Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Imagination Desk Deluxe Learning System

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My daughter received the Imagination desk for her fourth birthday. It is the perfect educational toy for a four year old.
The toy allows her to be very independent. As a Reading Specialist, I value the simple introduction to letters and sounds. I was pleased to discover the train with all of the number activities. The volume control is a big plus. This desk keeps her busy for 45 minutes before she tires out. She is retaining all the information she has learned from her new toy.
I am anxious to see how printed out pages from the computer work.

This is an intriguing learning toy. I purchased it for my 2 1/2 year old, who is bright and curious and loves working with her letters and numbers. The toy does teach her the alphabet well, and she enjoys coloring and making things happen with the interactive elements. However, the only replacement coloring pages you can download and print from the website are the ones that came with the toy originally. There are four other coloring modules, each one of which requires an additional cartridge. Interestingly, I can't find them to purchase! There is also the offer of a yearly subscription for access to other features and content, but man, if you read all the stuff on the site it seems very involved. And everything is an additional cost, of course. A company is in business to make money, of course, but it does seem that LeapFrog has a tiny bit of bait and switch going on. It's an expensive toy to start with, and just gets more expensive as one investigates further. I can recommend the toy on its own merits, but if you're purchasing the toy with an eye toward future expansion and more content, be aware that the cost will double or triple your initial investment.

MY DAUGHTER GOT THIS TOY BEFORE GOING ON A 9 HOUR CAR RIDE. SHE IS ONLY 21 MONTHS DESPITE THE RECOMENDED AGE OF 3 YEARS ON THE TOY. SHE LOVES IT, WITH ALITTLE HELP FROM ME IT KEPT HER BUSSY FOR HOURS. I HIGHLY RECOMEND THIS TOY EVEN FOR CHILDREN YOUNGER THEN 3 YEARS. YOU CAN EVEN PRINT MORE COLORING PAGES FROM THE COMPUTER WHEN YOU HAVE USED THEM ALL UP.

I bought the Imagination Desk after Christmas for my daughter after returning a few things she didn't need. It wasn't something I was planning on buying, but boy I am sure happy that I did!
My daughter is only 2 years old, so I wasn't sure if this was age appropriate. I am glad I took the chance.. she does an excellent job using this toy! The only thing she needs help with are changing the coloring pages sometimes. She can do everything else by herself!
The unit comes with one coloring book, which teaches about all of the letters in the alphabet, one letter to each coloring page. And they also give you two sets of refills. When you run out of those, no problem..you can go right to the leap frog website and print them out for free! I already checked it out and there is no hitch to it. You do not have to pay or join anything to print out pages to this book, or additional refills for the other coloring books available.
The membership fees and all that apply to seperate projects you can download to your mind station if you have one. That has nothing to do with this coloring book, or the ones for sale in the store. I made sure of this, because we are not in the market for a mind station just yet.
There are three different modes of learning/play..there is the "learn" mode, which teaches you about all the different objects on the page. Then there is the "game" mode..which is my favorite feature..it askes you to identify the different objects and letters on the page by coloring them. What an excellent way to learn! And my daughter is fully capable of identifying the objects and most of the letters as she knows most of her letters by site already. And if there is a letter she is not sure of yet, this toy is bound to help her learn them quickly!
The "music" mode is the last mode, and it is fun as well though we do use the other two modes more often.
It also comes with an attachment called the "learn and sing express." You take off the coloring part, and attach this train thing which has numbers and characters on it. This also does an excellent job of teaching numbers!
Between the A-Z coloring book and the learn and sing express, your child will learn thier letters and numbers by site in no time!
You can buy additional coloring books which come with thier own cartridge. So far I have only found the numbers coloring book, I am not sure if they have released the others yet..but we will definately be buying them when they do! The numbers coloring book is as great as the a-z coloring book that came with it. And it was very reasonably priced.I mean, regular coloring books can cost upward of $5.00 these days! With these like I said before, you can print out the refills for free on thier web site. How great is that?!
Amazon doesn't sell the extra coloring books yet, but we will be ordering them when they do. I found the numbers book at Toys R Us.
I can't tell you enough what an excellent and fun learning toy this is. Every child above 2 should own one!! I haven't been this excited about a toy since the Leap Pad, which my daughter received this Christmas. She loves that as well and does very well using it. These two toys are her favorite new toys and she plays with them constantly.
Hats off to Leap Frog and the Imagination Desk! :)

