LittleTouch LeapPad
© 2003 LeapFrog
New for 2005: Pooh Loves You, and two one-piece board puzzles (on animals and shapes)that can be placed directly on LittleTouch. There's also a and a Rainbow Fish gift set. A LeapPad for Babies? This touch-sensitive book-reading platform is designed to be used by a parent and baby or toddler together -- an adult will need to activate the "go" button on each page, for example. The child then can freely explore the picture to hear sounds, or a cluster of words to hear it read. No stylus is needed -- the pages are pressure sensitive, even though a rather good push is required to activate the sounds, and children often have to try more than once to make a picture work. Each 12 page book/cartridge costs about $13, and there were 14 books available as of 2005. The books are designed for abuse, with Mylar no-rip pages. We tested "One Bear in the Bedroom," with three levels of play, activated by pressing a "change setting" icon found on every page. In Setting 1 (birth to 6 months) the story is illustrated with different beats, tones and music. Setting 2 (6-12 months) is called word play, introducing speech sounds and the notion of word-object associations. Setting 3 (9-12 months) offers even more learning content, and in the Q/A mode, asks children to find specific items like "the fuzzy lamb." In addition to books, there are also several two-sided activity cards that are very simple to use -- one turns the entire toy into a piano. Our tester families gave mixed reviews, and it is important to keep in mind that the quality of the experience really can vary depending on the individual books, and what page it is on. We found that this particular book is a little heavy on narration at the expense of child exploration. Also, the emphasis on academics (colors, shapes, counting) of this book is likely to be questioned by some early childhood educators. We would've liked a more responsive, exploratory type of experience.
$35, Smart Toy
Teaches: early logic, language, music