LeapFrog Leapster 2 Learning Game System - Pink

Children will love playing the educational games. View larger.

Leapster 2 games are designed to grow with your child ages 4 through 8, and the console comes pre-loaded with two games

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: Battery-powered console goes where your child goes, offers versatile, educational fun. The Bad: An SD card, which must be purchased separately, is required to take advantage of many Leapster 2 features. In a Nutshell: Handheld game console offers fun, educational games that accommodate your child's learning curve. At a Glance Ages: 4 to 8 Requires: Four AA batteries

We found the initial set-up to be relatively easy: install the four required AA batteries, and navigate through the self-explanatory screens to create user profiles for up to 3 children (which come in handy for accessing online features). After this quick set-up, a menu screen will appear, where you can choose to play the pre-loaded games, go online, or insert a game cartridge.

Fun and Learning
Leapster 2 games are designed to grow with your child ages 4 through 8. The console is pre-loaded with two games: The "Dragons to the Rescue! Learning Game," is a "video game" type activity with four different levels, the first helping kids identify letters and numbers, the most advanced giving them spelling and multiplication practice, all while navigating a dragon past monstrous storm clouds and scrambling to collect magic crystals. The "Creativity Castle Art Studio" is a rather low-tech art program. Players can select a background scene to "color" using the stylus and "decorate" with fun animated stamps. While it does foster creativity, this program is somewhat clumsy -- your Paint program on your PC does a much better job. But "Dragons" was fun enough to keep even an adult tester enjoyably diverted.

Unfortunately, an SD card is required for taking advantage of much of what the Leapster 2 has to offer -- which is a drawback, because it must be purchased separately. Without the SD card, which offers more memory, you cannot save artwork, download new games, or take advantage of the online "Learning Path," which will be available August 2008. (This online program allows you to register and upload your children's Leapster 2 profiles to show you their learning activities and their progress.)

In the meantime, without the SD card, you can still purchase game cartridges. And you still can plug your console -- with the included USB cable -- into your PC for your children to view and print "rewards" for completing different game levels (for Dragons to the Rescue, they're certificates of achievement) or to print pictures to color with actual crayons (to encourage some "old-fashioned" creativity!) You must first install the Leapster 2 software on your computer, which comes on the included CD-ROM.

What's in the Box
Leapster 2 Game System, USB cable, CD-ROM


Product Description
The LeapFrog Leapster 2 is such a bright, fun handheld, they won't believe it's educational! Children learn school skills from the animated games, interactive touch screen and stylus while playing with more than 30 games featuring characters they love. The games cover everything from language and reading skills to math and science concepts. And the Leapster 2 system offers many options for creative play. Leapster 2 is the only handheld preschool gaming system that connects to the LeapFrog Learning Path, an online, interactive tool that allows you to see what your child is learning. Kids can also connect online for extra activities and rewards, while parents connect to get updates and see firsthand what their children are learning. With additional games featuring your children's favorite characters, there's no limit to their learning. This is simply the best way to entertain and educated your children so don't wait and pick up this up today.

Included and additional games teach a range of subjects: