[milesofsmiles]

Hello all,

I purchased my 4 1/2 year old son a Storio for Christmas. The first one broke after a week (just went dead) and the replacement given to us just died also (after 4 weeks).

I want to get my son some sort of educational type toy that introduces words, sounds etc. He is pretty switched on in this area and so I would be looking for something ideally for 4 - 7 year olds so that he can get a couple years use of it.

Does anybody have any recommendations for these sorts of computerised toys/learning tools?

Looking to keep cost between $80 - $150.

Thank you

Kelly.

[splendid]

Hi,
I'm not sure how much they are at the moment (we got ours shipped from the US via Amazon.com) but my almost 5 year old got a Leapfrog 'Leappad' for Christmas. You can put stories on it, it has games, a built in camera and an art studio, you can also purchase game cartridges aimed at different ages.
He absolutely loves it, and it's amazing how quickly he is picking things up. I recommend the game Mr Pencil saves Doodleburg (or something like that), it has him learning letters and tracing their shapes etc with the 'pen'.
My 3.5 year old also loves it, it seems to have a broad age appeal.
Cheers, Splendid

[-*meh*-]

Hi,
I'm not sure how much they are at the moment (we got ours shipped from the US via Amazon.com) but my almost 5 year old got a Leapfrog 'Leappad' for Christmas. You can put stories on it, it has games, a built in camera and an art studio, you can also purchase game cartridges aimed at different ages.
He absolutely loves it, and it's amazing how quickly he is picking things up. I recommend the game Mr Pencil saves Doodleburg (or something like that), it has him learning letters and tracing their shapes etc with the 'pen'.
My 3.5 year old also loves it, it seems to have a broad age appeal.
Cheers, Splendid

my DS2 (4.5yrs) has the leapster explorer handheld game and loves it, it does a lot with words, letters etc.

[charleybear11]

Hi,
I'm not sure how much they are at the moment (we got ours shipped from the US via Amazon.com) but my almost 5 year old got a Leapfrog 'Leappad' for Christmas. You can put stories on it, it has games, a built in camera and an art studio, you can also purchase game cartridges aimed at different ages.
He absolutely loves it, and it's amazing how quickly he is picking things up. I recommend the game Mr Pencil saves Doodleburg (or something like that), it has him learning letters and tracing their shapes etc with the 'pen'.
My 3.5 year old also loves it, it seems to have a broad age appeal.
Cheers, Splendid

Agreed my DS has the leapfrog and he now knows the alphabet, can almost write most of them and even his speech has picked up. It costs $160 but we thought it was money well worth it.

[Wahwah]

Not a toy as such, but we subscribed to Reading Eggs online. Both kids started at 4 (so while they were in 3 year old kinder).

It's a great site which teaches letter and sound recognition and there are 'lessons' which are fun and entertaining. There's often discount codes or free-trials, so you can have a go before committing. I'd highly recommend it.

[living~in~the~no...]

Mine hardly every used their leapsters or tag readers. they now have iPod touches and love them. Games (educational), camera, music, they record their own voices and when they play the piano, should have done it at least a year ago! They are 5 and 6

[peaches2007]

My daughet will be 5 shortly, we got her a leapster explorer for her 4th birthday. The thing with the explorers are the games are quite expensive ($40, maybe cheaper on eBay) and there isnt realy that much variety.
Dont get me wrong, she has loved it and it has been fantastic and all but she has already out grown it 1 year later and completed every single one of her 8x games a few times over.
So, for 1 year of games we spent $120 on the leapster, $30 carry bag, 8x games @ $40each TOTAL $470 which doesnt even include the batteries.
She completley took over DH's iphone 3 months ago so I'm trying to decide for her birthday in a couple of weeks Nintendo 3DS, IPOD Touch 4 or and Ipad 2.
I know these seem extravagant, but I am thinking they will most probably last alot longer recreationally and info option wise.
My 7yo, 10yo nieces have had the ipod touch for a few years and 10yo got Ipad 2 for xmas.
They I am thinking might be a better choice as applications will update etc where as if you get a leapster explorer there are only about 12-15 games? and little apps you can d'load from leapworld and the Nintendo 3DS you just have game cartridges, but they have heaps (pricey though at $40-$60)
Also, you have to consider if your DS is good at handling things, our explorer initialy had a few drops but now she is alot more careful.. the others I dont think can take much rough n tumble.

Would love to hear your opinion on what you end up getting


(I Have a post asking for opinions on which to buy in b'day section... opinions appreciated thanks )