Customer Reviews

My Own Learning Leap

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recently bought My Own Learning Leap for my son's second birthday and of course I had to "test" it. He's amazing, he sings, asks questions, giggles when you touch just about anywhere. The only bad thing is, good luck making your voice sound like Leap. It will be your voice saying your childs name and your name. I doubt my son will notice though, and after my husband and I played with Leap for about 20 minutes (without hearing the same phrase or song twice) we agreed to go out and buy a second one for my son's twin sister. This is bound to be a toy that neither will give up. FYI, he is completely erasable if you want to change the info you've given him.

My son is severely autistic and has a horrible time establishing relationships. He is also hendered from playing with toys appropriately, non-verbal, aggressive and very withdrawn. Most autistic children have these problems. Yet these wonderful interactive stuffed frogs are the answer and a dream toy to all mothers of autistic children. We started out with a "Lily" my mother found for my son at a garage sale when my son was 2 and a half. "Lily" became a member of the family within days. He tries to feed "Lily", walk her, talk with her and praise the Lord, He uses sign language with her and is finally able to communicate with the rest of the family. (My son will bring us one of his "Leaps" and will make the sign for "Bath" on it when he wants a bath.) He will not sleep without her and has been known to refuse to go anywhere without her. When he is frustrated and starts to become angry, he has learned to grab one of his buddies and calm himself by "comforting" his leap frog. Over the past 5 years, our family has grown to include: 5 Lily's, 3 baby brothers "Tad" and just recently "My Own Learning Leap" - big brother Todd. I can not thank the people who dreamed these little friends up for my precious child.

My daughter (who just turned 2 two days after Christmas) received her "Froggy" as a Christmas gift. It was actually the only thing that she had asked for (She got excited whenever she saw a picture of Leap in the toy flyers that were out for the holidays and when asked who was coming on Christmas, she would respond, "Froggy!"). I knew "Froggy" was a Leap Frog toy, so I knew it would probably be of good quality and educational, but it even exceeded any expectations I had. When my daughter opened this present, she was thrilled and she and Froggy have been inseperable since. I love how he can be personalized, not only with your child's name, but also with so much other info (caregivers' names, friends, pets, where she lives, etc) and even personalized to your child's level by asking questions, such as whether your child knows her colors or is still learning them, knows the alphabet or is still learning it, etc. This toy is really wonderful and I highly recommmend it. (My only with is that my daughter had chosed a smaller and machine-washable toy to get this attached to!) Leap tells stories, asks questions, sings songs. It's a great, great toy. And I haven't even bought any of the additional cartridges that you can get, though they, too, sound fantastic.

My 3 year old LOVES Leap, videos, caterpillar, leap table, stuffed animals, leap pad, etc... if it's out there we've gotten it for him. His Leap pad (a different review) was defective and after returning it twice the company happily and without hestiation replaced it (by first sending me a NEW LeapPad) - this time it wasn't as easy....

My son received this as a gift for his 3rd birthday and it has been in bed with him ever since I love the stories the songs, it helps him learn to share (a good feature with a new little brother in the house), and we just bought the learning to go potty cartridge (in hopes that if his friend leap goes potty he will too???). Anyway the problem is that 1st my husband made the recordings, and in a few days Leap starting ask "ask a grown-up to tell me more about you" (as if it weren't programmed) so I recorded EVERYTHING again, 2 days later AGAIN, then I called Leap frog and told them, they told me to clean the battery contacts - I did, the NEXT DAY it asked again to record. So today I called Leap Frog and they told me I should ask my friend to get me a receipt and I should return it to the store. I told them I didn't want to inconvenience my friend (or tell her that her gift is broken) and they condesendingly said "well if WE exchange it it'll be 3 weeks for you to send yours to us, and then us to return a new one to you - can your son be without it for that long??" How rude? Anyway - I told her what they had done in the past with the Leap Pad and she put me on hold - and then told me "well we don't usually do that, but since we've done it in the past we'll do it again this time, but don't expect it in the future" -

I love the toy, and I do like the company, but I was a little bummed out about the last experience.

