LeapFrog LeapTop

by 3 Comments

Last Christmas I bought The Boy a little 'laptop' from Early Learning Centre. At the time he wasn't really interested in it and it took him a few months to start playing with it. I think part of the problem was that it didn't look enough like mine (because he still kept trying to jab my keys mid blog-post!) and that really it had a handful of buttons that had limited functionality. I bought it on an impulse a few days before Christmas day and wish I'd thought it through.

Because for the same amount of money, I could have had this:

The LeapFrog LeapTop

It just looks better doesn't it? It appears to be more like a laptop with the keyboard and the little mouse on the side. The Boy is completely and utterly won over by it and for the first week after it arrived for review, he would come down for breakfast in the morning and demand to know where his laptop was before he would do anything else.

Prior to giving it to The Boy, it required some initial setup connected to my laptop and the Internet. There is an easily accessible USB port on the side of the screen (potentially this could have been located under the battery compartment cover as in the Tag Junior, as The Boy keeps trying to play with it). I easily downloaded the software from the LeapFrog website, picked The Boy's name from the list, and chose from the selection of 'e-mails' that are uploaded to the laptop to be read out by Scout. I was then also able to choose the classical music that I wanted played on the laptop, along with instrumental versions of nursery rhymes. This setup took approximately five-ten minutes and was easy to do. The LeapTop can be connected to the laptop to chart his 'progress' and this can be e-mailed to family members; ideal for grandparents, etc.

The Boy adores the personalised e-mails. The first time that he heard them, his eyes lit up with wonder and excitement and he started talking back to Scout. There are a few additional e-mails that are programmed in from the green dog himself (giving eight in total) and they help add to the variety. He's also very fond of the 'new blog entry' button. When I discovered that option I roared with laughter! I love that LeapFrog are ahead of the game here in recognising the importance and power of blogging. Whereas The Boy just likes to hear that Scout has been to the beach and made a sandcastle!

As the e-mails are read out, the text is displayed on the screen and The Boy chuckles at the pictures that come up alongside the blog entries. The screen is quite small in comparison to the surround which in the wrong light can make it difficult to see. However, The Boy pays a great deal of attention to the pictures that are displayed and absolutely adores the images of Scout dancing in the music section.

The 'mouse' on the side is a sliding button which switches between three modes for the keyboard: learning about animals and the sounds they make, the alphabet and phonics, and musical mode:

  • In animals mode (my favourite) when you press a letter it asks you a question about that animal which then is named. If you don't know, press the 'paw' button and it tells you the answer. We both like that game.
  • The musical game is a little basic or not suited to him at the moment (aged just 2); the first two rows are funny sounds, the bottom row is musical notes.
  • The 'abc' game involves pressing the letter, hearing the phoneme, then the letter name and an example word. As a teacher, I like that game a lot, although it's a tad too tricky for The Boy at the moment.

Why is the LeapFrog LeapTop so good?

  • The Boy thinks it's a proper laptop and leaves mine alone!
  • There are so many different games on it that it holds his attention for a good period of time
  • The games are a mix of educational and fun
  • Easily set up and personalised
  • The personalisation helps to make it more appealing to little ones
  • Good value for money
  • It uses British accents in 90% of the programming (I think that there must have been an error somewhere along the line as it states on the box that it uses British voices but on a few of the e-mails or blog entries, Scout's voice switched over to an American accent and then back to a British one).

Overall I think that this is the best little laptop around in this price bracket (£20) and will continue to aid The Boy's development for another year or two yet, supplementing and supporting his formal learning in the Foundation Phase.

This was provided as part of the Toys R Us Toyology review programme. However, our opinions are as always honest and fair.

Get Snap-Happy with VTech at the V&A

by 2 Comments

Did you know that the Victoria & Albert Museum had a Museum of Childhood? No, me neither. But they do, and they have a wide-range of exhibits and workshops running over the summer. One of these is running in conjunction with VTech, one of the best brands of children’s electronic learning toys. They are offering a series of workshops which aim to introduce children to the exciting possibilities of the digital word in a fun and engaging way.

