We got two of these last year for our (then) six and four year old girl/boy. They LOVE them. It is one of the best toys we have EVER gotten them. I can not say enough good things about the Leapsters!!!! The only thing I would recommend is to get rechargeable batteries, the batteries do go quickly otherwise. The games are great though (my husband and I have played them after the kids went to bed!). And it is very educational, but so much fun the kids still really enjoy it.

This toy is so much fun, I think the time a child spends on it should be limited or he/she will not want to do anything else!

My daughter played this game for a couple years, then she got a nintendo ds and now she hardly plays it anymore.

I bought two Leapsters for my four and five year old children. My five year old has limited English and is very rough on this toy, but it has held up well. However, my four year old's Leapster stopped working within two weeks. We sent it back to the company for a replacement, and the stylus stopped working on the replacement in less than two weeks. She has not been rough on the toy and has barely had a chance to play with it much to her disappointment because it was her biggest birthday gift. I have considered just replacing it and biting the cost again, but when 2 out 3 haven't even lasted two weeks, I am not willing to fork another [...] out for this product. It tooks weeks of e-mails back and forth to replace the first one. Granted, I lost the receipt - had never had trouble with Leapster before, but I made it clear from the start that we wanted it for a long drive to our vacation destination - it was not replaced on time.

This was a replacement for my daughter's first Leapster. She had pressed too hard repeatedly on the screen and her newest games didn't sense areas anymore when she pressed on them with her stilus. Was disappointed to see that the protective plastic which came with her first one did not come with this one, which helps keep the screen from being damaged. Works fine otherwise, but I won't replace again. Too expensive.

Both my older kids have a Leapster. I paid much more for ours. This is a GREAT deal. Your child will play with this for HOURS at a time and LEARN while they are playing.

These are fantastic for our two kids (ages 3 and 5). The games are very educational and fun, too. The kids love to play them. The Leapsters are very well made and travel well. Great for car and plane trips, and they have a headset jack for the times where you don't want to disturb the folks near by. I highly recommend these systems.

We bought this for our daughter for her 5th birthday. She LOVES it. And it is definitely teaching her many things. She bought one additional game for it, and would play it for hours on end if we let her! It's very durable. She's dropped it a few times, and it's still working perfectly. I'd highly recommend it!

My daughter loves her "game boy" she got this toy for her 3-bday (May-08). With our help and leapfrog's she knows the letters and their sounds, shapes and colors. I have no problem at all with this game. I have been using Duracell rechargeable batteries which work excellent. I highly recommend the Kindergarten game.

I bought this for my daughter for her 5th birthday and she hasn't put it down since. She loves the games that are on it along with the games that can be purchased for it. It teaches her shapes, numbers, letters, how to pay attention to directions, etc along with having fun. It was easy for her to learn how to play the games compared to the DS.

I had difficulty a few years ago buying my son a portable video game and I finally decided on a Gameboy Advance (DS and PSP not popular then & too expensive!) over the Leapster b/c the Gameboy had so many more games available. Boy, what a mistake! The gameboy requires ALOT of reading and my son just finished 1st grade this year, so he really didn't get much use out of the gameboy. Then, just a couple of months ago, our neighbors were moving and gave my 3 yr old daughter their leapster with about 6 or 7 games and carrying case. Both of my kids love this and it's SO MUCH MORE EDUCATIONAL than any other video game system I've seen. My son now has his game boy and a Nintendo DS and they argue over the Leapster. It's great for any child as the games are really fun (I like to play!) and the directions are spoken and don't require a child to read sentences to be able to understand how to play a game. This is a GREAT 1st or only game system. Thanks to our friends, we have a great educational toy that my kids love to play and has been very durable. The case is great and makes it easy to store everything and take it with us. My 3 yr old can even pack and unpack everything in the case. Great Choice!!!!!

