Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Clickstart My First Computer

5 star:		(82)
4 star:		(48)
3 star:		(37)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

We bought this for our 2 1/2 year old, because she kept wanting to play with our laptop computers. We figured this was a better option for her, so she would not break our laptops.
She loved it from the minute we hooked it up, and has played it everyday for the past three weeks. She has not gotten tired of it at all since the more you play the more challenging the games get. We are still using the original set of batteries and the keyboard does actually turn itself off after 5 minutes of non-use. (Note...buy the AC adapter, so you can skip having to use batteries in the console unit)LeapFrog ClickStart™ My First Computer Adapter

We give it 5 stars for fun due to the fact that she wakes up each morning still looking forward to playing with Scout, and the Typing Tree. Not many toys can entertain and teach the ever important skills of keyboarding and mouse control to a 2 1/2 year old.

We give it 5 stars for educational value because she at 2 1/2 now has enough eye hand control to use not ony her little mouse accurately, but she can use a real computer mouse with percision. Counting, letter recognition, color recognition, following directions, phonics as well as nurturing are all addressed in the 4 games that are preloaded. The ability to add more games also merits 5 stars.

Durabiity gets 5 stars because she is two, has played with it everyday for three weeks and it still works! :-) She is not super tough on her toys, but has on several occasions carried the entire keyboard by the mouse cord. I was concerned that that mouse would stop working if the cord became loose, however, it is attached to the keyboard very securely behind a screwed in plate that kids cannot access, and you can actually replace it yourself with the replacement mouse offered by Leap Frog.

Again, this is a GREAT product!

Let me start of by saying that I'm somewhat satisfied with some elements of this product. The build is good, the keyboard is above average, the quality of picture is not bad. So far, so good. I would also like to say that the keyboard and mouse are a tremendously great idea and would be a great introduction to computers for little kids IF they had been actually implemented to any useful and educational extent. As it stands, the reviewer who said that better educational software could be had over the internet is absolutely correct. The software that comes with this computer and even the software you buy for it is drivel.

Here's the rub, the software that is available for this device are the very nearly the exact same pieces of software that appeared on the LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game System (Leapfrog's handheld) device in reduced form. Yes, let me rephrase that, the software you buy for this computer is less powerful than the software you can get for Leapfrog's handheld computer: the LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game System. There's less to do, and what there is to do can be done without the keyboard!

Take for example the Dora software, there are three activities in the ClickStart version of the software. Those same three activities and TWO MORE are available for the Leapster. The same can be said for the Thomas software. The Animal Painting software doesn't allow freeform painting, instead it simple click to color a region painting which my 3.5 year old finds dreadfully boring. He kept wanting to do real painting, something he can do with the Leapster's built-in software!

To be sure, Leapster software is more expensive and in this case you get what you pay for. I had expected Leapfrog to do more than just simply port and reduce already existing software but alas, this new software doesn't even take advantage of the keyboard. Both the computer and the Leapster use a Flash engine, the same engine that is used to make games for various educational web sites. Truth be told, the games you can find on the net have more value than the games that come with this so-called computer.

If this is a child's first Leapfrog product then great, it's a real neat thing, it works beautifully and does the job admirably but if you already have a Leapster then please reconsider. If your child has already played Thomas and Dora to death then they will find nothing new in those titles on this computer. So far my son has found one activity he enjoys and that is typing. Something we let him do on our home computers already. He wanted more options (different backgrounds to type on, for example) within five minutes of turning this thing on. That doesn't make it a bad product but don't assume this will replace a full computer in the child's life.

It should also be noted that there is a profanity filter in the typing element of the built in game. It won't allow the child to type the word "Hello" which is one of the first words my son tried to type. This, in my opinion, is going a bit overboard. There seems to be no setting for turning the filter off.

I beg of Leapfrog to make more robust software for the device and in particular software that really exercises the keyboard. As it stands it's the lesser of two products. I'd recommend the Leapster over this one in a heartbeat despite the fact that the ClickStart has a keyboard and mouse. At the very least Leapfrog should have allowed the Clickstart to run Leapster games.

Bought this for our 3 year old's birthday and he absolutely LOVES IT!!! He was always interested in playing with our home computer and when I happened to see this while birthday shopping I bought it without reading the reviews, when i got home and read the reviews I was glad I bought it, now that he has actually played with it I am thrilled with this purchase!!! He adores this system and it is really educational, it is something I don't mind him playing with for hours on end which he frequently does. We are actually thinking about geting a TV especially for this since he uses it so much. He is learning so much from this system and on my work days when he is home with dad I can send him a postcard before I leave and he is thrilled to wake up and get his "mail". This is definitely one of the best purchases we have made.
As far as the keyboard, it turns itself off after about five minutes, it will turn itself back on as soon as it is moved but it stays off after we put it away for the night!
If you have preschoolers this is a MUST HAVE!!!

