We ARE a LeapFrog Family!

Despite H1N1, busy schedules and THAT holiday looming ever closer,  I managed to get ONE mom to come on over for a little playdate with her two boys.

Thank you LEFTCOASTMAMA!

And this is why…the PR folks behind LeapFrog asked if I could try to have a playdate for the kids that would centre around the LeapFrog toys.    That way it wouldn’t be just MY kids and MY opinion about the products that you would see here.  You know..not ANOTHER (yawn) product review from a mom getting freebies.

For my trouble, they are donating LeapFrog products to ‘an organization of my choice,’ which I am hoping will be the Developmental Disability Association.  I am picking them because they are the organization behind my kids Preschool and I have been in awe of all the work they do with the able and not so able kids at that school.

Unlike me, a LeapFrog newbie, Gwen’s kids HAVE LeapFrog stuff and she LIKES their toys, so I figured her opinion would be a definite boost for checking out LeapFrog and their online Learning Path.

I have to admit that the kids were all a little too distracted by being at our house to really focus purely on the LeapFrog stuff, however with hearing about what Gwen thought about them AND how much my kids have taken to the toys, I do hope this is a worthwhile endeavor for the people at LeapFrog and that I can still give a useful review/impression of their products and website.

I am also hoping to have another little playdate this coming Friday to see and hear more views about the products.   This time to a mom of two slightly older girls!

G’s youngest is one and tended to have more fun SMASHING the LeapFrog toys together.

My tiny baby daughter LOVES Scout though.  He is very cuddly and we were all singing along to his songs AND he does lovely bed time music too!  You can hook him up to the computer to ‘personalize’ him too.

I am impressed with the now bilingual aspect of some of their toys.

I picked up the Fridge Farm Magnetic Animal Set the other day.  The kids are a bit old for it and T isn’t there YET..but it was on sale and it is fun and bilingual!  So perhaps my kids will pick up some French as they goof around with it.

We all like the Text n Learn. It cracks me up that we have ‘toy’s’ so  geared towards our kids cell phone texting future!  The future is here folks.  But it is a QWERTY keyboard and has cute little games on it too.  It is a good car toy.

I have to admit that I am a bit of a cynic when it comes to the whole concept of ‘educational’ toys.  I have always figured it was just a term tacked on to make us helicoptering ‘rents feel better as we over indulged our next Einsteins.

I am also always a tad cynical when it comes to web sites attached to toys.  I did take first year Communications…I GET marketing.

But here it is..I have been exploring the LeapFrog site…there is a LOT there.

Not only do you have the LeapFrog online shopping,  which is split up into grade levels and has demos and details about each product, there is a Parents Community, with forums and blogs.  There is a section for Teachers with ideas etc. on using LeapFrog as part of the curriculum.

All of it filled with informative talks about the products, education, and learning made fun.

And while I am not going to be basing my children’s education on what the folks on the LeapFrog website say, it is nice to see what other parents think about the products and make them PART of your children’s educational experience.

Case in point.

My kids LOVE the Tag Readers.   If we had every Tag book out there, my kids would devour them.

My kids already love books.  We have a house full of books and are constantly at the local library.

However, my son’s brain appears to be working a bit to fast for the work of sitting down and comprehending a book and so he has his teachers a bit concerned.

We are not overly concerned.  He is amazingly bright and is blowing through everything else the school chucks at him.   We know he will slow down eventually!

But we are always working on finding books that he can be engaged in.   Books that will help him focus.  The Tag Readers seem to be doing that job just now.

What has helped him even more is the challenge that LeapFrog online offers.   The better your child does with the games and activities in the books, the more rewards (games) are opened up online.   Because you can hook up through a USB cord, not only the Tag Readers, but many other LeapFrog products.

They love that.

The challenge.

They love online games!

And while I realize that LeapFrog’s ‘Learning Path’ is a great way to sell me more products ‘that might help,’  I would actually buy the suggested products because I really do think they would help or at least not be a total waste of money!

Through this link up with the toys, you can also see how well your kids are doing with it.  How long they spent on it.  How many questions/challenges they got right or wrong and so on.

I can see which book the kids have been focusing on and so on.

It is really interesting.

My playdate mom agrees that the readers are great for reading and comprehension.  She has been very impressed with how they affected her four year olds skills.

I do hope that LeapFrog comes out with more books for kids who are a bit older.   My son is seven and almost at the end range of many of the  LeapFrog products.

My daughter is five and I think that this is the perfect age for the Tag Reading System.   It just adds a new novelty to reading when the are just starting out and maybe struggling a bit.  The readers keep reading fun.

And fun is what reading and education should be for young kids.

I don’t think that computers, and electronics will or should replace traditional learning and the good old fashioned concept of just cracking open a book, but I think the world is changing, and so are our kids, and so technology must find a suitable place in the world of learning and I think LeapFrog really is trying to be there and be that company.

I am still hoping that we will have another mini playdate this coming Friday and I look forward to hearing what that mom and teacher thinks about her kids experiences with LeapFrog products.

I hope people don’t think I am being so positive just because LeapFrog were kind enough to supply us with a sampling of their toys.    I am not that kind of blogger and not that kind of reviewer either.

This isn’t a review blog.  This is a blog about me and my family and my adventures in parenting.

My adventures in blogging has opened myself up to being approached by many PR firms and so forth, and I ignore or turn down the majority of those communications.

I have said however, that I am open to reviews if it fits into what my family likes or does.

LeapFrog fit that definition and were very open and honest back at me about their needs and wishes.

I hope I am fulfilling MY end of the bargain too.

I have honestly found it very interesting to see how kids played with the products and to explore the LeapFrog website.

It is well worth checking out if you haven’t already.

And I am sure there will be MANY LeapFrog products on the kids Christmas lists this year too!