Leap pad--now what?

[herewego1]

Hi, all-
I started out saying no leap pad since we have an Ipad and then, of course, the kids asked for one in the middle of the "no leap pad to be found anywhere" craze. However, 2 weeks before Christmas I was returning something to Target and the woman in front of me returned a Leap pad because her mom got one as well, so I bought it since I thought it was fate! Now, I have no idea what to do with it.
They are happy right now with the apps that came with it and the free one, but before I get into buying the cartridges, I thought I had ask for some advice on what are good prices for the cartridges, deals you have found, where to get them, what are good ones, etc...
Also, any advice for apps your kiddos like would help as well. They are 3 and 7.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

 

[Mammaz]

Watch the leapfrog site for coupons then use them when games are on sale at target or Wal mart. You can download apps from the site also. Google leapfrog coupons for printable and online codes. I e had good luck on eBay buying used games cheap. Good luck!

 

[tzeitel]

They had the games on sale at Target (buy get 1 1/2 off). I bought an app card on Ebay for less than retail plus it came with an extra app - what I got was an extra $20 credit to the app store That card I got on Ebay but it says (on the box) that it is a Toys R Us exclusive so if you see them at TrU it is a great deal for retail price. TrU also had B1G1 free games a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Straycat]

The inlaws got my kids each a leappad for Christmas. Both of my kids are 5. They have only had them a week so I haven't watched every game that they have played nor have they explored all that there is to do but I can give you my one week in thoughts.

It seems that if you are only buying for one leappad, it is less expensive to buy the cartridge games as they can be found on sale. Of course, you can get the download cards on sale sometimes too. In my case, my kids often both want to play the same game at the same time and if you buy the downloadable games, you can put them on two leappads. Plus, no cartridges to worry about misplacing. Also, you should note that some games are not available for download and are only available via the cartridges.

The games we have on cartridge are Tangled, Disney Fairies, Toy Story and Penguins of Madagascar. Our downloaded games are Leapschool Reading, Pet Pals 2 and Mr. Pencil.

The two favorite games for both kids so far are Pet Pals 2 and Mr. Pencil.

My DS5 (just turned 5) is in pre-k and is a beginning writer. I have seen major improvement in his fine motor skills from using this game. I am impressed.

My DD5 (almost 6) is in Kindergarten and is a beginning reader. I watched her play Toy Story today and some of the reading was slightly beyond her current level but with some guidance, it is something that she will be able to work out on her own. At the time, I was thinking that there is no way that my DS would be able to play that game. However, the leappad is supposed to adjust for the grade level and their grade levels are set in the options. It will be interesting to watch him play the same game and see if they made it so that a child with no reading skills can still play the game. It is an age 4-7 game, so we'll see.

All in all, I am happy with the Leappads.
By the way, I highly recommend rechargeable batteries, if you don't have them already. We use the Sanyo eneloops (from Amazon) and they work great.

Edited to add: I watched my DS play toy story this morning. In the one area that my DD had trouble, they would give you a word like 'sight' and read the word to you. There were three words above it (such as night, bike and dark) and you had to pick the one that rhymed. They didn't read those words to you and it is above her reading level so you had to figure out from the ending letters of word, which one might rhyme. -- On the same spot on my DS's game, set to PRE-K settings, they had a picture of a bee and three pictures above it, (tree, tie, mug) and he just had to pick out the rhyming word.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

DD is only 2 (almost 3) so we've stuck with buying apps online since she can really only use the ebooks and videos right now. No point to buy the cartridges. She is in love with it though and she calls it her "ipad". It was a great gift from my parents.

 

[dawnn12]

check out this post there are two different leappad codes for free apps they worked as of the other day

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2843673

 

[herewego1]

Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone!

 

[mrseace711]

Love our LeapPads! DD4 & DS6 have not put them down since Christmas we went out and bought the rechargable batteries after the 1st disposable batteries died after day 2! I prefer to purchase the games via the Leap Store and download rather than buy cartridges lost cartridges = $$ down the drain. So far we have purchased and downloaded 1 game, 2 videos, 2 apps, 1 book, and 1 spanish flashcard app. I like that the kids both have the same apps for 1 price.

