LeapFrog LeapPad2 Explorer, Green

i purchased the leappad 2 for my children for a 6 hour airplane ride. I also purchased the carrying case and the ac adapter. i have already purchased a rechargeable duracell battery system from costco so i brought that along as well. the leappad did exactly what i had hoped it would do. it is packed full of excellent apps, the art app and the pet pad keep the kids totally entertained. for our free app i downloaded rollie polly picnic and it's very cool. i really didn't want to be stuck with crazy kids on the airplane so i purchased some additional apps, honestly, i didn't really need to. after reading many reviews i purchased stretchy monkey because it is kindof like angry birds but educational and not angry, i also puchased mr. pencil saves doodleburg. from what i can tell, mr. pencil is the biggest hit but they play both. i also purchased two videos because i thought my almost 3 year old would like them but he's not really into screens at all. i purchased one e-book, the cinderella one (even though i have boys!) and they love it! the e-books are quite pricey, i felt like a bit of a fool buying it because really i should just be reading to them on the plane, but that being said i was blown away by the video quality of the book. it is also incredibly interactive... very very interesting. the whole system is very high quality, durable, the video quality is amazing. i'm so glad that i purchased this over an adult tablet or even the innotab. i've had luck with leapfrog products before, and this one certainly exceeded my expecations. i mean, if i bought my kids an adult tablet i would be concerned about them dropping it, scratching it, breaking it. the leappad is made to withstand tough kid treatment and i don't want to have to micro-manage them... kids drop things and it would be sad if a young child felt rotten and guilty for breaking an ipad or any other adult tablet. this leappad is theirs, they treat it well, it is designed to be used by young children.i am an outdoorsy hands-on mom and i set limits to screen time. i'm not big on electronics but this item certainly has a time and place and my kids are learning when they are playing. i couldn't be more pleased.

After reading these reviews had wished i had bought this sooner for my son (and even now still do) but this is the perfect device/tablet/etc... for us... I am not hugely into the whole give kids technology so they know how to use it movement (although i love technology) as i do think kids time is better used by going outside to play and interact (even if it's loud and argument leading) with their siblings! BUT have always been a huge leapfrog buyer and pretty much bought everything they have put out since my boys were little...the leaps in technology that have happened are HUGE...this is a great learning tool for our son(s) and also brought them all together to play and LEARN too! They spent the whole first day making movies and doing skits (which included their angry birds tied with curling ribbon to fly in front of the screen!) and taking photos...when i asked them why as both their kindle and ipod have cameras they said it was just easy to do and the screen was nice and big! It DOES have a touch screen (as that is one concern i had after reading the review i thought it could only be used with the pen). Overall...we are really pleased with it and the games you get free with it are enough for him, but he had gotten extra birthday money and wanted one more app...and we found his favorite music by THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS!!! So FUN! and being an engineer and having taught HS Physics last year wanted him to have fun playing with Phineas and Ferb's Physics App! He hasn't put it down and as most of the reviewers had younger children/toddlers I was worried. Highly recommend this...although wish the ebooks went up to 8&9 year old levels too right now they are great for 1st and 2nd grade even...So glad we bought this for him! OH and the rechargeable battery pack is a dream for anyone who has ever had one of these devices that doesn't naturally recharge by plugging in (you never need to even take them out to recharge...no more hurt fingers, wasteful battery purchases, etc...)!

first of all I regret buying it but my son loves it. and a lot of the apps are very fun and full of great learning concepts but I don't like 3 main things:1. the apps are too expensive - In reading reviews before purchasing this, I don't remember anyone mentioning how expensive the apps are. I can't figure out how this can stay competitive on a market like this with all the other tablet options for kids. on average most apps are like $7 versus $.99 for apps with an ipad. and you have to buy the apps constantly; actually you have to buy them like weekly because the kids go through the apps like a thirsty person drinks water in the desert. the apps should be $2-3 at the most. Some are $25! just robbery! capitalism at it's worst2. everything you need for the thing is, of course, sold separately. it only runs on batteries for maybe 2-3 hours so either buy rechargeable ones or you are spending a lot in batteries every few days. the charger and the headphones and the case are all separate and each costs about $20 a piece. just robbery! thievery! if we are paying $100 for the gadget, everything should be included. by the time you pay for the device, the apps, and the attachments, you would have a brand new ipad. in fact, it's cheaper to buy an ipad and buy $.99 apps than buy this thing.3. this device does not have Wi-Fi. I knew it didn't when I bought it but didn't realize how burdensome it would be to constantly download things from my computer to this game system. it's like I'm spending more time downloading the software and apps that it's making more work for me and less fun for my son.