We have been a leapster family for a while now. My dad bought the kids one a while back and since then Boyo has progressed in math by leaps and bounds. Girlie has done well too but it really isn't her medium.
When the kids were little they watched the Leapfrog DVDs and that gave them a good idea of how the whole reading thing worked. The Leapster handheld games did the same thing for boyo when it came to multiplication. When we hit that section in his math book, I was so surprised that he already knew almost all the basic facts that he breezed though the end of the book with no problem.
But like all things, Boyo became too advanced for the Leapster games. So last Christmas I looked at getting him a Didj, being the next step up from Leapster without crossing over to a Nintendo DS which doesn't have educational games. But it was too expensive and the reviews weren't that great and it was too new so there were kinks to be worked out.
Last week when the kids and I were at Walmart (don't judge me it is a small town) we went for a walk through the toy aisle and low and behold- the didj was on sale for more than $40 off!! After a brief chat with Hubby, I picked it up and also an extra game for Boyo.
Boyo spent 3 days playing it consistently before the batteries wore out and had to be charged.
So There is the pros and cons for the Didj
Pro
When the kids were little they watched the Leapfrog DVDs and that gave them a good idea of how the whole reading thing worked. The Leapster handheld games did the same thing for boyo when it came to multiplication. When we hit that section in his math book, I was so surprised that he already knew almost all the basic facts that he breezed though the end of the book with no problem.
But like all things, Boyo became too advanced for the Leapster games. So last Christmas I looked at getting him a Didj, being the next step up from Leapster without crossing over to a Nintendo DS which doesn't have educational games. But it was too expensive and the reviews weren't that great and it was too new so there were kinks to be worked out.
Last week when the kids and I were at Walmart (don't judge me it is a small town) we went for a walk through the toy aisle and low and behold- the didj was on sale for more than $40 off!! After a brief chat with Hubby, I picked it up and also an extra game for Boyo.
Boyo spent 3 days playing it consistently before the batteries wore out and had to be charged.
So There is the pros and cons for the Didj
Pro
- Educational
- Great graphics
- ability to go online to change or adjust the level of difficulty on the problems
- adaptable -it can be scaled back to Girlie or made tougher for Boyo
- Lots of different math games
Cons
- Expensive
- not a lot of games yet and most seem to be math games
- Most language arts games are not aimed at boys (Nancy drew is the only spelling game I have found)
- doesn't come with a cover like the Leapster so screen can get scratched up.
All in all I really like the games, I wish that it could use the old Leapster cartridges but I see the difference in quality in the graphics so I understand why it can't be so. I really hope they put out more games and continue with more of the older grades (3+).
