Electronic Learning Reviews

I bought this for my grandson's birthday. He is 10 years old and ADHD. When he would visit me, he always wanted to start tinkering with something, either a clock or an old radio. This gift is perfect for him, it is not in the least frustrating and the outcome is very rewarding for him. He will sit and work with the set for an hour at a time.I have recommended this set to many of my friends.

A Happy Granny in Michigan

I got 2 kits - one for my 6 yo and one for my 8 yo. Both boys love the kits and can build the projects. The parts are durable yet easy to configure. The directions for the projects are clear. I highly recommend this toy for kids who like to build and are even marginally interested in science/electronics.

My 5 year old son has an interest in how things work and likes to "experiment." We go this as a first step toward learning about electricity, and it has not disappointed.

The projects range from fast simple ones (can get a light bulb and a switch going in a minute or so) to more elaborate more interesting ones (we actually built a working AM radio).

There are endless projects in the book with easy to follow directions on how to put them together.

The "snap" mechanism for connecting components is extremely clever -- it eliminates the challenges of bad connections on wiring boards I grew up with. The snaps are a little hard for a 5 year old to push close, so I find myself helping on them -- although the kit is aimed for somewhat older kids anyway.

Only "complaint" I have is that they could have put a couple educational points about how the circuit is working in the book near each circuit -- to spell out the "learnings" of each project.

Overall though, this is definitely one of the best science kits of any type that I've seen, and absolutely worth the investment.

We have several LeapPad books but this one gets the most use. The games are simple enough that my daughter, age 2, can play with very little help. It keeps her attention. I noticed recently she had picked up several Spanish words and can count to 10 in Spanish. Our Dora selections, including this one, have paid off.

This book is great as are most of the LeapPad products. My son loves to use this book daily. It helps him learn words in both spanish and english, and he already knows quite a few words in spanish and he is 2-1/2 years old. I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for something that their child will use for hours and all of the leapPad Books are as educational as this one. A great Product.

This was purchased for my daughter last year when she was three for christmas, it is now a year later and she still loves it. I love the leap pad systems and my first leap was great and now i think she will be going into the regular leap pad and like my others will enjoy hours of fun. You will not go wrong with dora!!

I bought this for my niece on her 2nd birthday. And she loves it. Though she's not really into listening to the pronouncing of each letter, it is something she'll use soon. She loves singing the alphabet song! My only criticism about this is that the magnet isn't really that strong, as hers kept sliding down the fridge.

This is a wonderful toy to get for your child. I love it because the letters are big enough that they aren't a choking hazard and it's very easy for kids to use. My 2 1/2 year old now knows all of her letters and LOVES to sing the ABC song. My 1 year old is also quite fascinated by it. It also got a big thumbs up from my mother-in-law who is a first grade teacher.

My son, now two and a half loves it! After seeing the leapfrog letter factory, and word factory, this is the toy that brought it all together for him. He knows all his letters and their sounds, and he is always singing his abc's. The volume control is great too!

My daughter has had her leap pad since she turned 2, almost a year now, and loves it. She has several titles, but this one is by far her favorite(even over Dora!!!!) She knows her letters by sight, she has for a few months now, and loves the music that goes along with the phonics. It's wonderful for car trips!!!

When our daughter was almost 3 we bought her a leap pad for Christmas and we bought her this book. Out of 3 books she has this one is her favorite! She reads this book over and over!!! She is now a few months over 3 and knows her ABC's. You can point to any letter and she can tell you what it is and can sing the alphabet song. It is fun enough to keep a 3 year olds attention and the songs arent nerve racking. This was definatley a great buy!

My daughter just turned three and loves it, she picks it up herself and sits and does the letters and their sounds and the numbers and colors. The best investment for her. I would continue to buy the leapfrog (leapad) toys for her.

My son got this toy for his 4th birtday. He truly loves it, but it's a battery eater! I cannot believe how quickly this toy drains 4 AA batteries. Thank goodness they are coming out with a recharging unit soon or we'd go broke!

