I brought this game for my 6 year old for Christmas. She enjoys tracing the pictures and playing some of the games. She gets a little frustrated with the maze. You have to go through the maze without touching any of the lines and if you take the pen off you get the buzz sound. So she gets really upset with that. I like the game because it helps to teach kids to write neatly. She is just beginning the game but I think it will help her. She has not played all the parts of it yet. She also loves the part where you just change colors and can write and draw what you want.

I purchased a leap frog lmax and this is one of the games i purchased for the system. my daughter is four and this is her favorite game right now. She gets to draw earse paint and stamp. THey let her pick from coloring book pages and have learing games where she can trace the letters and even has drawing lessons. It is a great investment and keeps her busy.

I purchased this product for my six year old granddaughter. She began playing with it immediately. The option to mix colors to create a large variety of new ones was a great unexpected surprise. She's been happily drawing and using the product ever since.

This product certainly helps to develop the fine motor skills necessary to improve handwritng and artistic drawing ability. I would recommend this educational product.

My 5 year old is really loving this game. It took her til about now to really like it. She's starting to understand mixing of colors and really keeps her attention. She does not get frustrated as she does with other video games.

My 6 year old son recieved this game to play on his leapster and loves it. It teaches shadows and alot of great things for kids wanting to learn more about how to draw. He plays with this game more than any of the other 11 Leapster games he has. Hope this helps anyone who is looking to buy.

My three and five year old enjoy playing this game. It is great for drawing and learning to write letters and numbers. It is one of the favorites from their selection of leapster games.

This is really good. My 3 year old daughter can now write about 11 alphabets just two weeks after buying this. She knows how different colors can be made and enjoying drawing and painting.

*I* love this cartridge. No, I don't actually play it myself (oh wait, I did have fun in the maze games ;) ), but I LOVE the fact that they have the letter drawing. I homeschool my children and have had the hardest time trying to get my son to recall HOW to write his letters and numbers, like where to begin and in what direction to write. Lots and lots of practice, but this game is fun and he copies Mr. Pencil. His letters and numbers are already improving and he's only had it for less than a week, and most importantly, this makes writing them fun. It's not the drudgery that Mommy has him do. :)

He is 5, BTW, and also loves creating colors. I am very pleased with this purchase.

I felt you need to change the age for the drawing game. My son is eight and it was way to easy., very young for him. It is better more for a pre schooler. I wasted my money on this one. Leapster itself is a great game.

Excellent game for your little leapster! My 4 year old daughter loves this game. It is not only fun for her to draw but she is also learning her colors, specifically what two colors make this color. Very educational!

This amazing game/learning tool is frustrating in the beginning, however, it teaches your child how to be more accurate in his or her writing. my son isn't the brightest crayon in the box nor the quickest, but he has excelled with this game. He volentarily writes his abc's on his magnet drawing toy in the car after this game. his drawing has become more elaborate, and his comprehension of instruction has excelled. He can navigate through the menus easily and the options throughout keep him totally entertained. I highly reccomend this toy.

This is my children's favorite cartridge for their Leapsters. I bought this one for my oldest son 6 (now 7) whot loves to draw & is constantly doing some sort of art project ... He has yet to loose interest in it. My middle son who is 5, is always borrowing it for his game system too. They both love to use it and get to make some pretty great free style drawings. I would love to see another similar game with some new stamps, colors & color book pages.

This is the #1 played game by my five year old son. We also like playing the maze games. However I'm not sure where the problem is coming from but the calibration is off. When I press the pen to the screen the line draws off to the left about 2-3mm. Quite annoying but I'm assuming it's the unit. Mr. Pencil is still a real fun game even with this slight annoyance.

Having been a fine arts student in my pre-parenting days, I'm wary of anything that says "Learn-To-Draw." And sure enough, this game came with the expected series of templates that kids can trace to "draw" pictures of a dog, a cat, etc. My initial reaction was, "No! Be free of the line! Draw whatever your heart desires, and therein lies the art!!!"

What I didn't realize was that my four year old wasn't acquiring McArt lessons. Well, okay, he might have, to some degree. But what impressed me was that my son was learning *stylus control*. Through the tracing games as well as mazes of decreasing cell size, my son was able to improve his penmanship. Having owned this game for ten months, his handwriting is remarkably legible (though you might want to chalk this comment up to parent-tootin'-their-own-horn).

If your child has the willingness to sit down and play with this game, you might notice improvement over pencil control as well! It's certainly more fun and interactive than tracing all those dotted-line handouts they get in school...

Mr.Pencil's Draw and Write is a great game.My favorite game in Mr.Pencil is the Maze Game.This game gave me tons of handwriting skill and taught me how to draw.This a great game for a seven and a half year old like me.So if you like making colors and drawing.Buy Mr.Pencil"s Draw and Write today!

My twin boys fought over this program. They loved to create with it and it helped strengthen their hand control, important in learning to write.

This is a great item helps with letters..numbers and at the same time it's fun...learn to trace and color...there is so much more..I can not say enough about it.

Both of my girls really enjoy this game and have a ton of fun creating!!

I got this as a gift for my boy who just turned 4 yrs old in Januray and he loves it. Its his favorite game so far on leapster. He even tries to draw what he learned on paper and tries to teach me too. Its a great game that teaches all about drawing, shading, annimation.

This game keeps my 4 year olds entertained! They love to work mazes (which this game has to help teach pen control). They have learned to write their letters better, too!

My son, age 5, and daughter, age 3, both love to play this game. My son enjoys making cartoons in the flip book and my daughter likes to mix colors to get new ones and color the pre-drawn pictures. It's also great for both of them to practice and learn how to write letters.

