I was thrilled to be chosen to host a party introducing LeapFrog's newest invention- the LeapReader! I have always been a big fan of LeapFrog who seems to know just how to make learning fun :)
Let me tell you a little bit about the LeapReader ..
The LeapReader is a complete "learn to read and write" system that combines the three essential literacy skills : Reading, Writing and Listening. By practicing them together, children can practice the skills they need to help them become confident independent readers.
Learn to Read- you simply touch the LeapReader to any page to sound out words letter by letter, read sentences in lively character voices and play fun games that build comprehension. * I have a few kiddos who struggle with comprehension, so I love that fact!
Learn to Write - Use the LeapReader to trace letters and numbers, and write words stroke-by-stroke with interactive guidance as magic ink appears on special mess-free paper. * All the moms loved the writing feature- it prompts you on writing letters, notices when you life your pencil and shouldn't and sounds out words when you have finished one! Love!
Learn through Listening - Develop listening skills, comprehension and imagination with LeapReader's popular audio books, trivia challenges and learning songs! * We are big LeapFrog fans and own several (most) of the movies. When we tried listening to some of the songs- my kids were happy to sing and dance along.
Now onto the party and some pictures!
Naturally I invited several friends with their kids over to play with the huge box of stuff that LeapFrog provided for us! *Note, not all were comfortable sharing photos of their children on the internet so you will just see my kids and
MsRandom's kiddos.
Although I received the products well in advance, I didn't open them for my own children to play with until the party because I wanted them to experience it like the rest of the party goers. I will say that when the kids first got there, I sent them off to play as I was still setting things up. Several times, different kiddos would come over to ask me what was on the table and if they could please play with it yet! lol!
Finally it was time to begin! I'm not sure who was more excited, the moms or the kids?!
They all happily donned their 3D glasses. I think everyone's first choice of books to look at was the 3D Monsters University! We looked thru the book and then flipped to the back to work on some Nouns / Verbs action!
The LeapReader would tell the kids to pick nouns or verbs (Nouns were in yellow, verbs in red). I loved that it had two different levels - level 1 for the little kids reminded them that nouns were on the yellow page vs verbs on the red page, level 2 for the older kids would just ask them to pick a noun/verb without prompting. Everyone loved this game and couldn't wait for their turn! Dimples only had problems keeping his glasses on.. lol. Momma had to help hold them on for him : )
Next we all sat together and did "Tad's Song". In this game, there are missing parts to the song along with a box to choose from. We had to pick a word (Dimple's had control of the LeapReader) and then decide which word rhymed with our word. At the end, we were able to listen to the song we helped Tad create! :)
And finally they were all turned loose (taking turns of course) with the LeapReaders to practice some writing. Dimples & Banana - the youngest of the pictured crew (both being 5) enjoyed tracing words. The moms all loved that if you stayed on the lines there was a sound - an encouragement that you were doing it right. If you lifted your pencil up off the paper when you shouldn't (ahem. Dimples.) we were alerted to keep our pencil down, don't lift it. When each letter was finished , the letter was said and at the end of the word- the Leapreader sounded out the word the kids had just traced. It was beyond amazing!
Honestly, there was so much more to do- we ran out of time before we could do all we wanted! One lucky winner took home a LeapReader set, while we kept one set for ourselves (my kids are thrilled!).
I took a poll of Moms & kids and here are what we thought were the pros and cons :
Pros
- No batteries to buy - you simply plug it in and recharge.
- Large variety of books and even a large variety of stuff to do within each book.
- The Learn to Write books were thick enough that we could easily set the practice paper in it and not worry about messing up anything.
Cons
- Practice paper- the only con we could come up with (other than not having one system for each kid.. ha!) was that we wish the practice paper /writing were made differently so that it could be erased vs using once and throwing away (think of it like receipt paper, there is no actual lead but you write by making pressure with the LeapReader).
When the kids were asked their favorite parts of the party / LeapReader they said :
- Writing
- Listening to the audio books
- Rhyming
- The T-Rex story ( which we listened to as an audio book)
- Stories & Writing
- Writing & Telephone game (we lined everyone up, let one child listen to part of a story with headphones on and then stopped the story. Then played the old game telephone of having the first child tell the last word they heard and everyone whispering it down the line. They were all amused at how changed the words became at the end! lol! Our closest was Dinoko to Diamond..)
All in all , it was a great opportunity! With a larger group of children in various ages (5 -9), not once did we have anyone wandering off or acting bored! I'm highly recommending this one if you have any children in need of a little help with reading or writing! I am definitely putting more books and accessories down on my Christmas list to buy for the kids!
*Disclosure - I received free LeapFrog products in order to host the LeapFrog sponsored MommyParty. The opinions expressed here are my own. *