I bought this the second I saw it at the store. I came onto amazon to look for games and the A/C adapter that the store didn't carry. It's great to have. My daughter is two and a half, and has become very interested in my computer, mostly the mouse and keyboard, because she likes the cause and effect it creates. So I saw this and figured that she might as well learn about navigation of the computer and the mouse. She loves it! As soon as it turns on she says, "Click my name." and will navigate right to her name, not her sisters accounts, and will load the game she wants to play all by herself.

I am a big fan of all the leapstart products. My daughter can sing the abc's, tell you ALL the phonetics that go w/ them, and has begun working on letter and number recognition. This helps teach all the skills she is working on, while re-enforcing the ones she already has. Her big sisters are a bit to old for the console, they just turned 7, but they actually have fun playing w/ it too. They have it set to a higher level and use it to help w/ their keyboarding skills. We don't have any other game consoles in the house because I'd prefer they stick w/ educational toys, and I'm just beginning to really let them explore on my PC, so the console is a ready break for them.

There are several different games available for them. Each cartridge works on specific items. We've bought most all of them, but so far have only used two. They are really into Nemo and Dora at the moment. The Dora game helps alot w/ learning to navigate using arrow keys, it's more complex for level two, sorting patterns and such. Nemo works alot on keyboarding and mouse skills. There are four games built right into the console as well.

It is pretty durable. I keep the console up higher, but the keyboard gets bashed around a bit and has had no problems. It shuts off on it's own provided you don't move the mouse or press any keys, and there is a place on the back of the keyboard to clip mouse onto when not in use.

Electronics are evolving into pretty much every area of life, and that includes Early Learning. Apart from PC software, and stand-alone toys, a new approach follows the `games console' line: a console that you can hook up to your television so your little one can play games that will teach him or her counting, the alphabet, and the basic reading/writing/'rithmetic. Whether this approach actually `works', in terms of teaching children the basics, remains to be seen - it's too early for any useful research evidence.

Two of the front-runners in this evolution are the V.Smile from VTech, and the Clickstart `First Computer' from Leapfrog. Both are fairly cheap plastic battery-powered consoles pitched at 3- to 6/8-year-olds; both come with initial free software, and have a range of additional software available as cartridges, mostly themed on popular cartoon/comic characters (Disney, Thomas the Tank Engine, Superman etc). Unable to decide which (if either) of these might be helpful for our three-year-old boy, we decided to buy both and try them out. This is what we found.

The V.Smile is slightly more expensive (AU$119 for the console, plus AU$40 per software cartridge). It seems like the better machine in a lot of respects. There is a much wider range of software (about 30 cartridges available), catering from 3-to-5-year-olds up to 6-to-8-year-olds. Unlike the Leapfrog system, the V.Smile cartridges can also be used in the handheld Pocket V.Smile. It looks better engineered: sound output can be in stereo; there is a built-in compartment for storing your cartridges; there is a microphone (which we haven't used yet); and, although battery-powered (4 x AA), you can also run it off the mains - though, somewhat annoyingly, you have to buy a separate AC adapter. The user manual leaflet is somewhat better than that of its competitor, though both are adequate and both systems were quite easy to set-up without the manual.

However, its appearance gives the game away for the V.Smile: it looks like a cartoon version of a Playstation, and the interface is joystick-based (one supplied, with the option to add a second). It is first and foremost a games console, and the software confirms this: the activities are essentially `platform games' (think Donkey Kong or Super Mario), with a fairly thin serving of word/number/pattern/colour recognition thrown in. It was readily apparent that the main entertainment lay in manoeuvring, jumping, and evading hazards, and the basics of this were beyond our three-year-old at his first sitting; in contrast, the puzzles shown (`which one is the apple?' `pick the red circle' etc) posed little or no challenge to him at all. Although he had great fun (with Daddy's help), I'm not sure he learnt anything at all in an hour's test run.