At first I was apprehensive about purchasing this cartridge. I wasn't sure if my three year old was going to like it or found it be too challenging for her. I was wrong. It is definitely one of her favorites.

This cartridge helps to either teach or reinforce colors, uppercase/lowercase letter recognition and fine motor skills. This game promotes the use of the small muscles of the body, especially in their eye-hand coordination tasks...like navigating the maze without picking up the Leapster pen.

At this moment she has learned to trace most of the letters in the alphabet. She already knew her ABCs by heart, but now she is learning uppercase vs lowercase for letter recognition.

I believe exposure is the key to learning and keeping a child thirsty for more knowledge, and this is just the cartridge to keep a toddler on track. I just let her play with it and figure things out on her own. It's good for problem solving skills.

MY 4 YEAR OLD ENJOYS THIS GAME. HE HAS NOT HAD A PROBLEM WITH USING THE PEN. HE ENJOYS EVERYTHING THIS GAME HAS TO OFFER. A MUST TO HAVE.

My 4 year old got this game for christmas along with the learning system and he doesn't paticlarly like this one as much as some of the other games he's gotten...my 7 year old also tried this game and she got frustrated with it because mr. pencil is really picky about you getting off of the lines..he doesn't give the kids much slack for error, but I tried it and I thought it was really educational!!

We love Mr Pencil! This game teaches children all about colors, primary, secondary etc. and actually has them combine the colors themselves. It has a large selection of mazes, puzzles in all skill levels, and teaches the user basic art/drawing skills. This game also works with the child to better write their numbers and letters, similar to the LETTER FACTORY game. My son is 5, I would think a 4yr old would also enjoy the beginning levels of this game. This game offers lots more than the short description by the manufacturer, I would highly recommend this game!

My boys (ages 3 & 5) love this game. So does my 32 year old husband! It is SO great for learning to write, and is fun to sit with them and watch them play. They are spellbound for hours, and learning! Great!!

my 4 year old loves this game. I love the fact that he can just doodle or actually practice writing his ABC's both uppercase and lowercase! As a parent I am very impressed with the whole leapster line and my 6 year old and 4 year old love it too!

The concept of this game is great! And there is great potential on the specific tasks to explore. However, I (an adult) got frustrated trying to use it. It's way too sensitive on exactly where your lines need to be to have your item considered correctly drawn, or too sensitive to be able to keep your line within the line to do the mazes. I really wish this was easier to use. What a great concept - it's unfortunate it's too frustrating to use!

I bought this for my 5 year old to help him with his letters, since he is starting school this year, and I can already tell a difference. This game has taught him the correct way to make his letters. Mr. Pencil is great at giving postive feedback, and although he may sometimes tell you to try again later, my son is always up to the challenge. What a fun way for you child to practice his writing. Also, my 3 1/2 year old loves playing the doodling and drawing activities. This is a must have for your leapster collection.

Very good learning tool for a 5 yr. old.

I gotta echo the review by "frustrating" -- my daughter LOVES her Leapster but dumped this cartridge early on after several frustrating attempts. She was excited to practice her letters, but the game requires the child to draw precise lines that match the on-screen template and also to use prescribed line strokes following little arrows on each letter -- e.g., when drawing the two "humps" on a letter "B" if the child picks up the pen between the "humps" it won't accept the letter. Come on. Pretty discouraging when the game rejects every letter your 5-year old tries to draw along with little annoying comments for each try. If your child has mastered drawing upper and lower case letters why would they want to play this game and if they are still learning they don't draw precise even lines. The rest of the game didn't go much better. And echo the problems others had with the drawing functions. Other Leapster cartridges like Dora and Kindergarten were big hits and are played endlessly, but don't expect much from this one.

My 3 year old loves this, as does his 6½ year old step sister. Highly recommended!!!

As the mother of a 5-year old who has difficulty with small motor skills, I absolutely love this game. Yes, sometimes the game doesn't allow for the human factor in tracing a shape or a letter, but overall, I think this game is very beneficial for my son. I would certainly buy it again.

I bought this for my 5 year old daughter as she loves playing with her Leapster and she also loves to draw. What a combination! She loves the mazes and especially loves the Double Doodle, where she draws a picture and Mr. Pencil mimicks her drawing. I find it very educational and extrememly entertaining to any children who love to draw. Also, I haven't heard her complain once about having to try a little harder and I don't mind Mr. Pencil being a little strict with her either. I highly recommend this game.

Mr. Pencil is not strict to me. I watch my son do his lessons and he writes. If it is not neat enough (which he gives your child a decent amount of leeway. It doesn't have to be perfect, but your O can't look like a D. It is a very good learn to write. My son always ask for pencil and paper. I had this set to the side for my other son, I figured they both could use it. So i opened it up for him and loved the concept. My other son could use the same lesson as well. I love this and thankfully we have not had any calibrating problems. He uses it with ease. Anticipating buying my other son a leapster to get him started with this lesson. You won't be dissappointed. It is excellent pre-writing skills and art.

UPDATE: 4/17/2007

I have three leapsters in my home and I must say that 3 out of 4 of my boys use it (because my baby is only 1 :) ) I have an 8 year old a 6 year old and a four year old who use and benefit from using Mr. Pencil. My 6 year old had hand writing that was hard to understand when he was 3 and after one month of Mr. pencil had and big improvement. My 8 year old had to use it last year alot because of the not so neat writing. My 4 year old is just starting I will update later! I still think it is an excellent tool to have for your child. My 8 year old loves the drawing portion of the cartridge, he actually got a book on learn to draw and learned to appreciate it even more.