Customer Reviews

LeapFrog Leapster Learning Game Scholastic Get Puzzled

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This game is not as educational as many of the other Leapster games that incorporate math and spelling, however both my 5-year-old and 3-year-old really enjoy playing it.

It has a heavy emphasis on memory skills--it will show you a picture of a monster, then scramble the monster traits (eyes, legs, arms, etc.) and then the child needs to reassemble the monster. The frustrating problem with this game, however, is that it will line up items across the bottom of the Leapster screen and you are then to use the stylus to "point and drag" the monster traits. For some reason, on both of my children's Leapster handhelds, it is very difficult to actually "pick-up" the monster part. It's almost as if they software makers put the pieces too low on the screen and they're in a "dead" area. Initially I thought my son's handheld was going bad--his is 1 1/2 years older than my daughter's. However, the game does that very same thing on my daughter's newer handheld. Anyway, I very often have to help them on this particular game, and I have to really angle the stylus (to where it is just about lying flat on the screen) before I can "pick-up" the piece (sometimes I can't even get it, and we have to close out the game). Anyway, this can make the game (and there are actually 2 games on this cartridge that have the same problem) very frustrating.

On a positive note, there is another game on the cartridge where the child has to use logic to build a bridge for the little creatures to cross, and this is easy to use with the stylus and can be quite challenging and entertaining for the children.

I got the game for my 6-yr old for her Leapster 2. I had a hard time with the ratings, because I would rate it differently for a 6-yr old than a 4-yr old. My 3-star rating primarily reflects my assessment of the educational value of the game for a 6-yr old. Regarding its ability to engage the kids, I would give the game 5 stars. My daughter loves the game -- mostly for the game/fun aspect of it.

I do not think this game provides a significant learning opportunity for a 6-yr old. I have now watched her play 3 of the games closely. Here is my assessment:

- WordBird: Here the objective is to find the words in a 6x5 array of letters. The words are spelled out for Level 1 & 2, and depicted with a picture in Level 3. The game would have been a great way to learn the letters, since the alphabet is a finite set. If the kid knows the letters, there is only a small set of words -- about 50 -- that she can learn to spell from this game. Very good for 4-yr olds when they are learning the letters. Not of any significant educational value to a 6-yr old. It could have been a lot more educational for a 6-yr old if the game had built in an extensive dictionary so that the words are different every time they play the game.

- Cosmic crossing: It does force kids to think ahead about how they would get from point A to point B. But many of the layouts are far too simple to challenge a 6-yr old. After the first run through the games, she knows exactly what she needs to do for the courses. Without randomizing the layout, this game is a simple repetition just for fun.

- Critter river: Same comment as Cosmic crossing. Once she has built the patterns, it is just a repetition every time.

I would recommend this game for 4-6 yr olds, keeping in mind that for a 6-yr old it is 90% fun and 10% educational. From an educational perspective, my guess is that it would have been appropriate when my daughter was 4-5. The age rating of 5-8 on the title is definitely far too generous. Recommended for younger kids.

This is by far the favorite of the four leapster games my boys received for Christmas--the others being Dora's pinata party (it came with the leapster and I can't really get them to play it simply because it's "Dora"), I Spy (the games just don't keep their interest for some reason, though I think it's a pretty good cartridge), and kindergarten (far too easy for my kindergartener and really even for my four-year-old.) Anyway, they've loved this one and have played every game repeatedly. My 6 year-old maxed it out and earned all of his "puzzle power" stars in about a week, but he decided to start again. I like the different difficulty levels available and the fact that the problems on each level become progressively harder. I do wish, though, that the games weren't the same each time you played the same one at the same level. Even though you have to complete 15-20 problems to finish a level, once kids have done that two or three times with the same 15-20 problems, the challenge is lost.
As a former math teacher, though I do like this cartridge, especially the "sky-high" where they have to practice addition by putting together beams to make pillars of matching sizes.
The monster game is also great in teaching memory, and the about face for logic.
And, my boys' favorite is the "cosmic crossing" game where they have to get the rocket home to earth, jumping from asteroid to asteroid, riding commits, and sliding through worm holes.

Well designed game. We got it right before X'mas weekend for my 6 year old. She beat it in 2 days(and we had a very quiet 2 days). She was so focused on playing with it!
However, it is definately not challenging enough for 7-8 year old kids.

For Christmas I got my son the Leapster and 4 games. Thomas the Tank Engine, Wall-E (cause they're both brands that my son likes a lot), Sonic the Hedgehog (cause the reviews were great and it's closer to a real video game) and "Get Puzzled." Of all of these I thought Get Puzzled would be the last one he'd play. It was the one he gravitated towards right away and he absolutely loves it. All the games I bought got great reviews, but this was has by far held his interest. He's 4 1/2 years old..and pretty smart for his age. The game wasn't amazingly challenging for him (he skipped from level 1 to 3 most of the time) but it's been a couple months and he still prefers playing this game over the others.

