The Leap Frog Little Touch Leap Pad is the perfect learning system to start instilling a love of reading in your child. This learning system has three settings from which to choose – music and soundscapes; word play; and laugh and learn – depending on the stage of development of your child. Using just the touch of a finger, each book in the Little Touch Leap Pad library can be brought to life. This is a great way for you to teach your child the importance and enjoyment of reading.
The Little Touch Leap Pad comes with one book and one cartridge for that book. You can purchase additional books anywhere the Leap Pad is sold.
Setting 1: Music and Soundscapes
The music and soundscapes setting is geared toward newborns and infants. This setting creates only sounds and musical rhythms, as opposed to words. Baby has the opportunity to explore and learn to recognize various sounds and rhythms.
Setting 2: Word Play
The word play setting introduces six- to twelve-month-olds to short phrases and word-object association. This helps baby learn important language skills early.
Setting 3: Laugh and Learn
The laugh and learn setting is for children ages twelve months to twenty-four months. On this setting the book is read aloud by the Leap Pad. Additionally, colors, shapes, and numbers are a main focus. Your child is more apt to learn word comprehension and production on this setting.
Some Notes About the Little Touch Leap Pad
This is definitely not a toy for your young child to play with alone. Of course if you give this to a six-month-old baby, s/he is most likely not going to know what to do with it. S/he may even take the books and attempt to chew them. Fortunately, the books are made out of a tear-resistant paper. I even tried to rip one just to see if I could and I was not successful.
One of the purposes of this system is to encourage interaction between you and your child. Don’t forget that even though the Leap Pad has the capacity to read the story to your child, you can even use the books as a guide to teach your child. The recommended age for the Little Touch Leap Pad is 6 to 36 months.
The Leap Frog Little Touch Leap Pad’s retail price is approximately $30-35 at Toys-R-Us. The Little Touch Leap Pad can also be purchased from the Leap Frog website.
Note: For more information on the books available for the Leap Pad, see my article entitled Leap Frog Little Touch Leap Pad Library.