LeapReader Ready, Set, Read & Write!

I received free LeapFrog products in order to host the LeapFrog sponsored MommyParty.  The opinions expressed here are my own.

Fall is finally here and I’m already starting to think about Christmas gifts.  Every year, I struggle with choosing the best gifts for my children, but one thing we always have under the tree for them is some sort of LeapFrog product.  We’ve got a ton of their stuff, including Scout, a Leaptop, LeapPads, a Tag Junior, and more…not to mention all of the coordinating games and books.  My kids love them all, and I can’t tell you how excited they were when I told them we were adding LeapReaders to our collection and hosting a LeapReader Ready, Set, Read & Write party!

Because of my accident, our party had to be postponed a few weeks.  It was nearly impossible to keep the kids out of the box of goodies for that long, but once the big day came, they quickly forgot any complaints they had.  As you can see above, we were sent quite a few things, and I’ll give you one guess which item the kids went for first.  If you said the 3D glasses, you win!  I can’t blame them; I was itching to try them out myself.

A 3D book is as much fun as it sounds, especially when it’s all about Monsters University.  With their glasses on and the LeapReader in hand, they paired nouns with verbs to create their very own scare techniques.  You can bet this one kept them busy for quite some time.  While the older kids were taking lessons from Sully, the younger ones experimented with the other books.

Some of the kids had never used a product like this, and they were absolutely fascinated with how the LeapReader helped them read the books.  Each page features multiple activities, including the option to have the story read aloud, sound out individual words, and even play games.  I’m sure it didn’t hurt that their favorite characters were featured!

Another big hit were the flashcards.  For this activity, everyone received a card with part of a word on it.  They had to work together to build words, and then they used the LeapReader to sound out those words.

All on their own, the kids took it a step further and acted out the words they made.  When they made the word jog, they all got up and jogged in place.  When they made the word cat, they all crawled around pretending to be cats.  It was so much fun watching them be creative and really getting involved.

My favorite thing about the LeapReader is how it helps teach my children to write.  This is something my daughter has been working on lately, so she’s been very interested in this feature as well.  The very same LeapReader that is used for the books and flashcards will also write on special paper.

Your child is given step-by-step instructions on writing each character, and then that character magically appears on the special paper.  My daughter just loved the whole process.

The LeapFrog LeapReaders is aimed a kids who are 4 to 8 years old, so my 3-year-old son is still a little young for some of the activities.  This, of course, hasn’t stopped him from trying, and he’s become very fond of the audio books and learning songs.  For days after the party, he had that LeapReader glued to his ear.

LeapFrog really hit the nail on the head with their new LeapReader.  It’s an all-in-one learning tool/toy that will get your kids listening, reading, AND writing.  With a library of over 150 books, workbooks, audio books, and more, your kids will never get tired of all the learning fun!  It’s also backwards compatible with most of the Tag library, which is great news for us since we have a lot of those titles.  I think I know what I’ll be getting my niece and nephew for Christmas this year!

Learn more about LeapReader at Leapfrog.com.  You can also follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to keep up with their latest news.

Thanks again to LeapFrog for providing the party kit discussed in this post.  Everyone had a fantastic time!