Customer Reviews

LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game Thomas & Friends Calling All Engines!

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We just got this game and I have to say it's a hit with both the children and myself. (My children are boy and girl; almost 4 and almost 6).

One of the features I like is that there are places for three different people to sign in. Some of the other games have just one place and everyone else is "guest". Not terribly useful if you are trying to accumulate points.

With this Leapster Book you have five basic activities. The games have two levels. Level One is pretty much on the preschool level, while Level Two seems to be geered more for Kindergarteners. Level Two of the Making Tracks with Thomas game, for example, involves simple mathematical equations.

Story Options
There are two story options.
With the "Read with Me" option, the narrator reads the story with help from our Train friends.

With the "Read and Play" option the story does not progress without you clicking on either the forward or backward arrows. This version of the story lets you click on characters to see what they have to say, and there are also games interspersed to keep little ones from getting bored. (Valuable Blue tickets are hidden here.) You can also click on individual words and hear them pronounced.

***Games***

Harolds' Barrels
The storm has scattered drums and crates all over the harbor. Using the arrow pad (and the A-button when you are over the right crate) you. This game teaches listening skills, letter recognition and work building.

Cranky's Cargo
Cranky has to load cargo onto the right cars. The challenge here is to get the right cargo in the right hold. Number sequences, patterns and skip counting are taught here.

Making Tracks with Thomas
Tracing the track, you take Thomas to the correct location. Children do pre-writing practice (tracing the track) and learn numbers. On Level Two they will be using equations.

Pocket Watch
Your child can learn about clocks and time using Sir Topham Hatt's pocket watch.


Train Depot
Elsewhere you earn red and blue tickets. This is where you spend them, adding extra trains (you start out with Thomas), additional track (you begin with just a circular track), and special features such as a water tower, chocolate factory, etc.
Children learn/practice counting, and one supposes the value of money.

Five Stars. Graphics are typical of LMAX. The game features our favorite Steamies plus Harold and Sir Topham Hatt. Children have the opportunity to learn about time, money, numbers, patterns, and telling time. There are two levels of play.

My son loves this game for Leapster. It has a great Cranky the Crane game that teaches patterns. It also has a Harold The Helicopter game that teaches to put together 3 letter words. And the best game is tracing the track using the pen. It has helped my 3 year old to write letters on his own because now he has the hang of using the pen and tracing. All the games give tickets that are used later to purchase all their favorite Thomas friends and tracks to build their own railroad. Plenty of fun and they do not even know they are learning definately worth the money.

This is a great game.I bought this for my son and he is not even 3 yet. He knows all his letters and numbers, but he did not know the sounds of the letters.It's been 2 weeks since he got it and he already knows all the sounds, plus he can figure the basic math skills taught in this game.Great product.

This is a really great game. My son loves to find all the hidden blue tickets within the story. He seems to prefer doing that over playing the games. The tracing the tracks game is a little hard for him because it seems a little touchy. We have about 8 leapster games total between my 3 and 5 year old sons. My 3 year old likes his Finding Nemo game the best but this comes in second!

I got this for my son's 4th birthday. He LOVES Thomas but is not too keen on learning a lot of his pre-reading skills. He needs help learning how to write/draw and although he recognizes all his letters, he doesn't know all of the letter sounds or really get the concept of combining those sounds. Other games and things I've tried have failed to get him interested. He will play all the games to earn tickets to make his train set more and more elaborate and leans along the way, BRILLIANT! There are several games. One that teaches letter sounds and sounding out words with Harold the helicopter, one that teaches pattern building with cranky the crane, and one that teaches fine motor skills involved in writing where you have to trace the tracks with a pen and also basic math because the child has to count dots to know where the train should go. It also has a feature where the child can read along with the Thomas story and even answer basic reading comprehension questions. The only downside to the game is that eventually, the child can collect everything available at the depot and then has nothing left to buy with the tickets. Still, a great game!

I bought this game for my 4 year old son who is a HUGE Thomas fan. This was by far his favorite game out of the 3 cartridges we purchased and he thoroughly enjoyed earning tickets and being able to purchase trains, track and accessories as rewards. However, he had mastered the game and purchased all that there was to purchase within 1 weeks time. He was SOOOOO disappointed and heart broken when he learned that he could no longer purchase items with his rewards tickets. This upset me a great deal too, after all, I paid a premium price for this game compared to other cartridges and it now sits in my son's case unplayed. I wrote to Leap Frog and asked if there was any way that they could add more reward options with an online upgrade or if there was any way to "unlock" other rewards. There response was no on all counts. The educational value of this game is really good and as stated before this was my son's favorite game to play. My only complaints are the "rewards" as stated above and the story part of the game where you have to seach for tickets.....it's fun searching for tickets, but the child(ren) pays little attention to the story and it is pretty boring compared to the other games on the cartridge.

Item purchased for grandson. At 4 1/2 he finds it very enjoyable.

I bought this for my 5-year old (who is a huge Thomas fan) along with 2 other games. This is by far his first choice. He loves the game, although he is a little advanced for it. Even the highest level is not much of a challenge for a bright kindergartener. I would highly recommend it for the Thomas loving Pre-K child!

This game is a must for any child who loves THOMAS! My son has had this cartridge for his Leapster for about 6 months now, it is definitely one of his favorites. We take turns seeing who can collect the most blue and red tickets to get to the next level and get bigger engines and track additions! This game helps children with number ordering, phonics, counting...basic Pre-K, Kindergarten skills. This is by far a favorite, and will definitely be lots and lots of fun for a long time!

My four year old is able to navigate and learn with very little assistance from Mom & Dad with set up or play. At first, we had to force him to allow us to assist him as we ensured he was truly grasping the learning skill. It explained everything to him and he was able to be independent.