LeapFrog Clickstart My First Computer

We purchased this from Amazon for my 3-year-old daughter this last Christmas, and she's been having a blast with it since. She's already a computer nut, since that's what I do for both living and hobby, and she constantly appears out of nowhere when I'm playing my own video games. So a machine of her own was the next step in things, and I wanted something that would help her with the basics of mousing and keyboarding, with flexibility enough to keep her learning from there.She enjoys the various games that came with it, especially playing with the little dog in his house and the balloon-splatting game, though she now spends more time with the Dora the Explorer cartridge I purchased at the same time. The Memory-type games on there have kept her especially intrigued.I would recommend the adapter to power the base unit, which brings up one of the complaints I've heard elsewhere - the keyboard never completely turns off, so for instance when we took this on a road trip and put it in a toybag, it kept activating as things shifted. Fortunately, battery life is still pretty long even so.Also, the mouse is a little annoying as the tether often prevents it from sitting properly on the also-too-small pad attached to the side of the keyboard. It also has precision issues which sometimes frustrate my daughter, especially when targetting moving objects.Finally, I've had trouble getting it to hook up properly to various devices, either getting bad sound levels or no video depending on what I hooked it up through. This may reflect my lack of audio-visual equipment knowledge, though I'd still rank myself as a moderate-level user.

My parents bought our daughter this toy for Hanukkah, about 6 weeks before her 3rd birthday. At first, this toy was a fairly expensive flop. Our daughter was not too interested in it and was frustrated with trying to use the mouse. However, she has gradually become interested in this toy and now LOVES it. So if your child doesn't like this toy at first, don't despair! S/he may change his/her mind as s/he becomes more proficient with the mouse and keyboard.At first, my husband and I had to select the games for our daughter and ended up playing them ourselves half the time because operating the mouse was beyond her skill level and she would become frustrated. Now, she can select games using the mouse all by herself and does quite well with the games - even those that require her to use a mouse. This is a fantastic toy for teaching basic computer skills without letting your child touch a real (expensive) computer. The games are very educational. Right now, she is primarily interested in the games that are programmed into the machine itself. These games have done a great job teaching her basic computer skills. While this is a video game system, it does not feel like we are letting our daughter play video games because the interface is so computer like and because the games are so educational.

While looking for the perfect Christmas gift, I had my sights focused on finding an educational toy for my 3 year old step-son. I was browsing toys and came across this computer and after reading the reviews, I decided to purchase it.My step son is quite rambuncteous and incredibly hyper. I haven't had much experience with him with educational toys, so I thought this would be interesting to try. He is usually into movies and switches his interest quite quickly, wanting to watch another movie while we're in the middle of a movie, etc. I was a little worried this toy would lose his attention, as a lot of things seem too, and that he might not be very interested in learning how to use a computer. I got him lots of games for Christmas to start with, just incase he decided he was bored of a game quickly. I discussed this w/ his father and we hoped that he'd be entertain but didn't have high hopes.I was pleasantly surprised after all he got for christmas in the way of things he enjoys currently, movies, toy guns, etc. He asked me right away to open his computer. We set everything up and he focused on coordinating the mouse movement on the TV screen. It was wonderful. He'd play a few games and decide to take a break, but he always came back to it. Every day he asked to play his games. He loves this! I was so surprised and happy since I wasn't sure if it would hold his attention since sometimes he can be all over the place with his energy. This is a great toy for any kid, whether they're mellow or extremely hyperactive.It is also a great learning tool. I noticed after playing the game once or twice, he had remembered how to play them. He associated the colors on the keyboard with which buttons you should push in the game. It's fantastic. I definitely recommend this for any growing child.