Customer Reviews

Little Touch LeapPad - Pink

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

My best friend asked me what to get my daughter for her first birthday and I recommended this. I had seen it in the store and thought it looked great, but then I read the reviews and became a little nervous.

Then it arrived - and it's wonderful!!! It is definitely intended to be an interactive toy with an adult or older sibling. But if you can make time to read a book to your little one, then you can make time for this toy for a special experience for them. I noticed my daughter's vocabulary improving almost immediately. She wanted to repeat everything she heard. She talked back to it, she tapped on it with her hands... and no matter how many times I put it away in her room, she crawls in and drags it right back out.

Some of the concerning things I should address that I read:
- The pages are flimsy... I completely disagree. They do wrinkle a bit, but they don't tear and they're drool-proof, which is a bonus for me.
- The pad is difficult to activate and push... quite the contrary... my daughter taps her little hands all over the pads and is rewarded by all sorts of sounds and activities. She doesn't need me... but we have fun together anyway.
- The on/off button is too accessible to little hands... you have to hold the off button for quite a while before it actually turns off, so no chance of her accidentally interrupting the story.
- It is too loud... the volume controls are an awesome feature... It's only as loud as you want it to be.

In short, I adore this toy, but not near as much as my daughter does. I highly, highly recommend it. For those who wrote such negative reviews, I have to wonder what is is exactly they were looking for in a toy. Please remember that its a toy... a fantastic toy, but still just a toy.

My daughter got this for her first birthday. She was not interested in it in the least! But at around 18 mths, she started getting interested in it. First I would sit with her and we would do it together learning the different buttons to push. And now she is almost 2 and she absolutly loves it. She especially likes the ones where they sing to her. But Every time you turn it off it looses the setting that you were on, which can be frustating because each setting says slightly different things. This concept is harder to explan to her. She understand to push the green go circle at every page, but having her push some other button a couple of times it harder for her to remember. Overall I would say wait on this untill your child is at least 18mths old to purchase this.

I got this for my 14 month old daughter so that she would have something to play with while her 4 year old brother was playing with his My First Leappad (they always want the same toy at the same time, no matter what age it's intended for). Unfortunately, the First Touch Leappad doesn't interest her the way her brother's Leappad does; I even tried some different books (the one with the photos of animals seems best of the ones we tried, while my 4-yr. old likes the Little Engine one). Maybe she'll grow into it, as other reviewers have suggested. On the plus side, the pages are much sturdier than they seemed at first.
Also, I've discovered that the backpack for the My First Leappad will fit the books and cartridges for the Little Touch Leappad, and makes for much handier storage than those big plastic "sleeves", so I'm going to order a backpack for my daughter now.

Well, we just got this toy for our 11 month old - who is borderline obsessive about books. On the surface, this looked to be an ideal toy for her, but so far we are disappointed.
While she will spend up to a half hour quietly flipping through board books, this toy held no interest for her. As other reviewers point out, the concept of pushing objects on a flat page (and pushing HARD) is lost on my little one. I won't even go into the GO button function. Since she knows how to make board books "work" on her own, she is less than enthusiastic about sitting on my lap and going through it with me.

I spoke with a friend of mine who's baby is a bit older (20 months) and she is just now getting to the point of handling this toy.

All and all, I'm planning on putting this away and hoping to bring it out to a better reception in about a year.

We got this for my daughter for Christmas when she was 13 months old, and as the other reviewers stated, it didn't hold much interest. Now, at 22 months old she LOVES it. She can put the cartridges and the books in by herself (we put coordinating stickers on the books and cartridges) and from watching me, she now hits the GO button on her own. It is a wonderful toy, but wait a bit for your child to grow into it.

I received one of these a while ago for my daughter's birthday. After going over some of the reviews on this site, I've noticed that a lot of people seem dissatisfied because a). it isn't an effective toy for a young baby to keep herself entertained with while mom and dad are busy trying to get things done around the house. b). the pages look a little on the flimsy side and the parents are afraid they'll wrinkle/tear.

