Customer Reviews

LeapFrog® Leapster L-Max® Game: Letters on the Loose

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this to use on my regular Leapster and it worked just fine. My 4 year old son is learning to write letters in his Pre-K class and this just excited him beyond belief. He sits there for hours tracing those letters and he is so proud of himself when he is done!!! I am amazed because my son usually NEVER sits still unless he's watching TV. This has replaced our watch TV before you go to bed time...now he gets in bed and draws his letters.

The most important thing about this is it teaches them to draw their letters CORRRECTLY. Start at the top and go down...etc. All educational experts Iv'e talked with say that it is essential to get then doing it right. PLUS, unlike the letter factory (which I loved) it also teaches lowercase letters which I have come to find out that those are what they need in Pre-K and K.

Thank you Leapfrog for encouraging my son to enthusiastically learn and challenge himself.

What fun and what an excellent learning tool. If you are familiar with Leapfrog's Alphabet Videos, then you should know that "Letters on the Loose" builds upon those experiences. Tad and the gang aren't here, but Professor Quigley is and he directs the action.

**What You Get**
There are two games on the cartridge. The letter hunting and writing game, and another bonus game which is only available when the LMAX is hooked up to the television.

Bonus Game -- In the bonus game, Professor Quigley puts on a robotized suit and shoots through a vertical maze. You are told to gather either capital or lower case letters. It's fun but requires quick decision making.

Letter Learning Game -- This game teaches uppercase and lowercase letters, their sounds, and it allows children to practice their letter writing.

Note: Others have commented on how `perfect' you have to write the letters and how annoying this requirement is-well LEAPFROG must have heard them because we have not found this to be the case. My daughter's handwriting is anything but perfect (though it's improving) and the LMAX accepted any `decent' attempt of hers to follow the dotted lines.

Plus, and I would never tell this to my kindergartener, you can actually practice writing using your finger on the writing screen. Now I don't want her doing that, but it *is* great practice for my younger preschooler son. [In fact, this is something that is used by some teach-at-home writing systems that have young children use sand to practice.]

**Pros**
--The letter writing portion of these games is just awesome. My daughter now loves to practice her letters (had to drag her screaming to a piece of paper-LOL), and likes adding them to her book of letters.


**Cons**
--For reasons which are not clear to me, when the LMAX is connected to the TV you have to use the button on the pen to make the pen work. [Without the TV you just have to touch the pen to the screen to enter a choice.] This means that for some young children (I'm thinking of my 3.5 year old son at the moment) they won't be able to use the LMAX's TV feature until later.

--There are really only two educational actions. You practice writing or you identify letters. I personally wish there was more to the game; but having said that the writing practice is worth the cost of the game!

--Graphics are okay (could be better) on the small screen but really suffer when transferred to the television. (I guess we are spoiled.)

-- Identifying letters is not really challenging for children that already know their letters. (Still they will play with it.)

Five Stars. Children can learn their letters, the letters sounds, and practice writing. I wish their was more for the money, but considering that both my preschooler and kindergartener can use this smartridge I really shouldn't complain.

Best thing we ever purchased was the Letters on the Loose and Leapster L-Max. My son entering kindergarten loves the Leap Frog Letter Factory video, word factory video and Leap Pad but this is on a whole new level. He can listen to professor Quigley and interact with a Video type game that shows how to write his letters then lets him write the letters on the screen with the accompanied pen. After he writes each letter it is stored in the memory book of his handwritten letters. If he is plugged into the TV he may then view and display for the whole family the great book of letters he is working on. There is a game to catch capital or lower case letters that arer specified differently each time he plays and animated letters play a game that asks you to do different tasks that help with hand eye cowardination and letter recongnition/phonics. We love it!! Kudos to Leap Frog again. Searching for the number Zero next to help him with Math Skills.

My daughter (age 4) fell in love with this cartridge immediately -- which is great. She completed an ABC book after just a couple of hours with breaks. It's good writing practice and more forgiving, I think, than the writing portion of the Disney Princess cartridge. The games; however, are not all that demanding or educational. For instance, one game, the player tickles a gorilla while he says the "g" sound. So what? Some of the games are better than others, though, and I suppose not every one of them must be of high educational value. I do think that this is aimed slightly more at preschoolers than kindergarteners, which benefits us for the time being. Overall, very good and entertaining, but not a "must-have", especially if your child already knows her letter sounds.

