Leapster Kindergarten
© 2004 LeapFrog
This well designed Leapster cartridge contains five math, reading and memory games; and one clever dancing game as a reward. Leap, Lilly and little brother Tad visit a carnival where they can play the games by touching one of six icons from the main menu. Games include Fun House (a timed maze game that requires matching letters to spell short words), Candy Combos (Paint candy to spell words), Balloon Caboom (notice patterns by "popping the balloon that doesn't belong with the others", in order to get to the popperma, an addicting speed game. Splat That asks you go "splat" (shoot) pictures that start or end with a particular sound -- control is a bit clumsy, but not bad. Earned tickets can be redeemed to purchase monster parts, which can be used to build a monster at the Monster Theater (a very clever dancing activity). As with Leapster 1st Grade, this cartridge saves the tokens and times for three children, and many of the activities have three levels. All in all, this is an excellent set of activities for preschool, kindergarten and first graders.
$25, Leapster, Smart Toy
Teaches: math (early addition, money), reading (spelling words like "hat"), color, classification