I will completely disagree with the parent who said it has no educational value. It absolutely does. In fact, of all the games that I got, I think it has the most variety.

Their are many different games in "Get Puzzled"....the one my son likes the most is a game that uses logic/problem solving/comprehension skills and teaches patience. It's a space ship that you have to get from point to point on the screen until you get it to earth. There is a game that uses Math and shapes. A word search game that will show you 6 pictures (a drum, trumpet, piano, violin, guitar, etc.) and you'll try to find the corresponding words in the word search. If you don't know how to spell the word you can push on the picture and it'll spell it out for you.

Overall...even though my son blew through the game pretty quickly, he continues to enjoy it and he continues to learn things.

I would recommend this game over any other game...absolutely. Even the ones with the more name brand characters.

There are certain Leapster games my 4 and 7 year old children get attached to and this isn't one of them. It is certainly a good game and helps kids with spelling, critical thinking and math. I tried it and it's rather fun. My son saw me playing it and he said he liked Critter River best. In fact, I think watching me play reignited his interest. There are three levels in each game to give each child just the right amount of challenge.

Critter River: Use the shapes to build a bridge to the other side of the river.

Word Bird: This is a word search game. In the lowest level, the words that need to be found are shown. In the highest level, a picture of the word is shown so that the child must spell the word and find it on his/her own.

Cosmic Crossing: Guide the rocket from planet to planet to get to Earth. If the child is not careful planning his route, he will shoot off into space.

About Face: Try to make the sad faces happy by giving them the features they ask for, like a blue hat and a round nose or the shortest hair.

Monster Maker: Look at the monster and remember what it looks like. The parts get scrambled and the child has to put it back together exactly as it looked.

Sky High: Build two walls that are the same height. The length of the blocks are written on the blocks to help decide which blocks go together.

My son is enjoying this game right now. I have to give it 4 stars.

We just got this game about a month ago and my 5 year old can hardly put it down! He is only in Pre-K, so some of the math parts are a little over his head, but with the "help" button he can just keep right on zipping thru. And even though he has to get help on some of it, he is still hearing the math problems over and over. So he is learning while he is having a blast!

I have a toddler who will be three at the end of the year. She's pretty fast at picking up games and out-grew her LittleLeaps DVD game sets early this year. So I bought her the Leapster when I saw it on sale for 30 bucks a few months ago. It came with two games pre-loaded; the coloring/drawing game and the Bunny game where he has to cross the river by jumping logs. At first she just liked seeing what happened when the bunny jumped into the water... so she lost interest in it and only colored with the other game. So last week I bought this game, which is geared for K-2nd grade and she LOVES it!! Because there are so many different games and each game has simple levels she's able to play level 1 on most of them and especially loves the monster game and About Face which she has no problem following the simple instructions. I know the math and advanced levels of the word games are beyond her at this point, but she still likes to get the "sticks" to be the same hight, or click on the letters in the word find box... It's great that she has something that will grow with her now!

This is the fifth game my four year old son received for his Leapster. Puzzled is all he has played for the last month and he LOVES it. I think the games were a bit of a challenge to him at first since he's only four but now he's up to level 3 in many of the games. There are six games in all on this cartridge and he enjoys every single one. Every kid is different, so you never truly know what will be a hit with your child. He also has Cars, Nemo, Pet Pals and WallE. This one has been his favorite by a long shot, followed by Pet Pals.

Our not quite 3 year-old son loves this cartridge. He has been introduced to 10 Leapster cartridges so far, and his favorites are Letters on the Loose and Get Puzzled.

Get Puzzled's monster baker game is like putting together Mr. Potato head like figures of monsters, and when all the parts in the right places, the monster animates (different monsters have different animations), and the Leapster says "It's alive!" or "That's monsterous!" Our son says that right along with the Leapster with a big grin on his face, and then he often play-acts the same movements as the animation. That's how much he enjoys it.

Another excellent game on this cartridge is Sky High. In this game you see a block that is for example 6 units tall, and you have to choose 2 other blocks that together add up to 6 untis. Our son is too young to know addition, but the Hint button says "4 + 2 = 6" and he can then locate a block with a 4 on it and another block with a 2 on it. So it reinforces number recognition in a young child, and addition for an older child. And since he loves building blocks, he can relate to that too.

Critter Crossing is a bit more challenging in our opinion, since it involves placing different pieces of a bridge in such a way that they reach all the way accross the river. So it reinforces problem solving skills.