It's no wonder LEAPSTERS are only under warranty for 3 months. They are crap. My daughter got it for Christmas and barely used it and 6 months later it's a paper weight. Went online and found several sites dedicated to grieving parents whose Leapsters also died after a couple months. DO NOT BUY A LEAPSTER!!!!! THEY ARE CRAP!!!!!

I bought the Leapster for my 4 year old daughter and she really likes it. She learns so much. It is durable too. She has dropped it on concrete so many times and it still works. I do recommend that anyone who purchases the Leapster also get a carrying case. The cartridges are hard to keep up with for a preschooler and a carrying case may have prevented my daughter from dropping it so much. I am glad over all that I got this for her.

I bought this for my four year old for her birthday. Within days she was able to identify letters that we had been struggling with. Now she walks around the house saying things like "Drink starts with D". I am so glad I bought this for her, she has learned a lot. But the great thing is she has fun so it's something she wants to do all the time. I have to make her put it down and go play. I love it. Recommend to all with small children.

Absolutely LOVE it! On a 2 hour plane ride, we didn't hear a peep out of her. We bought 3 games to go along and the carry case. (15$ at Walmart) Its great for the car too. If I try to play, I hear "thats mine"!
A must have for any preschooler.
JL

This has been my five year old daughter's favorite thing to play for about two years! I swore my child would NEVER play video games! Haha Guess I never realized how desperate moms get for some down time! LOL Anyway, I have to admit not only does this give me some peace and quiet and allows me to get lots of things done while she stays put with this thing but it also helps my daughter with math, spelling, writing, puzzles, etc. It's great! She never seems to pay that much attention to anything else for such long periods of time! I do have to limit the time she is allowed to play it because she would play for hours if I let her, and as tempting as that may be for me :) kids do need more physical and imaginative play. I am very happy I got this for her. It's been helpful to both me and her! :)

I have been thinking of purchasing this for about a year, but kept backing off b/c it is expensive when you add in games, and my daughter does not show a huge interest in video games. We are taking a long road trip this summer and I finally decided to give in and get it, plus the price has come down. I love that it's educational. I played with it myself and it does a good job of verbally explaining what you are to do, instead of needing to read like with a gameboy. I bought 2-one for my 5 y.o. and one for my almost 3 y.o. My 5 y.o. loves it and can figure out almost all the games on her own, just what I need to keep her occupied. My 2 3/4 y.o. just messes around with it as I expected, but it does entertain her for a short while. She always wants hers when her older sister is playing. I've learned that you need to buy the EXACT same thing to avoid major fighting, which I do not want to deal with while driving. I wish they had younger aged games like the VSmile Pocket, but it didn't get as good reviews and I didn't want to induce more fighting with different game systems. I purchased Dora, Kindergarten, Princess, & Backyardigans. Both of them like Dora and the onboard games best. Backyardigans is their least favorite which I got specifically for my youngest. So far it seems durable, as the screen hasn't gotten scratched and the kids aren't exactly gentle with it. Also, we've had it a couple of weeks and have not replaced the batteries yet. I was waiting to see how much it ate in batteries before I bought the recharging system and think I will skip it. My daughter plays for about 1/2 hour almost every day, longer in the car when there's nothing else to do. I am so pleased that she can play with something that will hold her interest and she is learning while doing it. As for my younger daughter I expect she'll grow into it in about 6 months and my oldest will still be into it for at least a couple more years.

This is an amazing toy! My daughter wants to play it every chance she gets. It sucks up batteries pretty quick, so I am happy that I bought rechargeable batteries for it. I can't imagine replacing with regular batteries - on average - every 3 days! I am also a bit discouraged that there is no screen cover on the new models. You can find the screen covers, but they are very expensive, and not on the leapfrog web site. They also need to make a Leapster case that holds more than 6 cartridges. That is not big enough.

