LeapFrog Explorer Learning Game: Jake and The Never Land Pirates

My niece and nephew are both under 5. On occasion, I am tasked with watching them. “On occasion” has become more frequent than I would otherwise want, but…family… Anyway, I live in an upstairs apartment, and also have a neighbor next door. Kids stomp. They scream to talk. Sometimes, for no known reason, they break into song and/or dance. Because their parents are worthless, they also idolize John Cena, and do their best to mimic WWE style wrestling if not constantly under a watchful eye. Discipline is not an option (see ‘parents’ and ‘worthless’ cited above. Also, ‘time out’ is not discipline, see below), and therefore, distraction is key for these visits. After my DVR managed to fill itself with Dora, Wonder Pets, and all that ilk, I decided it was time to look for other options. Given their obsession with walking off with my phone, and touching everything that has buttons, LeapPad seemed reasonable. LeapPad 2 and a half dozen games became Xmas presents. The LeapPad is nearly indestructible. When the kiddos “set it down” on my solid oak coffee table, the LeapPad is unscathed, which cannot be said about the wood (distressed wood is in, right?). The thread that keeps the stylus attached must be some carbon fiber, spider web hybrid- it can withstand swinging, chewing, etc. My only complaint about the Pad is that it goes through batteries faster than a puppy can decimate your girlfriend’s shoe closet. As for the games themselves, I have no complaints. The kids appear to enjoy them, and it keeps my DVR from teaching me little kid Spanish, my dog from being harassed, my neighbors from burning wicker me in effigy, and crayon off my walls. The fact that they may actually be learning something from the games is a happy secondary effect to their distraction. When they get sick of these, I’ll buy more, because I’ve learned that you can’t put a price on silence, or the ability to simply step out of a room to use the bathroom. On a side note, parents- discipline your kids, or give permission for someone else to do it. America is the culmination of thousands of years of human education and experience, and at this rate, it’ll be flushed in 2 generations because no one knows how to say “no” anymore, and there aren’t consequences for bad behavior. Time out is not discipline. Ostracizing children to a designated area and limiting their movement does not deter them from prison, it prepares them for it.

My son is 3 1/2 and he loved the movie Finding Dory. Since we had a LeapPad Platinum, I decided to buy this game, intending to give it to him when he turned 4. Recently he's been learning about shapes, colors, and numbers. It wound up being an impressive bargaining chip for potty training since he saw it the day it arrived so we gave it to him early. I am so impressed! He loves playing it and on only the second day he was asking to play the "Octopus game" (one of the story games which works on shape, color, and pattern recognition) and he was flying through the game! It starts on an easy level then appears to guage his comfort level before escalating to something that will challenge him. Every game has some purpose in teaching mathematics whether it be placing together puzzles, identifying patterns, comparing sizes of objects, or general counting and number identification. I would definitely recommend this game! It is hands down my son's favorite game thus far! I can't comment on if it would challenge a child on the higher end of the listed age range, but will let you know as my son gets futher along in the game to see how difficult it becomes!

Oh my goodness! My 5 year old daughter begged for this game and paid for it with her birthday money. 2 months later, she still plays it. She has found she does not need to use the card which is great when we are on the road. She tried to use them in the car, but they kept falling. That's when she figured out she didn't really need them. She does still like to use them when we are home and is allowed some time to play. she spreads them our on the carpet and then arranges into the 3 piles. The game is fun to watch her play and she gets really excited when she accomplishes a mission. I love the things the game has the kids do with directions, saving animals, and figuring out how to accomplish a mission with different Pups. I highly recommend this game! (side note: my 2.5 year old loves the concept of the game, but she is too young to fully play it)