After some time with this product, I've realised two things:

One is that this toy was not meant to keep your baby busy for an extended period of time, especially unsupervised. If you're looking for that kind of toy, do a search for the "Dance, Baby, Dance" star stacker. The LittleTouch LeapPad is something both of you should play with together, when your baby is in a calm, receptive mood. Sit the baby in your lap, and read her the story. Have her watch you go through the activities. If she's like my baby, she'll probably just slap at the pages, interrupt the narration, and poke at the on/off button (babies love that button...). That's fine; if you make it into a fun routine, she'll pick something up every so often. For example, mine has now learned that grabbing my finger (hers are not yet coordinated enough for the necessary "poking" action) and moving it around the page will make interesting things happen. There really is educational value in this toy, but you must have the appropriate expectations given the nature of your own child.

The other thing I've picked up on is that the pages, though flimsy in appearance, really don't tear that easily. Mine haven't yet. Unless your baby is actively trying (and trying pretty darn hard, at that) to rip the pages, they'll most likely just wrinkle a bit. My baby has given the pages a pretty good beating, and they are no worse for the wear. And, unless you're feeding your baby while playing with this toy (I don't see why you would), the pages should wipe off just fine with a damp cloth.

All in all, I like this product. If you're the type of parent who spends a lot of time with your baby, playing with the LittleTouch LeapPad may very well be a fun and educational addition to the time you already spend together.

We just gave this to our 1 yr. old baby girl and she is a little bit interested in it but it's too complicated for her age. My son who is 28 months old loves it. It holds his interest for long periods of time and he seems to have grasped the concept in just 1 day. I would recommend this for children over 2 yrs old.

We bought this for our daughter at Christmas 2004 when she was 9 months old and even though she showed some interest in it she only really wanted to lean on it to make the noises or to try and rip the pages, (which I must say have really stood up to their claim of being tear and stain resistant what with my kid trying her best to destroy them!!) I had to put it away for awhile because of this and only just recently brought it back out. Now that she's 19 months old she can more easily push on the pictures to make the sounds and she definalty appreciates the music (she love "Where the Wild Things Are", she takes the extra mini book that comes with it and dances to "Do the Wild Thing Dance") She also loves to carry it around by the handle as well as taking the cartirdges in and out of their slot in back. The sound quality is great! And the narrators they got for some the the books are wonderful, I especially like "How much I Love You" The three different play modes are great as well and allow you or your child to chose the style you like the best
1) just music 2) short word sentences for beginning talkers
3) more complex rhymes for the toddler who can string more than two words together. All in all a good investment for the money but don't bother getting it until your child is a year old or more.

My daughter got this for Christmas when she was 6 months old. Of course it is meant to be a toy where the parents sit and play together with the baby. My daughter really fell in love with this toy around the same time that she actively started loving her regular books. My daughter is now 21 months old and can activate the touch pad by pushing it herself. But she was not able to push and activate it until she was maybe 18 months...somewhere around in there...I can't remember exactly when...but around that time frame. But she has always loved this toy because it was something that we did together. She loves the animal World book, Let's get busy Baby, and she especially loves the A to Z adventure book. I think these are the best for the smaller babies and toddlers..they hold there interest more. A to Z is probably better once they start learning there letters. (I bought the Leap Frog Letter Factory movie for my daughter at 18 months and she knows ALL of her letter soounds. Seriously...she loves that moive and now she loves any toy with the A,B,C's)

My daughter will always go run and grab this toy and bring it to me to help her with and we read it together. If you have a child that loves to read books, they will love this. Books were meant to be something that you do together with your small child anyway..I just view it as another book to share with my child. But it is more fun because it is more interactive!

If you are the type of parent that activly plays with your children through the day then you and your kids will love this toy. If you want your kids to play alone without your help then I would wait and get this toy when the child is 2-3 years old when they will be better able play by themselves. But by then they can get the My First Leap pad and it has the pen which the kids love! I'm getting the My First Leap pad for my daughter at age 2-2.5 either birthday or Christmas. I may wait until Christmas when she will be 2.5 because I have so many other Outside play things that I want to get her this summer.

Oh..the pages are very durable. The little ones can not tare them. They can crinkle them up a little bit, but they alwasy lay back flat. The pages look thin and they look like regular paper, but they are not! The kids can't rip the pages!

We just purchased this item for our 19 month old daughter. She loves the pictures and music, but I agree with other reviewers that the concept of pressing HARD on the go button and pictures is frustrating for her. Also, the go buttons on the right side of our keypad are not functioning all of the time. This is on its way back to the store!