The Clickstart got off to a poorer start, despite being a bit cheaper (AU$98 for the console, and AU$31.50 per cartridge). For openers, it's packaged in that annoying wire-and-sticky-tape fashion that takes at least half-an-hour to get out of the box and generally requires destroying a substantial amount of the packaging. There seem to be only six software cartridges available, aiming up to 6-year-olds. It does have the big advantage of being cordless, relying on an infra-red transmitter rather like your remote. We thought this might be a problem for our projector (being behind the child, as opposed to a TV screen in front of them), but it proved to be no problem at all unless someone stood in front of the IR receiver - presumably the IR signal is reflected from the wall. However, this does also mean that there are two components each requiring batteries (4 x AA and 4 x C); again, you can buy a separate AC adapter for the receiver, but not for the keyboard.

But - and it's a big but - the Clickstart is quite clearly based on a computer, not a games console. The interface is a QWERTY keyboard, with a simple one-button mouse; it can register different `users', if you have more than one child; and the home screen is a simplistic `point-and-click' GUI. A cute puppy called Scout is your guide to the system (and our boy LOVES puppies). The built-in games are more varied in format, and richer in content, than those of the V.Smile; they focus on developing both conceptual skills (numbers, letters, shapes, colours etc) and interface skills (how to use a keyboard and mouse). Even with no keyboard skills at all, our three-year-old could still have a grand time pressing random keys to collect alphabetical fruit or bring up phonetic-linked pictures. But by the end of an hour or so, he was starting to recognise individual digits (`press the 8 key'), and was getting the hang of the mouse. The cartridge games we tried were somewhat more `platform'-like, but with less emphasis on tricky manoeuvring and more emphasis on picking the right shape/number/colour, and some counting. The cartridge graphics seem to have come from the 1980s, but our three-year-old could recognise Buzz and Woody and Emperor Zurg and that was good enough for him! And whereas the V.Smile cartridges are each pitched at a specific age range, the Clickstart games and cartridges each contain different levels for different age groups - making up to some degree for the fact that there are fewer of them.

So my vote goes to the Clickstart, simply because it aims to be an educational toy computer rather than an educational games console; and (on the basis of a short test run), it actually seems to achieve some education. On the other hand, for an older child who's already hooked on video games, the V.Smile probably stands a better chance of getting their attention, and perhaps keeping it with the older-age-group cartridges and two-player options. I'm still not convinced that either of these systems is really the best way to teach children their numbers and letters; and I realise that nothing will take the place of hours of input from an enthusiastic adult. But I'd much rather see my toddler having fun with a keyboard than a joystick, particularly if that's going to set any sort of pattern for the future.

I bought this for my 3 year old daughter when she started showing interest in my computer. We've had it for over 3 months now and she STILL LOVES IT! She uses it daily and not always in the way in which it was inteded - I've caught her standing on the keyboard more than once! I still haven't had to replace the batteries, nothing has broke and ALL the keys still work! A parent couldn't ask for more!

I was going to give my daughter (4.5 yrs old) this toy for Christmas, but I couldn't wait for another 2 months.

The toy was one of the best buy and she really enjoyed it. The mouse was very easy to maneuver and the product design was appealing to her as well. The included games were fun and I also had purchased two extra ones for her to play later(those I would save to Christmas).

I didn't find the enclosed 4 AA batteries for the keyboard. And you need to prepare 4 1.5v batteries as well for the console. I used an adapter for the console.

My daughter is left-handed and the "mouse pad" can be switched for either side.

I definitely recommend this toy to kids under 6. For the batteries, I will get some rechargeable ones.

If Leapfrog will continue to create games for this console that suit from age 6 and up, this will be a great educational purchase for sure!

Bought this computer for my 3 year old grandson after his surgery when he needed to be kept fairly still with no running around. This computer did the trick and I understand that the only trouble was getting him to stop playing with it. He spent 5 to 7 hours a day playing it and has yet to tire of it. Highly recommend it!

My granddaughter loves the Leap Frog Click Start "My First Computer". But, she just turned four years old, and it is recommended for ages 4-6. She quickly went through level one and level two. I think they should lower the age recommendation because, although she still enjoys playing the games, she is not learning and is sometimes bored with it because she is not challenged. The games need to progress with the child in the age groups recommended, and there should be more games available.

My three year old LOVED this toy; however, the mouse on the keyboard would only move left and right and not go up and down. It was very frustrating for her that she couldn't play the mouse related games nor could she "x" out of the screen because the mouse wouldn't go there. It seemed to clear up on its own and then did it again. I called Leap Frog and they said they were having problems with them, but had no troubleshooting advice for it. They told me the product needed to be returned for another unit. I think we are going to pass on getting another one. Like I mentioned, it was very frustrating for both my kids. It is too bad because they really did love the games.