My daughter is about to turn 4 and all the products listed below she has been playing with for a solid year. I would say these products are great for 3 years and up as she still uses all of the items today and I am predicting will continue to use them for probably another year!
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We absolutely love LeapFrog Products! Here are 3 LeapFrog Products that get used almost daily in our home.
LeapStart 3D Reader
- A couple years ago, I saw one of my nieces using this reader and decided to get one for my daughter. Best. Decision. Ever. She plays with her reader for a solid hour sometimes! I have now recommended this product to countless friends and family who have toddlers or preschoolers and are looking for an engaging activity. I like the 3D version because there is a small interactive screen at the top. One of the best features is the vast book selection! They have books for different ages and levels of learning. As well as books with characters from various kids shows and movies.
- The one downside I have found, is that the reader has a certain amount of memory space so it can only have about 5 books loaded at a time and then you need to switch the books out when you get new ones, etc. Yes, it is a bit of a downfall but at the same time I do think it keeps my daughter engaged because when she gets bored of some of the books, I just switch them out and then she happily plays with the reader again because it’s then loaded with books she hasn’t used for a few months.
LeapStart Learn-To-Read Pen & Books
- This LeapStart product also grows with your child, similar to the reader. Your child uses the interactive pen to read and explore a wide selection of books. The levelled books are good up to age 8! This is a product your child will use as a toddler, preschooler, and beyond.
On-The-Go Story Pal
- My daughter adores her “Bun Bun”, that’s the name of the Story Pal. A family member got this story rabbit for our daughter’s birthday last year and we have thanked them numerous times for getting it for her, as it has kept her entertained for hours and hours at this point! Bun Bun The Story Pal, has over 70 stories, poems, songs, and lullabies. It has child friendly navigation, my daughter quickly figured out how to find all of the stories and other features on her own. It is super durable, as my twin boys have now gotten ahold of it a few times, and they are not gentle with toys! A bonus is the battery life is amazing!
Kids Amazon Fire Tablet
- Let me start off by saying, yes, there is a monthly subscription fee for this product of about 6 or 7 dollars per month, but I believe it is worth it.
- There are so many great features about the Kids Amazon Fire Tablet that it is difficult to keep it concise, so I will just name a few:
- I love that I have complete control over what apps, games, shows, etc. are on the tablet. A little while ago, I turned off all shows and movies from the tablet because I was finding my daughter was just using it to watch shows. Now that I have turned them all off, she mainly uses the tablet to play engaging educational games, which I much prefer.
- I also love that I can hotspot my phone and connect the wifi on the tablet so my daughter can play with it during long car rides, waiting at the doctor’s office, etc.
- It has an awesome protective case with a built-in stand, my daughter’s tablet has been dropped countless times and has never broke.
- It also has easy to use parental controls to limit screen time. Although I prefer to use a physical timer, I like to encourage as much independence in my kids as possible so I prefer my daughter to set her own physical timer for her “tablet time” and she turns the tablet off when her timer beeps.
Little Hippo Clock
- When my daughter graduated to a big girl bed, I got her a Little Hippo Clock to help her understand when it is time to stay in bed and when it is time to wake up. We have found it to be very helpful!
- We manually turn it on at bedtime since her bedtime varies depending on the day, then the clock stays red throughout the night (you can adjust the brightness, we have it on the dimmest setting), then you set the time for it turn yellow (i.e. 7:00am) so they know it is almost time to wake up, and then set a time for it to turn green (i.e. 7:15am) when it is okay to wake up and get out of bed.
- There is a lock switch on the bottom, which is an awesome added feature! This means little hands can’t accidentally reprogram the clock if they are playing around with the buttons on the bottom.
- There are also other features, such as sleep sounds and alarms. We don’t use any of these features yet as my daughter has a separate sound machine in her room.
- I love that I can unplug and bring this clock when we travel, when I plug it back in at a new location all of the settings are still programmed so I never have to worry about resetting it.
This blog post is getting a little lengthy so I am going to stop here but be sure to check out my blog post, titled “How to Set-Up an Engaging Toddler/Preschooler Play Area” for a few more must-have toddler play products.