We bought this for our 4 year old, who was so excited she didn't want to hand it over so we could pay for it. She had it for about a week, with the Puppy Pals game, and then we started having issues. The screen got black splotches all over it. I was very upset, i mean we pay good money for these toys and then they turn to junk after very little play. So i had my husband take it back and exchange it, because i figure everything needs a second chance. So we've had the new one for about a week now, and my daughter brings it to me this morning and again the screen is splotchy black. So right after i emailed my husband, ticked off again, i started messing with it. And you know what i figured out? My kid likes pushing on buttons, all of the buttons, including the one that makes the screen darker or lighter. So, now that i've figured out that the first one didn't really have to be returned, i'm quite happy with this toy :) And have no complaints. So to anyone who has this issue, its not the games fault, your kid just likes pushing all the different buttons to see what they do. These two buttons are on the bottom, opposite of the volume buttons. Happy Learning!

Santa brought this to my five year old last Christmas, however my little one has just turned two and she amazed her pediatrician last week by playing with this (and refusing to have any part of her physical exam.) She understands it, her fine motor skills are excellent and she has a lot of fun painting, changing colors, shapes etc. It holds her attention for a lot longer than toys aimed at her age group. Only problem is now I have to buy another one because of the Screaming Not Sharing issue, but as my husband says, I just had to have a third child...

I have bought three or four systems and dozens of games over the years for presents. DO NOT PAY double for things you can get in stores. Amazon's price for the "Pet Shop" game was $40 more than just getting it at kids-r-us and shipping it last Christmas. I ended up returning the item to the Amazon seller last Christmas. [...]

Amazon seems to have opened it's doors to all the tiny re-sellers that can not provide a good price since the inventory is so small. They also never offer super saver shipping. BEWARE of the prices and who is supplying the product. A quick drive in your car will save you so much money!

We decided to purchase this as a Christmas present for my 4 year old. She loves learning, and although she has a leap pad, it isn't very functional for on the go learning fun. Since Christmas, she's barely put this down. I was amazed at how quickly she learned how to use it, and how friendly and durable it is. I would suggest screen protectors for it, however, because the potential for the screen to get marked up by the pen is there. I'd also recommend investing in a good set of rechargeable batteries and a speed charger; if your kids are anything like my daughter, it's a constant companion in the car, at home, and everywhere in between. It kept her thoroughly entertained while we were negotiating prices on a new car, and that speaks volumes to me :)

My three year old was thrilled with this present when she received it at Christmas. She caught on how to use it very quickly and really enjoyed the coloring game that comes already in the Leapster. Unfortunately the pen quit working after a week. I emailed Leap Frog customer service and got no response. I suggest calling them for assistance instead. They sent a replacement pen but it took about two weeks. Very frustrating for me and my three year old. I was also surprised to find out that these pens cannot be purchased at stores- you must get them from Leap Frog.

My daughter turned 4 in November. Santa brought her the pink/purple Leapster for Christmas. She was SO excited that she got a "gameboy" like her big brothers have. She takes this thing with her everywhere she goes. We can't leave the house without it. It keeps her entertained on even long trips. The best part is that it is educational which is a HUGE plus to me! I was afraid that it would be a little over her head but we have several games that she can play and understand. I would definitely recommend this product to anybody with children ages 4 to 10.

My 3 year old neice would not let go of her 5 year old brothers Leapster so I got her one for Christmas. Of course now he wants hers and she wants his but either way it is a great toy even for the younger kids.

We bought this for our 4.5 year old. She has never played video games before so it took a few times before she got the hang of using the arrow keys, but she enjoys using the pen. She especially likes the Letters on the Loose game where she can practice identifying and writing her letters. Definitely money well spent for parents who want a toy that is both educational and fun.

