Post by Booze Raccoon on Nov 22, 2014 8:37:59 GMT -5
I asked this question last year and the consensus was that a kid will outgrow the programs (games?) on a LeapPad and therefore a tablet is a better option.
My DD's have both. They got the leap pads 1st and the tablets about a year later. They barely played with the leap pads at all and as soon as they got the tablets the leap pads were completely forgotten.
My DD's have both. They got the leap pads 1st and the tablets about a year later. They barely played with the leap pads at all and as soon as they got the tablets the leap pads were completely forgotten.
I'm worried about that because she does play with our ipad. Which tablet did you get?
We got them Samsung Galaxy tablets. The reason that we bought them was because I didn't want to share my iPad anymore.
We have both. Kindle is better. It is still safe. They have parental controls. Also Kindle Free Time, you pay $3 a month and get unlimited books, show and games for your child. It is a special app so a password is needed to get out. You can set time limits on shows too.
Jax rarely touched his leapPad but uses his Kindle all of the time. I knew there was no way I'd be buying the games for the LeapPad but my mom says convinced he had to have one last year.
That died and we bought a LG tablet, that's my favorite so far.
My mil gave my dd a leap pad for Xmas last year. She likes it but much prefers the ipad. I like a tablet because you can get free apps since the leap pad games can be pricey
I got Declan an Innotab (vtech's version of the leap pad) for Xmas when he was 3. It got enough use that I believe it was worth the money, but in the long run, I was kind of disappointed. I think a regular tablet has much more longevity.
This Christmas I'm buying him a kids' version of a real tablet (prob the amazon fire, though Samsung makes one too.) That way it has the quality of an adult tablet with a kid friendly interface and parental controls. Most of the frustration with the innotab was the tiny screen that was not very responsive to his finger, he had to use the stylus, and even then, it just wasn't accurate.
Post by vanillacourage on Nov 22, 2014 11:47:06 GMT -5
We're thinking of getting my older a Kindle Fire, the kids version. It comes in a protective case and has a 2 year warranty where if they break it, it's fixed/replaced for free.
We've never done the Leappad because I didn't want to pay $25/game vs free or ~$3 apps.
we got DS a leappad 2 for Christmas last year, right after he turned 3. he REALLY likes it, and gets a lot of use out of it- even almost a year later. he plays with it on road trips, at night sometimes after dinner while DH and I are watching TV, sometimes we'll take it with us when we go out to dinner to keep him busy so DH and I can actually enjoy ourselves. I bought it off of EBay, and that's where I get a lot of the games for it, too...and on my local Facebook "online garage sale" group, too. the other day I got 4 games for $20 (usually that's the price for each game!) ALSO amazon sells LeapFrog "download cards"... its like $10-$15 for a $20 value card. so that saves money on apps you want to download, too. SO there are definitely ways you can get the games and stuff cheaper, to keep them interested in it... we went with the leappad because we just weren't ready to get him a tablet of his own (he's a 4 year old boy!! LOL) but we do a lot of road trips, so we needed SOMETHING to keep him busy HAHA he seems to still really like the LeapPad2 so we're thinking maybe in another year or so we'll get him a tablet
We don't have tablets to compare to, but my son is 3.5 and he got a leappad 2 for christmas last year. He doesn't use it a ton, but he does like it for longer car trips and when we went on a plane. The games are expensive - $20-$25 each, but you can download bundles for a little less per game, and downloadable shows are less expensive. He watches the shows (bubble guppies and diego) more then he plays the games. I also like that we can download books too.
Maybe if we had tablets that he used he would want one too, but he loves that he can play games, take pictures, and draw and its HIS.