LeapFrog LeapPad & Tag - Great Educational Toys #LeapFrogParty

My kids love to play with my iPad. But, of course I don’t like to leave them alone with such an expensive gadget. Giving a child the LeapFrog LeapPad is like giving them their very own iPad! My kids already have Leapster units, so we were familiar with the great quality of LeapFrog. My girls have original Leapster units that we have had for 4 years and they are still ticking.

A couple of weeks ago my kids and I held a small party to try out the LeapPad and the Tag Reading system. The kids really enjoyed both. And I was very impressed that they picked up on what to do with no instruction. But, that is usually the way it is anyway. Kids just pick up on things. For the party, we received the following:

One LeapPad learning tablet
LeapSchool Reading cartridge game
One Tag Reading System
One Tag Interactive World Map
Learn to Read Series 1 books
$20 App Download Card

There was plenty to see and do. The LeapPad came preloaded with lots of apps and games including Disney-Pixar Cars 2 Ultra eBook, Roly Poly Picnic game and Letter Factory video, Art Studio, Story Studio and Pet apps. And I love that the LeapPad system has a stylus and an extra one included in the box!

The books included with our Tag learn to read system are:

Casey Cat Has a Hat
The Best Job
On the Go!
The Fix-It Kid
Leap Scrubs Up
Let’s Play Tag

We also received LeapFrog coloring & activity sheets, game ideas, recipe ideas and more.

As mentioned above, the kids did not need much help figuring out how things worked. Setup was easy. Since everything was preloaded we did not have to do much. I just had to add the kids names to the system. There is only space for 3 kids + a guest, so I combined Jayden and Kristopher’s and just named it “The Boys”. After I setup the LeapPad with their usernames and ages, they were ready to go.

The LeapPad offers a library of over 100 apps. Plus, it can use Leapster Explorer game cartridges. Just like many adult tablets it also includes a built-in camera & video recorder. The screen is 5″ and it includes 2GB of RAM. It even includes an eReader.

Before I knew it they were playing games, taking pictures and even recording videos. The picture quality of the camera is actually pretty good too for a kid camera! Here is a shot of the LeapPad when I took a pic of the boys:

The Tag system is ingenious!! It is a pen that reads books and other things to help kids learn. The Tag system can hold audio for up to 10 books at a time. You control which books are loaded by hooking up the Tag to your computer with the included USB cable and downloading the books. My favorite part of the system is the map. I love that you just touch on a state or country and it tells you what it is. It even recites some facts about the continent. I also see that there is a solar system map available which I will have to get for my kids.

From the site: Learn to read with the #1 selling reading system!* The amazing touch technology of Tag brings books to life to teach phonics, vocabulary, comprehension skills and more. And a library of 60+ interactive storybooks, maps and more feature characters to help inspire children to learn to read.

My girls are 8 so they certainly do not need the Tag system to read. But, they really enjoy using it with the included map. But, the boys who are 5 have been using the tags with the included books and I notice them learning more words.

They even used it once to read a book to themselves for their homework assignment. Can you believe that they have to do book reports in Kindergarten??

As with other LeapFrog products, parents can track their child’s progress online.

One girlfriend who tried out the LeapPad has already gone out and purchased one for each of her twin boys! I shared the coupons for games and each child got their LeapFrog Junior Achievement Award for outstanding achievement for learning LeapPad & Tag.

Check out the below video to see them in action:

The LeapFrog LeapPad is the perfect gift for your little gadget lover. With many games, apps, and activities it is bound to keep them busy and help them learn. And the tag system is perfect for those curious children that want to learn more about… well everything! It can be used to read book or browse maps.