Hand held "gaming system" for kids

[kp1721]

Originally Posted by luvsviola While my kids love their Leapster Explorer...for the same amount of money, you can get an ipod touch, and the apps are free or cheap, and it plays Netflix if you have WiFi. My kids like it even more than the Leapster. The prob with Leapster is that the pad is $100, and games are 20-25 each so you've got a lot of money tied up in something they will not use that long. But a ipod touch they can use for years and continue to upgrade for cheap.

I completely agree. We gave my son an ipod touch for Christmas. all of the apps, iBooks, music and videos...I think I've paid less than $10 for everything on there an he has 4 pages of games...both fun and educational

[HeatherlovesCDs]

Originally Posted by KrisM Leapsters are about $40. LeapPads are about $100. Different things. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/re...ster+explorer#[/url] I'd probably get the Leapsters myself. My DD is 6 and not reading and struggles with quite a few of the DS games. She still plays her Leapster a lot and gets a lot of use of it. Or wait and see what the Leapster GS is when more info is out.

Thanks for pointing this out! My son is 6 also and still a budding/struggling reader. So, this makes a difference for him. Maybe we will get them all the Leapsters (the cheapest of the games I've seen) and then see how it goes for the year. Maybe he can get the DS for next Christimas after mastering this one. I spoke with my husband last night and he is on-board for the idea of getting something.

[Happy Mommax4]

I agree w PP, our 5yo DD has had an iPod touch for the last 3 yrs, she loves it!! Wouldn't touch a leapster. They can def grow w a child, apps are cheap (99 cents) or free and u can get used iPod very cheaply to start.

She has books and music on there, games and shows she watches and apps to help learn to write. She loves the camera, so cute lol.

There are also potty training apps and teeth brushing apps that are extremely fun and helpful w the kids.

I also believe since she has alotta vision issues that it has really helped her hand eye coordination. It's amazing how fast she picked it up. If I could go back Ida never spent a penny in anything else.

[HeatherlovesCDs]

Unfortunately, the ipod touch is significantly more expensive (from what I've seen) than the others. We really aren't looking to spend that amount. Also, my husband and I both agree that this is not going to be a daily toy. They are only going to be allowed to use it when we go on long car trips or when they need something quiet to do at the dr. office or the like, probably not even once a week. So, I'm really wanting something fairly basic.

I'm leaning toward the Leapster because it is the most affordable. My 6 year old has never really used any type of gaming device. His camera has a couple games on it that he plays sometimes and he has played a very little bit on an old ipod touch phone that my mom gave me a while back (I use it as an ipod touch. The phone part isn't active. But, all I do is play solitaire on it when I'm "policing" my kids to go to sleep or in a waiting room without my kids.) So, I really think the Leapster will be fine for him for a year or so. Then, we can see how these things are going to work out for our family and upgrade him in a year or so. Plus, with all of them having the same thing, we have to buy less games because they can share.

I'm still on the fence though about what to get. Still researching.

[iris0110]

Originally Posted by HeatherlovesCDs Thanks for pointing this out! My son is 6 also and still a budding/struggling reader. So, this makes a difference for him. Maybe we will get them all the Leapsters (the cheapest of the games I've seen) and then see how it goes for the year. Maybe he can get the DS for next Christimas after mastering this one. I spoke with my husband last night and he is on-board for the idea of getting something.

Both of my boys have played nintendo systems long before learning to read without difficulty. Kearnan is ASD and I wound up buying him a cheap gameboy advance to potty train him when he was 5 (it was the only way to get him to relax on the toilet so he could go). He played that for about a year before he received my nephew's DS as a gift. Because he was ASD at 6 he could not read at all but it did not stop him from operating either the gameboy games or the DS games. He always recognized the games by the pictures on the front and the DS talks enough that he could tell what they wanted him to do. If anything I think it improved his reading. Tharen was given a slightly nicer version of the gameboy advance by a friend of mine when he was 3 and then last year for his birthday (he was 6) he received a DS. He wasn't reading that much at the time though he reads fairly well now. The DS's are not everyday toys here either. The boys can play them when we are waiting for appts (which we seem to spend a good bit of time doing) and on the weekends at my mom's house. Occasionally at the end of the day they may play with them when all of their school work and chores are done but usually they are too busy with other things or would rather ask to play some other game system as we have a PS2, PS3 and Wii as well, none of which gets that much play (ok dh and I give the PS3 a workout). They also have tablets that they use for educational apps and occasionally use when dh is teaching a 2nd or 3rd class at the TKD studio because I think 3 hours of TKD in one night is too much to expect of a 10 and 6 year old.