This is the type of thing that I would love to take The Boy to as he is really beginning to explore the photographic capabilities of the iPod Touch, but unfortunately at two years old he is too young for the workshops. The hour-long sessions are ideal for children aged 4-9 years old and are running every Saturday over the school summer holidays at 2pm from the 23rd July to the 27th August. What's even better about these Digi-Fun workshops, providing children with the opportunity to explore, invent and create with the very latest kid-friendly technology, is that are that they are free!

So if your little Annie Liebovitzs and David Baileys are eager to learn how to take pictures, film and edit their own footage then pop over to the V&A museum to book a session. You'll need to hurry though because the next two Saturdays are fully booked, but they are still taking bookings for 13th, 20th and 27th August!

This is not a sponsored post and I have not been asked to blog about this. I just thought you'd like to know about it!

Listography: Inventions

by 8 Comments

The Listographer extrodinaire has given us what she feels is a simple theme this week:

This weeks theme is Inventions, or if you will Inventions that-would-make-my-life-easier.

And she's right it's not as difficult as you'd initially think! I will say one thing though; I'm pinching back my Money Tree idea that she has 'borrowed'.

  1. A food replicator: I know it sounds bizarre doesn't it? However, ever since I was a Trekkie as a teenage (ST:TNG if you please), I have been fascinated with the replicators. Imagine this, you've walked in from a really hard day in work and do not have the energy to cook from frozen, let alone fresh. In fact, you've forgotten to do the shopping so there's nothing in the freezer anyway! Walk to the hole in the wall, speak into it and within 30 seconds it has replicated the exact meal that you have placed an order for, even down to the parmesan shavings on the top. Blame Picard for this one: "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot!"
  2. A universal translator: Imagine if we could understand not only foreign languages, but what our toddlers or babies were trying to tell us. Better still, we could get the husbands to use them so they understood what we were actually going on about!
  3. Hover skateboard: I'm stealing this idea from Back to the Future 2 here, but how cool would that be? It wouldn't make my life easier, apart from nipping around the playground in order to get to those naughty boys quicker, but it would be cooler than a cool thing!
  4. An automatically weeding flowerbed: I find it boring, stressful, difficult, tiring, awkward and painful to weed the flower beds. Yet I like having a tidy and pretty garden! I would like to be able to press a button and have everything weed-free and the lawn mown.
  5. A Money Tree: It was my idea first! Ha! As I said back then "Those who say 'money doesn't buy happiness' have clearly been in the position to experience it! I am not asking for a ridiculous amount of money, but enough so that I don't have to work. Oh and possibly so we can have a porch and a conservatory". Well we have a porch now, courtesy of my mum lending us the money, but I'd still like to have just enough to not have to work, a pretty little tree in the garden would be so convenient!

—

Now, pop over and check out the other entries using this nifty little button thingy
Photobucket

The Land Of Me

by

I am many things in my life (mainly exhausted), but the bit that pays the bills means that I'm a primary school teacher. More than that, I am ICT co-ordinator for a primary school of over 450 children. This means that not only do I have the responsibility of ensuring that Information Communication Technology is taught in accordance with the National Curriculum, it also means that I have to oversee that it is taught with enthusiasm and that the children are instilled with a lifelong interest in, and motivation by, technology.

The world in which our children will continue to grow up in is inconceivable. The technology that they will be using in ten years time, or as an adult, has not been dreamt of yet. This is why it is so important to instill an enthusiasm in learning through technology. Now don't get me wrong, I also trained as nursery nurse studying psychology and I know the stages of a child's development and the different phases of play. Which is why it is important to immerse them in a mix of the traditional physical toys playing with a person, as well as developing their technological awareness.

[Read more…]

Like Mummy

by 2 Comments

At Christmas we bought The Boy a little laptop of his own in the vague hope that he'd stop wanting to fiddle with ours. Fat chance! It wasn't a proper laptop; it was one of those Learning Laptops from the Early Learning Centre (£17.00). Unfortunately he wasn't at the right stage of development at that age and wasn't at all interested in it. It has been given the odd cursory glance and prod until today.

He wandered into the dining room where I was sat with the laptop and looked at me. The Boy then toddled off and returned with his own laptop. He proceeded to place it on the table, climb up into his chair, strap himself in and play with the laptop. The photo is my 365 for today.

However, I wanted to show you what happened next. The Boy's clearly learnt more in the last few months than I originally thought.