
• LeapFrog Games: Little Leaps
• Leap Pad And Tag Reading Systems
• LeapFrog I-Quest and Fly PenTop Systems
• Crammer
• Fridge Phonics
• Magnetic Alphabet
• Word Whammer
• Word Builder
• Fridge Farm

Critique of Leapfrog Games

In general I love the range of Leapfrog Educatonal toys, but I do have a couple of concerns. Firstly, there is a huge emphasis on starting children learning academic subjects from a very young age, plus parents get into pressure cooking children to succeed, and can track and monitor their children's achievements online.

I think Leapfrog have done well to include ways for parents to be involved, and to some extent that does address my other concern. The best way children learn is from getting constant feedback and interaction with people. With Leapfrog educational toys, the danger is, the majority of the feedback is coming from the toy.

The other thing I wonder about, is just based on observation, but I have noticed that on Amazon there is a much higher percentage of the violet colour products sold, such as Scout - for preschoolers, or the Leap Top computers. The other choice is green so I wonder if there is a gender difference in the use of these toys? Assuming the voilet is more likely to be purchased for girls, and the green for boys - are boys more encouraged to be playing outdoor physical games, and girls tending to be quietly studying? Food for thought? Maybe we should conduct our own little research Poll on the colors and gender use of Leapfrog Games!

Now one final warning about the range of Leapfrog Toys, - they might drive you crazy with the sound effects! They are a fantastic way to keep kids occupied on a long car journey for example, so long as you can put up with the electronic music, or sounding of letters or words! It is also part of the appeal with children, they love the music, rhyme or encouragement or noises, but you have to be in the mood for it!

Best Use of Leapfrog Educational Toys

So how do I recommend you use Leapfrog Games to minimize those concerns?

As much as possible be involved with your child when they are using their Leapfrog Games. Don't leave them to play on their own, your interaction with your child is the most important part of their learning or play. All play is learning for children, that is the natural process of child development. Using toys such as the leapfrog Games to extend their play, and therefore learning new skills is fantastic, so long as they are only part of the activities or toys they are experiencing.

Make sure your kids are using these games as toys - the idea is if kids are keen and having fun, they will be learning all sorts of skills along the way. Do not get into making Leapfrog Games a pressure for a child to have to work their way through the levels or like forced homework! Particularly with preschoolers, there is plenty of time for them to start school subjects. If they are keen and excited to play with them, no problem, if they are struggling, you may be trying to push them further than they are ready for, which could put them off learning! So, put it away for a few months until they are taking an interest in words or starting to recognize letters etc in the stories you read them.

Getting The Best Deals on LeapFrog Games

On the right hand column, you'll see some of the more popular Leapfrog Games with Amazon links and prices. However, I have researched and compared prices for you, and more often than not, you can get Leapfrog Educational Toys by Auction, at a significant discount.

Does this mean they are second hand? No, not always - although you can get a much better price for second hand toys, and your child will not know the difference - you could even get two Leapfrog Games for the price of one that way! But you can also get brand new Leapfrog Educational Toys by auction. Cross check the prices on the right on Amazon, with the Auction listings below in this centre column. There are usually hundreds of other listings, so at the bottom there will be a link to all listings. The list is displayed in order of when the Auction runs out, and sometimes you can bag a bargain that is only hours away from ending!

Have you used Ebay before? If you have skip this explanation! Online Auctions such as Ebay are an excellent way to buy almost anything with often significant discounts. I recommend Ebay because they are the most established, have a good measure of buyer protection, have by far the widest selection available, and have multiple ways you can pay for your item, should you win it. And it's fun to bid on something and watch what happens and adjust your bid to win it!

It's simple to sign up, just click through on one of the links for Leapfrog educational toys below and you will see at the top of the page a link to log in or register. If you find something you think you'd like to place a bid on, simply register first, then place your bid. You only need an email address to register. Too easy!

You can search for other items from this page with the search box, or from within Ebay, once you are on their site. The listings on this page are updated hourly, so if new items are added, you have access to them.

Great Deals Buying LeapFrog Games in Auctions

Compare the Auction prices below, with the Amazon Prices in the right hand column to get the best deal. Scroll to the bottom for a link to more Auction Listings.

Some listings will have a buy now price if you can't wait until the Auction finishes. Of course you can usually get a better deal by bidding, but even so, often the buy now price is cheaper than normal retail.

General LeapFrog Games Auction Listings

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