When I saw this toy on the website it was new and it seemed like a great idea. The TV commercial seemed ok. There weren't any reviews in. I ordered it. The toy is great for a toddler who doesn't know or recognize letters or numbers from 1-10. My 3 yr old knows her numbers and letters. For some reason I thought that this toy had a template for writing letters. I was obviously wrong. As far as coloring, my daughter has been coloring since she was a yr old. She likes this toy but it is of no educational value to her other than the words on each page. Leap tells you the word IF you place the crayon on the circled word. If you go letter by letter, you'll get the phonics for the 1st letter only (of course, that's the letter page) and the other letters are identified. The website has replacement coloring pages. If you decide to print other booklets you can not get the sound because you need the original coloring book for the sound cartridge. Where pray tell do we find the additional books? The Box should include the folowing instructions: The website does not have the sound cartridges- BUY THE MIND STATION! So now, I've got to buy the mind station. The crayon cover does come off, and the holder for the coloring pages does not stay on. The toy isn't a bad idea, it does need improvements and just isn't what I need for MY 3 yr old. Advice- Know your childs capabilites and buy accordingly.

My 3 year old twins love this toy. They loved changing the pages and switching the buttons more than listening to the narration and learning the letters. Unfortunately, in less than a year the touch screen no longer responds. This is not a very well made toy for toddlers. I kept this toy in the closet and only brought it out when they were being supervised so that it would not get worn out too quickly. So, the desk was not abused or misused. It just didn't last long enough for my money.

Our just turned 3 yr. old finds this toy fascinating BUT LeapFrog is running a con game of sorts. A very clever toy but the initial cost is only the tip of the iceberg.

Once your child has gone through the coloring pages, you cannot get replacements except by spending another (price)Annual Dues to join their Never-Ending Learning Club and then fork over another (price) to buy a Mind Station which has to be connected to a computer to work. So once the pages are all used up the toy is useless for coloring unless you fork out almost as twice as much money as you paid for the toy to start with and you have a computer available.

Then you may run into other problems if your printer does not have sufficient memory which few desk top printers do. It may cost another (price) to buy the memory needed to print the big graphics that make up the coloring sheets.

There is a way to extend the life of the toy. The toy comes with two sets of alphabet sheets. Keep one clean and use it to make copies of it. It will not have the GO button in green and the button may not align just right but our son figured out quickly to push near the GO button to get them to work. However, you will not have access to any of the other coloring sets such as Winnie the Pooh.

Also it is very difficult to install the batteries and it goes through batteries quickly. The screw sealing the battery cover is a very small Phillips head screw and it is difficult to find a screwdriver that fits the screw.

Although the color chart for the toy has talking buttons for eight colors, for (price) LeapFrog only provides four crayons.

Despite all this, this has for several months been our son's favorite toy. He plays the music constantly. Perhaps because of this review as it was orginally written, Leapfrog is now making other modules available in stores at a reasonable price rather than forcing members to join a club to acquire them. When I bought it I didn't think it was worth the cost but now that the added modules are available, I consider it a terrific buy.

My daughter received this last year for x mas. I didn't realize the coloring books cost ... She finished the first book in two days and then I had to go out to buy a new coloring book. By the time I came home with the Winnie the Pooh coloring book (which is very cute, but not at all worth [the money]), my daughter was already finished with the excitement of the whole thing. Also, the frame broke after about a month. It still works, but I don't think it should have broken.
The train plate is cute, but only tells the numbers and says a few things. That wasn't ever used again either.
One more thing...The toy is extremely large and difficult to store. I really do prefer a nice regular coloring book, and a box of crayons, and so does my daughter.

When we bought this for our 4 year old we felt that this would be a great way to help her become more interested in her letters and numbers. She has fun with the games but becomes bored easily. She would rather use her sisters Leap pad. I would say that if she were younger this would hold her attention much more. To other parents of this age group on an educational level I would recommend going straight to the leap pad. Plus the books are much more available.

My son is 3 years old and got htis toy for christmas. The toy responds inappropriately as you move the crayon and color it will stop what its saying and start all over again. I htink that leapfrog needs to get the bugs out. The counting train works fine and my son loves the song that goes along with it. All in all I don't think I would buy this toy again. Try the Leap top my son loved it for the same price and no glitches ( not as bulky either).