My 3 year old loves this game, and it is very cute, but pretty minimal compared to the other Disney based Leapfrog games that I have seen, Considering the price (under $12, which is pretty low for a licensed character game from Leapfrog), though I feel it was a good deal and worth purchasing. I suppose if there were more activities within the game (i.e. like the amazing Jake game which has TONS to do, it would run more like $25, so it's nice there is a less expensive option out there! My kiddo probably could've managed this one at 2 relatively easily with some initial "training," as gameplay is pretty simple. The free app on Disney Junior's website is pretty similar. I probably wouldn't bother for over 4 years old if your child is of average or over cognitive ability, as it would probably start to become just too easy. At 3 1/2, this game isn't really a challenge for my girl, but she ENJOYS playing it (especially as she has gotten more into Doc McStuffins recently), and can play it independently for fun without frustration because it is simple. She is in the phase of playing doctor with her toys, so she enjoys that, and while, at 3, I wouldn't say she is learning a ton of new things with this game, she is at least "practicing" important skills (though mostly social, not particularly academic ones) when playing this game. The one thing I do really like and feel if notable, is that she can practice her fine motor skills in a pre-writing manner when stitching up the toys without undue aggravation. If you go "off-course" when following the line (which does seem to increase incrementally in difficulty), it doesn't make you start completely over, and is pretty forgiving, unlike the letter tracing in her Pet Pals game. That one drives us both crazy, as even I struggle with that one (and I don't have dexterity problems and have been writing for 35+years!). For a toddler/preschooler, that particular aspect of that other game drives me nuts, as it causes all matter of frustration, and this one is much more realistic and tolerable for a child who has known their alphabet since 1, but lacks the fine motor abilities to trace various lines with utter perfection! This game handles that aspect quite well. Overall, for the price, a great game for the under 5 set who loves the Doc character and enjoys playing doctor.

My only worry about buying these games is that my son tends to lose them. But he is under the recommended age for this toy so it is Mom error for not watching him more closely. He was almost three when he got the Leapster Explorer for christmas last year and is now almost four and still loves to play with it. His accumulated three games have kept him entertained all year and he has finished all of the badges and missions in the three games so this will be his forth game. I am sure he will love it as much has he does his toy story three, pixar pals and cars games. He may be getting an upgrade to a new leapster for his birthday so his one year old sister can adopt his old one. She is already figuring out how to play the games. Leapster is a great learning company and I recieved this a day earlier than expected. YAY Amazon!

I never trust the reviews where the reviewer got the item for free - but I have to say, they were true here. This game is so much fun for my almost 5 year old. It is pretty easy for her (but she is at the upper age limit) - but still reinforces numbers, shapes, sequencing, etc. She's playing it while I write this and the sounds aren't too annoying. The graphics were so much better than I expected and she loves finding and using the cards. They work really well (until we lose them all - lol). I wasn't thrilled with our leappad platinum (although Leapfrog had great customer service and fixed it for us), but I'm glad we bought it now that I see how cool these imagicards are. It's really easy for my daughter to use them and it's interesting to watch her switch between using her finger, the stylus, and the cards. It keeps her more engaged. I like watching her play too! We bought this "used" (just the packaging was damaged a little, but still new) through the amazon warehouse deals for twenty bucks. It was worth the price. And I'm cheap! :) oh - for Everest fans (the new girl pup) - she's part of the game (and is on one of the number cards), but isn't one of the "pup" cards - those are just the original dogs and Ryder.

I should say my four year old loves it! He just turned four last month, and I was excited to get him the Leap Pad Ultra tablet and a bunch of games. He got five altogether and a month later he still won't play the others because this one is his favorite! There are so many activities for him to do, he's always engrossed in it. Of course like any new game, or introducing a child to a new form of tech you have to sit with them and teach them how to use it The shape games, learning how to do the maze games and keep your finger down. At first he got made and made me do it every time but I just told him to practice and he would get it. He did, and he's much better now at trying now that he gets the concepts of the activities in the games. That's to be expected though, needing to teach him what it does. It's a great game!

Its fun an yes my four year old loves it. but its so repetative im afraid its going to get old fast. you do the same thinng for the same toy, to the saame toys again an again. Just thought for the price they would have gotten a little more creative. do i regret buying this game? No but thats only because its the closest thing i could find were my daughter can pretend to be a doctor wich is what i wanted. but if there were other optionns i would have not baught it. i do think that its great to teach compashon an stuff.. its all about friendhsip an helping them.