LeapFrog Clickstart My First Computer
by LeapFrog
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Toys and Games Reviews of LeapFrog Clickstart My First Computer
Customer Review: Not Perfect, But My Daughter Loves It
Summary: 4 Stars
We purchased this from Amazon for my 3-year-old daughter this last Christmas, and she's been having a blast with it since. She's already a computer nut, since that's what I do for both living and hobby, and she constantly appears out of nowhere when I'm playing my own video games. So a machine of her own was the next step in things, and I wanted something that would help her with the basics of mousing and keyboarding, with flexibility enough to keep her learning from there.
She enjoys the various games that came with it, especially playing with the little dog in his house and the balloon-splatting game, though she now spends more time with the Dora the Explorer cartridge I purchased at the same time. The Memory-type games on there have kept her especially intrigued.
I would recommend the adapter to power the base unit, which brings up one of the complaints I've heard elsewhere - the keyboard never completely turns off, so for instance when we took this on a road trip and put it in a toybag, it kept activating as things shifted. Fortunately, battery life is still pretty long even so.
Also, the mouse is a little annoying as the tether often prevents it from sitting properly on the also-too-small pad attached to the side of the keyboard. It also has precision issues which sometimes frustrate my daughter, especially when targetting moving objects.
Finally, I've had trouble getting it to hook up properly to various devices, either getting bad sound levels or no video depending on what I hooked it up through. This may reflect my lack of audio-visual equipment knowledge, though I'd still rank myself as a moderate-level user.
Customer Review: Overall, the best electronic we've bought.
Summary: 4 Stars
My aunt bought this for my daughter when my little girl was two and a half. She was interested in computers and always wreaking havoc on mine, so I was glad to let her have her own. We don't let her play with it by herself; my husband or I always supervise when she plays with it, and because of that, it has worked out well.
The graphics are very cute, and the five built-in activities are enough to keep a child occupied for a long time, especially if they are young. We've had the system for almost 6 months and we are just now considering buying her another game for it, but she still loves the games that are on it. Her favorite alternates periodically, and so she hops back and forth between the ones she plays the most. I love the way the games are leveled - they go from very basic, just getting used to a computer, to activities that require accurate use of the mouse and academic knowledge of colors, numbers and letters. They are appropriate qacross a broad range of academic and motor skill levels.
My small gripe is that the mouse does not have a very long cord, and the mouse pad platform is small too; when little guys are trying to get used to the mouse, they make broad sweeps with their hand, which means they run out of room very quickly, which is why I sit down with my daughter to help her. Also, I rated this high for educational value, but as with most things, your child will get the most out of it if you are actively involved, helping when needed. We've had a few other electronics that fell flat, but I can see this one staying around for a while longer yet. I feel like we've already gotten the cost back in entertainment and learning value.
Customer Review: Perfect Learning Tool!
Summary: 5 Stars
We purchased this for our 3 year old, thinking it would improve his mouse skills so he could use the Rosetta Stone program to learn Spanish on our computers. Not only did his mouse skills improve dramatically within a week, but he actually wanted to use the system! We use it as a reward for good behavior at play group, and when he doesn't need to take a nap, we let him play for 30-45 minutes while his younger sibling naps. It is perfect for parent-child play, or for your child to play alone. I usually have to walk him through each game once or twice, but then, he's got it! We have the basic system and Thomas the Train Learning Destinations thus far and I plan to buy a game every 3-4 months. I would also recommend buying the adaptor for the console - one set of batteries you won't have to change! We've had our system for about a month and I'd say our son uses it 4-5 hours per week and the first set of batteries is still in the keyboard. :-)
One of my favorite features is the levels. You can choose "1" or "2" so each game advances a bit as your child develops skills and retains more information. Our son gets so excited by the rewards at the end of each game! I also like that you can save more than one profile, so when our youngest gets older, he will be able to use the system and save his progress, as well.
All in all, this system is worth the money. It's been dropped, sat on, and my son wasn't too gentle with the mouse at first and it's still working perfectly! My son loves it and can't wait for nap time some days so we can sit and "play on the 'puter." It's a wonderful system!
Customer Review: Teach your children well...
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me preface this review by saying that I have sort of taken up the stance of protest when it comes to the digital age, especially when it comes to children. That said, I purchased this item for my 2 year old nephew. ha. Because, even in my rebellion, I too see the importance of being technologically adept. I have played around with this quite a bit and it seems to be really educational. It's also not too terribly advanced for my nephew- I think we underestimate the brainpower of toddlers sometimes. anyway, this is the first leapfrog product that I've bought so I can't really compare to the other toys they offer but I think it's a pretty cool little thing. The only problems I had with it was that it seemed to not want to turn on at first, but I soon figured it out after some pouting and plugging and unplugging and such. I took the advice from other reviews and purchased the power adapter, which is helpful and all, but the screen still flashes "low battery" if you don't put batteries in the console itself. There were also concerns voiced by other buyers that the mouse is too small or oddly shaped, but i think it's just fine...especially for little hands. My favorite feature is that you can send mail for the kid to check when they turn it on. but I suppose if your child already has a Blackberry then he/she will probably be less than impressed with this, but I think it's a pretty cool intro to computers and learning to type and develop the skills that they will have to learn at some point. All that to say, I recommend this. I think it's neat. Much peace and love!Customer Review: Great Potential Marred by One Major Problem
Summary: 2 Stars
We obtained this product for our average to above-average two year old, who is now three. She has barely played with it, and while it seemingly has great potential, it is all flushed down the drain by one horrible design flaw: the fact that the keyboard and mouse interface to the television through line-of-site infrared (like a remote control).
When you have a little kid, they aren't the best in the dexterity department, and they tend to move the peripheral portion of the unit around a lot, messing up the whole line-of-site thing. As a consequence, the mouse and keyboard don't respond very well or go on and off in their sensitivity. This in turn causes frustration for the child, who proceeds to move the equipment around even more erratically.
The experience is such that our girl frantically moves the mouse around only to have small bits and pieces of the movement registered on screen. Even when I, an experienced IT professional, have used the mouse, I have found it to bear little resemblance to the feel of a computer-based mouse.
In our case, at least, this has proven to be the downfall of this toy. Additionally, we've found the games we have used to be rather one-dimensional with little replay-ability. It seems like going through a few easy patterns that repeat themselves, leading to a boring experience.
For our part, we'll never again buy an electronic children's product that isn't self-contained, based on wired connections, or using true omnidirectional wireless technology (e.g., RF or 801.11a/b/g/n).