 

[msdroz]

Does anyone have the plug in adapter? I was wondering how that worked. So far I've been pretty disappointed in the product. We downloaded the train game and my son solved it in a day. He's 5 so I'm thinking this product may be for younger kids? I'm afraid to pay for any of the other apps if we are going to run into the same problem.

 

[mrseace711]

Does anyone have the plug in adapter? I was wondering how that worked. So far I've been pretty disappointed in the product. We downloaded the train game and my son solved it in a day. He's 5 so I'm thinking this product may be for younger kids? I'm afraid to pay for any of the other apps if we are going to run into the same problem.

we have the adapter as well must play while plugged in. The rechargable batteries are much better. My son is 6 and loves it. Have you tried the videos? Kids Bop has music available as well.

Does your son have access to other game type systems ipod, nintento, ect? If so then this probably will bore him in my opinion. This is DD4 & DS6 only gaming system of any type.

 

[msdroz]

we have the adapter as well must play while plugged in. The rechargable batteries are much better. My son is 6 and loves it. Have you tried the videos? Kids Bop has music available as well.

We haven't tried the videos, I saw that they have pound puppies but I'm assuming it's the same episodes that he can watch on tv so I don't want to purchase them. Can you tell me a little more about kidz bop? I'm hoping the apps continue to improve and that people rate them so that I can decide which ones will be worth the investment.
To answer your question about another gaming system, we have a kinect and that is almost too difficult for him so I thought this would be a good compromise.

 

[mrseace711]

We haven't tried the videos, I saw that they have pound puppies but I'm assuming it's the same episodes that he can watch on tv so I don't want to purchase them. Can you tell me a little more about kidz bop? I'm hoping the apps continue to improve and that people rate them so that I can decide which ones will be worth the investment.
To answer your question about another gaming system, we have a kinect and that is almost too difficult for him so I thought this would be a good compromise.

I am going to download 1 of the Kidz Bop for the kids next along with another book. There are 2 Kidz Bop cds available now last time I checked I believe its $10 to download the full cd. We downloaded both Pound Puppies and Team Umi Zumi granted its watching the shows over and over they enjoy them they also have 1 of the Discovery movies on them which my son enjoys but DD4 not so much. The kids were all sick last week in bed and they were allowed to lay around playing their games =) I decided against the cartridges because my kids loose little things WAYYYY too easily but you can find explorer cartridges that also work with the LeapPads on clearance.

 

[bear74]

I am going to download 1 of the Kidz Bop for the kids next along with another book. There are 2 Kidz Bop cds available now last time I checked I believe its $10 to download the full cd. We downloaded both Pound Puppies and Team Umi Zumi granted its watching the shows over and over they enjoy them they also have 1 of the Discovery movies on them which my son enjoys but DD4 not so much. The kids were all sick last week in bed and they were allowed to lay around playing their games =) I decided against the cartridges because my kids loose little things WAYYYY too easily but you can find explorer cartridges that also work with the LeapPads on clearance.

the explored cartridges not the leapster 2 cartridges, right?

 

[sl_underwood]

We dont have leappad but do have the leapster explorer and have several apps/game cartridges. Ones our son loved were Wolverine spelling, cars, Jedi reading, scooby spelling, mr pencil, and number bash. He did not care for sugar bugs (got it free a long time ago) or alphabet stew (another free one) He also did not like the toy story 3 game yet he loves toy story so not sure why.

 

[Mrs D]

Here's the games my kiddos, 6&4, enjoy playing:
Cartridges: Ben 10, Jedi math & reading, Penguins, Tangled, Mr Pencil, Princesses.
Apps: Monkey soccer, stretchy monkey, dice ahoy, wheel works, jewel train, roly poly picnic, cars 2 ultra ebook.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

My daughter is 4 (almost 5) and LOVES her "Ipad"!!!!

She really likes the art studio and the camera functions.

We got her
-Dora the explorer Cartridge
-Tangled Cartridge
-Toy Story3 Cartridge

She has mastered Dora and does really well with Tangled. We got the AC Adapter and it seems to work just fine.

DD adores her leappad!! I am so happy I could get her one!! ...and I love that you can plug headphones into it for a quiet car rides