YOUR CHILD WILL ABSOLUTELY LEARN A LOT FROM THIS TOY & LOVE IT DEARLY. UNFORTUNATELY THE ON/OFF BUTTON ON THE TOYS FOOT STOPS ACTIVATING THE TOY & THE TOY BECOMES INOPPERABLE. THE FIRST ONE I PURCHASED IN JANUARY 2005; IT LASTED UNTIL FEBURARY 2005 (ABOUT A MONTH & A-HALF.) THE SECOND ONE I PURCHASED MID FEBURARY 2005 LASTED ONLY 3 WEEKS, THEN THE SAME ON/OFF BUTTON MALFUNCTION OCCURRED. THE THIRD ONE I PURCHASED MARCH 2005 IS CURRENTLY STILL WORKING. IF THE SAME PROBLEM OCCURS, I WILL NOT BUY THIS TOY A FOURTH TIME; IT IS BECOMMING TOO COSTLY.

My son received this as a gift at age 16 months. Not something I would ever have picked out, and he LOVES it. Early on, he just liked randomly pushing buttons and making Leap react. Now he has the patience to listen a little more. There are different levels for different stages of learning, which is nice. We've had the toy now for 8 months and have never had any of the electronic problems I read here -I'd recommend this in a heartbeat.

I bought this sensational toy for my 2 1/2 year old twins for Christmas. This thing is phenomenal! You can program in your child's name, city, friend's names and pet's names. They love to hear it talk to them. Unfortunately for me, it only holds one name at a time, so I'm going to have to buy one for the other twin, but I think it's well worth the money. It teaches songs, letters, sounds and colors and rewards the child with a special message made from your own voice. What a wonderful idea this was! I only wish it had more modules to purchase for additional learning situations. (Currently there are only 3 or 4 additional modules) This is a "Must Have" on your pre-schooler's list of toys. Even my 5 year old niece was amused by it.

When my 2 yr old son received this from Santa, I was disappointed to see him set it aside and not play with it. As the chaos of Christmas day quieted down he did play with Leap (he calls it "Baby") and especially loves to play with Leap at bedtime. He loves the personal messages and giggles at a funny one his dad recorded. I had great expectations for this toy and it lives up to them!

My son loves this toy but every time we turn it on it says "time to change your batteries!". I have changed the batteries several times and finally discovered that the battery compartment was corroded. After cleaning it out it seemed to work fine but realized that the triangle button doesn't work and never has - which frustrates my two year old. Since he loves it so much I'm buying him a new one. Hope this one works better!

Manufacturer rates the My Own Learning Leap for ages 2+ (not the 4+ that Amazon claims). Details on the product from their site (since none are yet included here):

Create a personalized learning experience especially for your child with My Own Learning Leap™! My Own Learning Leap teaches valuable lessons about sharing, manners and friendship through over 50 songs, stories, games and phrases!

You tell Leap your child's name ... Leap creates stories and songs with your child as the star! You and your family members record heartfelt messages ... Leap uses the voices of loved ones to reward and encourage your child! You tell Leap what your child knows ... Leap teaches what your child still needs to learn!

3 ways to learn and play! Hands-on learning games, sing-along songs and engaging stories.

Hands-on learning games teach letters, phonics, counting and more!

Sing-along learning songs include The Alphabet Song, Letter Conga and the Let's Move Song!

Engaging stories provide personalized interaction! Listen to a story all about YOU! Also hear stories about sharing and friendship. Decide the outcome of each story by squeezing one of Leap's hands!

Leveled Learning! Leap teaches just what your child needs to learn - letters, phonics, counting and more!

Colorful lights! Lights twinkle in Leap's shirt and hands to help guide the play!

Make-a-Message Recorder! Follow Leap's simple directions to personalize the learning! The Make-a-Message Recorder stores securely in Leap's back.

Expand the learning with additional Personalized Learning Kits (sold separately) that include a cartridge for Leap, a board book, and a special Parent Guide:
Get Ready for Potty Time!
Countdown to Sleepy Time!
When I Feel... You Know What I Do?
New Baby! My New Friend!

High/low volume control. 4 AA batteries required.