Customer Reviews

Leapfrog Clickstart Educational Software:Disney Princess, The Love of Letters

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

 

 

I purchased this because my daughter (3) loves Disney princesses. While it held her attention for a while, the games are very disappointing. There are only three games with two settings, but no real teaching variety. The games center on point and click, arrow buttons, and keyboard familiarity - something the basic console teaches.

Overall, very disappointing for $20. Seems the game makers may just be relying on the Disney label to sell games - I fell for it, but I would not recommend it.

The LeapFrog ClickStart games are not the most exceptional as far as quality of the character resemblence, and none of the games are going to turn your child into an Einstein. But my four year old loves to play them and she is learning to spell from them and learning computer skills. She especially loves anything Disney Princess. Next to the game already downloaded on the product when you buy it, this is the game she likes the most. I try to limit TV time so if I can get ready in the morning and she is doing something interactive/educational I feel it's a bonus.

My daughter is just now getting into Princess mode and she likes this game. I like the game b/c it teaches her a bit more than the other games we own, which are Learning Carnival, and Cars.
The Ariel game on the 1st level teaches arrow key use. Which is also reinforcing right and left concepts. This is the best game so far with teaching arrow key use. She now understands what those keys are for and can play it herself. My daughter is just over 2 1/2 yrs old.

The Cinderella game on the 1st level teaches them to click and "drag" the mouse. This is concept that hasn't been taught on any of the other games. You click the shape and drag it over to the cut out shape in the dress. The game catches it when they get close and puts it in the dress for her. I really like this basic dragging concept and she is learning about where to put missing items. I am very happy with that part. It switches over to designing Cinderella's dress and the game is not very forgiving when it comes to the mouse, you have to be pretty exact. That will be good for her when she gets a little older and more into the age range intended for this toy. So she already has to grow into level 1 a bit. I like that.

The Belle game will be more exciting when she is bigger, also a bonus. On Level 1 you use the arrow keys to catch books. On Level 2 it calls out a letter and you push the letter to catch books. Level 2 is actually easier for my daughter than level 1. This is a reoccuring theme on for us on the Clickstart. My daughter can find letters better than using coordination with the mouse to complete games and finding letters is a Level 2 concept. Odd.

After you complete a game you get a bonus round of clicking on gems before they disappear. They disappear faster on this game then they do on any other of the ones we own. So it will be better for the kids more inside the age range for the Clickstart. Not as good for the newbies.

I like this game a lot. If you have a beginner at this computer and want to purchase a game to go with the Clickstart, I highly recommend this one. Ariel and Flouder talk a lot which gives them a little exciting break in between games.

Overall, I'd rate this an average to disappointing experience. There's only three games (plus a song/sound effect generator), and Cinderella's "game" is basically just a drag and drop dress decorator. The little mermaid game is a maze which taught my daughter how to use the cursor keys to move up, down, left and right. The belle game is pretty hard for a young kid, as you have to guide a character using the arrow keys to pick up books that drop from the sky rather quickly.

My three year old enjoys this cart but it only holds her interest for 15 minutes or so. The educational aspects feel thrown in and there isn't much variety. There's quite a difficulty jump from Level 1 to Level 2 as well.

Definitely don't pay full price for this cart, it's just not worth more than $12.

My kids have been playing with the ClickStart keyboard games for some time now, so when I found this Disney Princess game on clearance it seemed like a no-brainer for my daughter (age 4) who loves them. Unfortunately, this game is geared more towards the very basics of using the keyboard, something she's been doing for a long time now. She tried each of the 3 games once and was immediately bored with it. Very disappointing.

One thing that has me completely baffled is the recommended age group for this game. I'd say if you're child is developing and learning at the normal pace then it would be great for the 2-3 year-old range, but the recommended 3-6 year-old range they give is ridiculous. It wouldn't be a bad game to introduce your child to ClickStart with, but the keyboard already comes with preloaded games that do a good job of that.

If your daughter loves Ariel, Belle, or Cinderella (the only Disney princesses in the game) and is in the 2-3 age range then this game might work for you. If you're looking to add more games to your child's library look elsewhere. This game is pretty much garbage. We own the Toy Story, Dora, Thomas, and Puppy Pals games and they're all infinitely better than this Disney Princess one.

My child loves anything disney princess related, however she lost interest in this the first time she played it. Over priced, and very primitive graphics.

Princesses prancing about teaching pink-loving girls and princess-struck brothers how to use a keyboard and mouse. You can't go worong.

My four year old daughter loves this game. (I have even caught my seven year old son playing it with her.) It reinforces some basic skills like color matching & shape sorting with letter recognition and phonics. All-in-all a great game that helps my kids learn while having fun.

This one isn't rated as high, as compared to some of the other cartridges, but my 4 year old granddaughter is so into princesses now, she just loves it.

I bought this game for my 4 year old daughter. She does a good job playing the educational games and she is learning how to use a computer keyboard and mouse without using our "real laptops". I would recommend this system and the games to any parent who wants to get their kids involved in computer skills and educational software. Oh ya, and the graphics are better than my Atari!