I've never written a review before, but feel I have to about this product. It is the BEST money spent on my daughter ever!!!! My daughter got this for Christmas when she was 3 1/2 years old. She has played with it every day. At night we read books to her and then let her do her Leapster for a little while. We just purchased The Letter Factory for our last trip....and she already knows ALL the letter phonics....it is just amazing!!!!! We have never had a problem with it in 7 months...and we just put new batteries in it for the first time. I so highly reccomend this toy!!!!!

Twice bitten...

We got my 4 year old a Leapster last Christmas. He loved it and could do all the activities the cartridge it came with had, plus the Dora the Explorer cartridge. The problem(s) we had, though, was that after just 2 months the screen or stylus lost it's sensitivity. You could no longer select items on the screen and going through the steps on the card provided did not help (you can't recalibrate if the screen won't pick up the stylus touching anywhere on the screen it would seem). We blamed our son for dropping it and "not treating his toys well". Then four months later we broke down and decided to buy him a new one to take on a trip (his older sister had a Gameboy she was taking). Two days before vacation I was driving 40 miles roundtrip to buy him a Gameboy and returned the NEW, NEVER PLAYED with Leapster. It had the SAME problem the first one had, right out of the box--and no, this one also would not/could not be recalibrated either (we apologized for thinking he had "abused" the first one).

While it's fun and keeps the youngsters occupied for longer than most things will, it's just not worth the money and time to try and get a "good" one. Not after getting TWO lemons.

Another must have for every new parent !

We bought when dd was several months old, however we were still able to get some use out of the hanging toy feature. She loved it because she could control the music when it stopped. We also found that she would try to reach beyond the hanging toys and press the piano keys.

Then as she got older, we would sit her in front of the piano inside her boppy. She loved the fact that she was playing upright and would constantly watch all the colors. The keys on the piano were nice and big for her to hit as she gained more control of her hands.

Then as she got to the standing age, she would use this tall piano to stand up with. We never had a problem with it tipping over because the legs seemed to be positioned just right to prevent this from happening. As the months went on, she would push the piano throughout the house when she didn't feel like using her activity walker. Several months ago she began to press keys on setting 2 and she would dance to the music. Now at 20 months she tries to sing along with the songs (ie Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) and also recites the colors as they light up.

The variety of songs is great. You don't really get tired of them. Also, we've had for almost 18 months and have never needed to replace the batteries yet.

We very seldom use setting 3 (the one that lets you play it like a real piano) because we have a real piano that she tries to play.

The entertainment and educational value on this toy cannot be compared. It's so nice that it grows with your child. We definitely feel like we got our monies worth ! It has proved to be extremely durable!

A couple minor complaints that I have is that there is no volume control. Sometimes it does seem as though it's a bit loud. Also the orange plastic piece that snaps in above the keyboard doesn't really seem to provide any value. DD just kept pulling it off and found that the force of pulling would cause her to fall backwards to the floor - - after several times of doing this, we decided to just not put it back on.

Great toy - great value ! !

We got this toy as a gift and my daughter has loved it ever since she was just a few weeks old. She started out watching the lights on the mirrored attachment and has loved every feature; the dangling toys, the keyboard, the music. I was even able to turn it into a kicking toy. She loves to kick the keyboard and make it play. It keeps her attention for LONG spans of time.

We bought this toy when my daughter was 5 months old. She is now 16 months old and STILL loves it. It was one of the first toys that she played with when she was an infant. It helped her to learn to control her legs. It's not a "battery hog" either, even if you forget to turn it off, like we do. It also breaks down for easy travel.

My kids and any other kids that come to my home LOVE this toy. It's the first thing they got to. We've had ours for about 2 years now and when ever any one I know have a baby I get this for them as their Happy six months old gift! This is a MUST have for any kid!

The learning table was easy to assemble and immediately attracted my daughter's attention. Two months later, she still loves it. One of the most important factors for me in evaluating a toy or book is whether I find it interesting, because that means I'll be more likely to play with it with her. This table has great, jazzy music that's fun for me to listen to. There are two sets of music, and I much prefer the jazz set to the "educational" set. But I'm sure my daughter will eventually explore both. I'm also really pleased with all the different ways my daughter can play with this toy, learning new skills all the time. She's nine months old and lately has been opening and closing the lid very carefully.

