Leapfrog LeapPad or Leapster Explorer?

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Anyone here have a Leapfrog LeapPad or Leapster Explorer for their kids? Any pros/cons on either of these devices for a 4 year old? I know the LeapPad is pretty much Out Of Stock everywhere so if it was to be a christmas gift we'd have to "delay it" until January or February which wouldn't be that bad.

Question I have is would we be better off with an iPod Touch with a heavy duty case? We have lots of learning apps for the iPad.

[cbelt3]

Both were played with and then discarded for 'cooler' things. They are, however, both very sturdy devices, unlike the 'VTech' junk electronics. I'd try 'em out at the toy store with the intended recipient and see which one is cool.

[datbeme]

We had the 2005ish versions of a couple of these devices, and they never got a whole lot of use. I'm not saying they weren't worthwhile, but I can't say that they were either. Obviously, this depends on the child.

[DRR]

I have a Leap Pad for a 4 year old. It's a durable enough device but if your 4 year old can take care of his/her possessions you might be better off with something else.

The "app" selection is fairly limited. I'm hoping that after this holiday season, with more units in people's hands, that will get better. There are a couple of good apps, most of them, are crap. Very limited in terms of play before you get bored. Many are educational but again they can be very one dimensional.

Also the apps are fairly expensive if you're used to the Apple app store in terms of pricing. A decent game on the LeapPad is $25. Many are $10, some are $5. On the Apple App store, the same level of quality and functionality would be $10, $1.99 and free.

My sister got her 5 year old a Leap Pad for Xmas. And had some relatives buy some games/accessories. All told, about $300 was spent. She lamented to me; "For $300 I should have just bought an iPad."

[DRR]

To answer the original question - yes, you should just buy an iPod Touch and put it in an Otterbox or something.

The one thing the LeapPad does well is that it includes a stylus. For a 4 year old, practicing fine motor control with a pen, that can be a big advantage. You can get styluses for the iPod Touch, just realize that you'll need some sort of learning app that takes advantage of it and can ask the kid to write letters and numbers or trace shapes.

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DRR wrote: My sister got her 5 year old a Leap Pad for Xmas. And had some relatives buy some games/accessories. All told, about $300 was spent. She lamented to me; "For $300 I should have just bought an iPad."

Bingo.