Our LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer Learning Table Review:

I love my iPad.  But unfortunately so does my two children who love to leave sticky little fingers over the screen so when I heard about the LeapPad tablet I was interested to find out if it would suit them so they’d leave my ‘toy’ alone.

Now full disclosure here, my children are five and eighteen months, and already quite technologically advanced in that my five year old already has his own profile on the computer and my eighteen month old can use the iPad better than her grandparents can.

I got the green and white LeapPad Explorer since I figured it was my five year old son who would get the most use out of it, and while he loves it, especially that it’s touchscreen, I was surprised that it’s my eighteen month old girl who seems to play with it the most.

We haven’t got any extra apps or games for it yet and have only used the included apps.  My son seems to like using the video camera and still camera the most and has taken many a photo of my Husband on the toilet (ahem) as he thinks it’s hilarious.  Thank goodness there is no wireless transfer to upload to any websites!

My daughter likes the art studio which pleases me since it saves my walls from her ‘art work’.

Overall I think this is a reasonably priced alternative to getting children their own cute tablet.  I actually think that children younger than the recommended age of four would be able to use some of the features just fine.  They probably couldn’t navigate around some of the education games (my daughter can’t do this yet), but will be able to find lots of things to do with it anyway.

I am wondering if it might be a little too young for my five year old (even though he is smack bang in the recommended age group) and would perhaps be better with an iPod Touch (with the wireless turned off of course) so that he can have a device ‘just like Daddy’s iPhone’.

But he still does play it enough for me to feel I got good value for my money.

Overall we recommend the LeapPad Explorer Tablet as a great tablet for kids.

Included Apps/Games

PetPad: This is pretty much the same game as the Leapster Explorer with a few extra activities that you can do with your pet.  Basically you have your own virtual pet which you can play with and feed.

Art Studio: The Art Studio would be my daughter’s favourite app and it’s a great little paint program where they can paint, stamp, draw, doodle, whatever with a wide range of brushes and colours.  It does keep her entertained for long periods of time.

Camera/Video: A nice feature is the included camera and video recorder which take fairly decent photos (good enough to send to grandma anyway) even though it’s only low res.  Plus they can embellish them with ‘stickers’, ‘frames’ and other funny pictures.  The pictures are easy enough to get off by connecting the LeapPad to the computer via USB.

Story Studio – All About Me: This is where your child can create their own ‘story’ with their photo’s, writing, artwork and other activities that they participate in from the LeapPad.

Additional Apps/Games

There are over 100 more different games and apps that you can download onto the LeapPad or buy in cartridge form as well.  As expected with LeapFrog all of these are educational but still fun.

Price

It’s priced at under $100 (just) and right now Amazon has free shipping with it.  We expect this to be a big seller this Christmas, so you should hurry to make sure you don’t miss out.

Find out more and read the reviews at Amazon.