My only beef is that it's really not safe for her to lean on by herself, as the little girl does in the photo on this web site. When my daughter leans against it, it slides away. I'm worried she'll fall and bang her head on it. So when she's standing up with it, I stay close. When she learns to stand without leaning, it'll be fine.

Otherwise this is a terrific toy. I am so pleased with it. It would be a great gift to parents of a baby under a year old, because then the baby will get many months of enjoyment out of it.

My 1 year old son loves this toy. It's great for him as he is now pulling himself up to stand. He loves the sounds, and loves to turn the "book". He thinks it's a real book, and looks for more "pages" to turn. This toy was also great for before he could pull himself up. I just took the legs off and he played with it on the floor. It has lots of different songs and sounds and entertains for a long time. It's a little loud on the "loud" setting, but luckily it has a lower volume setting.

This was the big surprise for my daughters big sleepover birthday party. We've both been into singing ever since the whole American Idol craze. Well, it was such a hit among her and her friends. The next day all of the "adult Moms" gave it a go and had a great time.
We had been doing a singing lessons CD "Voice Lessons To Go" by Vaccarino for a full month before together, so we were confident to let ourselves roar. (That was a big advantage for us!)
My daughter and her friends never even got to the movie they rented!

i got this machine for my birthday when i was twleve and now i am turning 13. why i only gave it 3 stars is because the mike holders broke in 1 week. otherwise i am still having a great time with it.

We did a lot of research before buying this for our daughter's 7th birthday. This one is more expensive than some of the others, but well worth it. The whole family has had such a great time. I haven't laughed so hard with my daughter! When we recorded ourselves and played it back we laughed even harder. We like everything about it.

I'm not one for electronic toys, normally. But this globe is terrific. The second day after she received it, my 6-year-old had learned all the continents and oceans, and could find each of them within two or three seconds after the globe called them out. She's working on countries now. Her first-grade class had to make a collection of 100 items of their choice. She chose to collect 100 country names, which she patiently copied from the globe while listening to music snippets and basic facts about each one. Last month, we read that geologists believe India was once a seperate island, which eventually crashed into mainland Asia. I asked her what mountain range was made during that crash, and she barely paused before answering the Himilayas. And what's the biggest mountain in the Himilayas? Mt. Everest.

But the best part is when the kids go to bed. Then I get to challenge my wife to Eureka, to see who can find the most countries, cities and continents as they are called out randomly by the globe. She always wins. But I'm improving, and one of these days....

My only complaint (like many of the other reviewers) is that the globe started malfunctioning after several months. In our case, the sensors must have shifted inside the globe so that instead of giving you information for the country you select, it tells you about it's neighbor 2 inches to the left. But the company will replace the globe for free...I just had to ship it back to them at my own cost (no big deal). Many people complain about the Stylus failing. But a replacement stylus is pretty cheap. And if you play with it as much as we do, you can't expect it to last forever, can you?

This interactive globe is really good at introducing geography to the kids. It's a real pity that the pointer's touch system becomes insensitive after regular use. Toy lasted less than 3 months.

I bought this for my 7 year old son and WE can't stop playing. He has even found mistakes on the flat map at school(countries that have changed names recently).I would definitely recommend this toy for any grade-schooler. The Eureka game is the best! He has learned so many different countries and can usually find more than me in the time alotted. They are learning and don't even know it. Get rid of those gameboys and playstations and get an Explorer Globe! Definitely a MUST HAVE!!!

Great fun for the little entertainer. I would recommend removing the microphone (long cord) if your child is under 3 years old.

I thought this would be a cool toy but my kids don't seem to think so. It has been sitting in the toy room ever since we got it and very rarely is it touched. We don't even recognize most of the song on there. NOT a must have

My daughter received the LeapFrog Karaoke for her 3rd b-day.She loves it. She marches around the singing her ABC's and it has a voice changing feature which she just finds funny. I would reccomned this for any active 3 year old.