Leappad Phonics Program
Cheryll Witting
Does anyone have any personal experience using either of these systems, or any similar product, with toddlers? I would like to choose the best program, and it is hard to decide which is better for my daughter.
Hooked on Phonics is great for a child close to school age, or going to school, but i would not reccomend it for a toddler. A First Leap Pad is a much better choice, it introduces them to reading actual books, it can be set to read the page to them. If you want to work w/ your child on letter recognition you are better off getting an alphabet line for her room, an easel chalkboard w/ RR chalk (it's thicker and easier for her to play with) and a library card. Take her to the library weekly, take out a bunch of books, read them to her, play w/ the chalkboard by teaching her simple names of concrete objects that she can see (things in the room, out the window, family names, animals she sees, etc) and ease her into learning to read one on one. Do a lot of book reading during the day and play w/ the chalkboard for about 20 minutes a day or less.
Reading programs for toddlers are a waste of money, if you want them to really read at some point it has to be gradual one on one. Expect it to take a very long time, most kids are at least 4 before they learn to read on their own, kids who do it younger are usually the exception.
Reading is taught sequentially. Both of the programs you mentioned will help some children. And there is no program that is best for all children. Hooked on phonics is good for those who love music and respond to it. Leap does take up some slack so that you don't have to do the reading (of course you don't know what the child is doing when you aren't there).
Have you checked out the Leap Frog videos? These are great. My son fell in love with them right after he turned. two. He was going around spelling words with magnet letters and telling everyonne that "the silent e makes the other vowel say its name." I think there are 4 in the series. The first three are the best.
Have you checked out the Leap Frog videos? These are great. My son fell in love with them right after he turned. two. He was going around spelling words with magnet letters and telling everyonne that \"the silent e makes the other vowel say its name.\" I think there are 4 in the series. The first three are the best.
That's basically the question: to Leapster or not to Leapster? We've got some travelling, including cross-country airplane trips, coming up with our just-turned-4 year old. Someone recommended a Leapster. I'm intrigued, but cautious; my husband is anti, but admits the possibility of in-flight use. We are a very limited-media family and have battery-free, licensed- character-free toys, so a Leapster would be, well, a change. We don't, for example, have any of the other Leapfrog toys. But might the Leapster be worth it? In some limited context? I can also add that she's just on the cusp of reading (with the BOB Books -- love, love, love them!), and I wonder if the Leapster would have some good programs to reinforce that? If there are good tools out there, I don't want to ignore them just out of some anti-battery bias.
Trying to walk the line, if I can find it
I am an anti-battery mom as well, and I personally don't think you need to change your entire value system just because you will be travelling. If your daughter loves to read, stock up on books to read on the plane, as well as some favorite toys and maybe some new toys and books as surprise gifts. (There is lots of good advice in the BPN archives on travelling with small kids.) If you bought a Leapster for the plane trip, what are you going to do with it afterwards--throw it away? I imagine it will be there to stay. You and I learned to read (and enjoy reading) without any batteries, and I'm sure our kids can too. Leapfrog isn't evil, but I don't think it's necessary either. And I have to say, the Leapfrog interactive toys that have been given to us always feature annoying voices and music, which I certainly wouldn't want to have near me on a plane! Vote for No Leapster
My mother-in-law bought our 4 year old son a Leapster. It's not a toy I ever would have bought...but here it is. First of all, know that you have to buy the games in addition to the actual thing, and the games are between 20-25 dollars each. So it's an expensive thing to ''try.''
My son has a few different games, and in my opinion the only one he can really play by himself is one called Animal Genius. It's simple enough in terms of the skills, and it's actually pretty cute. There's really nothing offensive about that game at all! Someone gave him the Cars game, and it's too complicated for him at 4 in terms of the motor skills needed.
If you're going to try it, I'd say to stick to the games made by Scholastic rather than a character/movie etc... I am also interested in a game called Letterpillar, I think, which is about letter recognition. Definitely trust the age level on the boxes. Learning to Live with Leapster
Love the leapster-great for traveling-great to reinforce letter/number pre reading-if you buy make sure you get the correct age -my 4yo loves LETTERS ON THE LOOSE AND COUNTING ON ZERO. My 7.5 yo uses his leapster and is clear on the concept that no other ''gaming machines'' will enter my home. The two games I cited have non merchandised characters-not Dora/Cars etc... you might find it as a nice quiet time activity. sydney
I suggest that you stick to your values and go without. The worst case scenario is that she will be bored for a few hours and pester you. It will be over when you get off the plane. Whereas if you introduce the Leapster, you may find yourself regretting it when she's glued to the screen months later and pestering you for more programs. It's very hard to stuff that genie back into the bottle and convince your child that her imagination is more valuable than the gadget. Alice
I don't think you have to be totally 100% logical with your OK and NOT OK lists. You can be OK with renting a DVD player for your kid to watch movies during an airplane flight, and NOT OK with Leapfrog even though both have batteries. Or vice versa. You can be OK with some electronic toys and not others. Check out the thing in question, and go with your gut. Does it bug you? Do you hate the way it's advertised? Does the sound bother you? (Will it bother other passengers is an important question too!!) I allow movies because I myself like movies, and I don't allow games because I don't like them. I also have different rules for airplanes than for home and that works fine too. I can definitely see the appeal of having a clear philosophy like a litmus test that you can apply to different things without having to think about it too much, but sometimes you will need to decide things on a case by case basis. Yes to this movie, no to that one. Yes to this junk food, no to that one. Your rationale can be as logical as mom doesn't like it. And that's OK.
Leapster is a great travel toy. We keep one in our older daughter's travel backpack -- which only comes out of the closet when we go on a trip. We also have a travel DVD player -- ditto on staying in the back pack. They never ask about them when we aren't traveling -- though they do know that they are there and ask for them as soon as we get on the plane.
My older daughter attends a Waldorf preschool, so you can guess where we fall on the character/battery spectrum. My girls probably average about one-hour of tv a day -- during the half hour that they are waking up in the morning and waking up after naps, so they do know all about Dora, Mickey and Calliou.
My husband AND Leapster 'Letter Factory' taught my older daughter her letter sounds. She is a beginning reader, too (turned four in April) so that was great prep. There are other great DVDs/games for the leapster that reinforce/expand learning. If you don't mind the frogs, you can do a lot to avoid characters.
Travel, especially on planes, can be tough for the short set. My girls are frequent flyers (at last count my older daughter has about 75 flights under her belt and my younger one is well over 30). Its okay to bring out some special/different stuff to keep them occupied. -anon
I was also apprehensive about Leap Track when they started to appear in the schools. I try to steer clear of bells and whistles that can be associated with reading interventions, but ya know what? They do not stop kids from loving to read a book made out of paper. I see it as another tool or medium for information. I use it now as a fun part of our reading intervention in my third grade classroom. The students like them, but they do not replace real books and stories. Sure, there is research on either side but it is all about balance. Now video games that teach reading, never! I gotta draw the line there! anon
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