This cartridge is a fun and an excellent learning tool. This particular cartridge focuses on Leapfrog's DVDs, then you should know that "Letters on the Loose" builds upon those experiences. Tad and the gang aren't here, but Professor Quigley is and he directs the action.

My son is entranced by the games. I have to say this one is his favorite!!! He loves the letter hunting and writing game. Even though he learned his letters and how to spell and write his letters early, this still helps him get BETTER at it.

He also likes the bonus game on the TV. Professor Quigley puts on a robotized suit and shoots through a vertical maze. You are told to gather either capital or lower case letters. It's fun but requires quick decision making. At first he wasn't too quick but now he zooms through it!!

The Letter Learning Game teaches uppercase and lowercase letters, their sounds, and it allows children to practice their letter writing. What's great is the catchy tunes. My son sings A says aaaa, B says bbbb...which has helped him join letters together to spell words. I must admit, it drives me nuts at times but he's so proud of himself that he knows this.

My son does get frustrated while tracing the letters and numbers. If it is not within the perfected lines, it makes you do it all over again. I know it forces the child to be more precise, so it's not really a complaint. His handwriting has improved somewhat.

The only thing that we are not crazy about and doesn't make sense is that when the LMAX is connected to the TV you have to use the button on the pen to make the pen work. Without the TV you just have to touch the pen to the screen to enter a choice. My almost 4 year old son had difficulty at first but now he has the concept.

I would suggest you adding this to your Leapster Library...it is a great educational toy. My son loves it, what else can I say!!!

Buy this thing for everyone with a preschooler! It's really that good - letters are taught and they learn how to make them correctly. It's amazing. The child goes through the entire alphabet, both upper and lower case, and adds each letter to the alphabet book. If you really want a great learning experience, be sure to get the Letter Factory DVDs, as well as the Math Circus. These tools are nothing short of amazing and I just cannot believe how much has been learned in our house with this Leapfrog system. Awesome, awesome toy (they don't know they're learning!) and I just cannot recommend it enough! A must for preschoolers just learning their letters and those getting ready for kindergarten.

It's a great program, BUT...

If your kid has small hands then they will inevitably press their hand against the screen (along with the pen) whereby the program thinks their hand is the pen. And chaos breaks loose on the screen when they practice a letter.

You'll have to tape a popsicle stick or something along the bottom of the screen so they can lean their hand on that instead.

My kids love their leapsters. We own almost all the games. At first I thought they would prefer the cartoon games that they have seen on TV. That was not the case. My 4 & 7 yr olds both love Letters on the Loose. I bought it for the 4 yr old but they both fight over it all the time. Another great one that my 7 yr old plays is Math Missions. Also Dora for my younger child. The others are just ok. Not very interesting. Math Missions you earn money to play video games. I highly recommend these games. I wish they would come out with a game to teach states and capitals. I keep their Leapsters in the car so they always have something to do... even if its a 10 min. ride. Keeps them busy in restaurants too. Finally a video games that educates them without even knowing it.
Letters on the Loose - you have to help the letters. Letter A -you need to shut off a alarm. Letter B - The B dances. Letter C - you have to shovel snow and look for the letter C. Letter D - you have to look for a musical instrument that starts with the letter D like drum. Once you find the letter you have to trace it. The kids love it!!!

Letters on the Loose is fabulous! My daughter is 3 1/2 years old and she LOVES this game! She likes the encouragement that the game provides and loves it when she gets things right...lol Right now we have the regular leapster. And this game I highly recommend, my daughter writes her own letters and then says to me, "mommy look at my letter book!" I have the letter factory which she likes, but this is more fun for her! I also have the word factory and in all honesty just bought that one, and haven't had the chance for her to play that one yet :) I have been trying to get her to work on her letters and this is the thing that is helping....Thanks Leapfrog for a job well done :) I am a very Happy mom...

We got this for my son's 4th birthday, and out of the 5 leapster games that he owns, this one is in his game system 80% of the time. It has really helped him with his letter sounds and recognition. The letter writing section gets a little difficult during car rides, but overall he loves this game. I'm so glad that he owns this game.