My daughter recieved this as a gift for christmas. After all the presents were open and family started to leave, she remembered she openend a "video game" and asked to see and play with it. that day she played with it off and on for maybe an hour. The next day i was able to sit down with her and explain it a little better and show her how to play the game, and then from that day on, this is her favorite. It has made our daily car trips into town, very quite. It's so nice to not have the fighting going on in the back seat with her brother. right now the leapster is only used in the car, but it has been worth every penny. She has figured out the games instantly and really enjoys it. Very easy to figure out. She's not "computer" savy yet, never played anyone else, and yet, she took to this so quickly. She has also shown what a big girl she can be in taking care of her game. She got the carrying case for it as well, as every time we stop the car, she turns off the game, and puts it back in the carrying case and puts it out of harms way where no one can step on it getting in and out of the car. It was a great purchase and she loves it, and loves that it is pink!

this item was perfect for my 3 yr. old. she loved playing the princess games. also, with her being 3, it has been dropped several times and we havent had any problems with it working.

We got this right before Christmas. Took on a long rode trip and is still exciting to play with! Buying extra games is an added expense but was a must since there is only 2 items to do on the leapster itself. Even the little 1 1/2 yr old enjoys using it - turning it on & off and using the pen to pretend to be doing something. The games do good at educating as well. One child is already sounding out letters just from an alphabet game. Our kids love to play on pbskids.com and disneyplayhouse.com so this was a great way to play educational games when they can't use the computer (traveling, etc.)

I purchased 2 leapsters and 1 L-max for my 3 kids, they all love them. Out of all the toys they received for Christmas, this one is the favorite. The built-in games are great as well as the cartridges that we purchased seperately. The only dowside is that the batteries drain fast. I purchased 1 recharge system for my sons L-max because I thought he would use it more. But, my girls use the leapster just as much. I changed the batteries in one 2 days ago and they are already going dead again. I would definitely recommend a rechargeable battery pack or a power cord.

I bought this for my 5 year old twin daughter- her sister had asked for one for christmas. Although she didn't ask for it, anyone with twins will tell you not duplicating is an excercise in stress!!
Well- since the minute she opened it she hasn't put it down. It has been a huge hit . the "games" are age appropriate and she won't outgrow them too quickly. Great quality product- backed up by more online fun at a complimentary website. I had to talk my husband in to it big time because of the $ issue , but even he has to agree it is WELL worth every $.

We purchased rechargeable batteries and that has worked well- althoug the batteries in this seem to last much much much longer than my 9 yr old leap pad did- i wish I had purchased one of these for him instead

So far (3 weeks) my daughter has played games on the Leapster nearly every day. We also bought the charger which is great because even she can take it off and put it on with ease. The Leapster is great for restaraunts and car rides...even trips to the grocery store are more relaxed because she is not bored out of her mind. I definately recomend this to anyone with a 5 year old!!

Great hand held game for kids. Great educational games are available for it. Very pleased so far, only had the pink system for a couple of weeks though. I would pick the Leapster over the L-max, if you are trying to decide. Thanks to other customer reviews, it helped so much!!!!

Santa brought the Leapster this Christmas and boy, was it a big hit!! He also brought a DS for my son, who insists on playing his sister's Leapster! Being on a one salary budget, I had to find this on sale. Luckily,Amazon had this on reduced sale price before the holidays. Over the holiday sales, I did purchase a plug-in adaptor/recharger on sale (usually at ToysRUs) as I knew the batteries were not going to last long.
The games are educational..and a bit expensive, but work as a good manipulator for school homework. Pre or post Christmas sales usually find the games on mark down.
As far as durability goes...well it has been played by all the neighborhood kids (seven of them..aged 4-8 yrs)as they took turns swapping toys for the night and has been left in the car when the weather was six degrees...and it's still going strong.
My only peeve about this is that it can't be good for my kids eyes staring at this tiny picture for long periods...so I do restrict game time for that reason.

I purchased this as a gift for my granddaughter for Christmas. She loves it. She now has two leapsters and uses them to their greatest potential. The game cartridges are easy to install, the graphics very good and sound is controllable. Wonderful product for children to learn and have fun with...