Leapfrog LeapPad

Anybody with an iPad and children knows that it’s difficult for both to exist in a peaceful household. The first thing modern parents are expected to do upon arriving at home is surrender their beloved tablet computer to the kids so that it can get full of snot and, sometimes, broken.

One solution is to buy the kids their own iPads, but it seems ridiculous. They have to learn about the value of things and all that, after all. Enter the LeapPad – a snot resistant tablet designed for kids aged four to seven that costs considerably less than an iPad.

I tested the LeapPad on my own children aged six and three, both boys. They loved it.

The device is packed with educational games and art apps for drawing, learning to read and write, languages and taking pictures with the built-in camera. Some games take advantage of the motion sensors with, for example, tilt-controls.

Additional apps are available from an online store – but getting them is tricky. First, you have to run the terrible desktop software that connects the LeapPad to your computer and then you have to buy vouchers that can be used to buy apps.

Another option is to buy additional games and apps on cartridges stocked at toy stores.

While the desktop software is designed in Flash and is generally atrocious, it does have some great features. You can use it to transfer all of your tyke’s pictures and artwork for posterity and you can even track children’s progress in certain apps and see what they’ve been up to.

The device has a touch screen and stylus – they had to save money somewhere and using capacitive touch screens like that of the iPad would’ve been overboard. The lack of touch input didn’t seem to faze my kids.

What did faze them was the battery on the LeapPad regularly running dry. It uses four AA batteries which, like most toys, will drive you scatty with constant replacement.

But far be it from me to judge a device that was designed for tots, so I asked Thing 1 and Thing 2 what they thought of it.

They both said they liked it. A lot. My three-year-old said he was especially fond of the virtual pet that runs around on the screen demanding attention. But the big question was whether or not they liked it more than dad’s iPad? The oldest Thing said he did like it more. Success. But captain three-year-old confessed that daddy’s iPad was still his toy of choice. Make of that what you will. Oh, and I was lying about the snot-retardant bit. But it sounded good.

Verdict: A pretty good tablet for tots.

Complexity:  Even a three-year-old can, and has, used it.

Price: R1 200

Also consider: Vtech InnoPad (not available in SA yet)

Value rating: 8/10