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Parents' Guide to

Leapster

By Jinny Gudmundsen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 4+

Leapster is a revolutionary children's product.

Game Leapster 2003
Leapster Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 4+

Based on 1 parent review

magasalee
magasalee Parent of 4 and 7-year-old
July 30, 2010
age 4+
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

LEAPSTER, a new portable learning system from Leapfrog, has entered the children's gaming arena to compete with Nintendo's Game Boy Advance SP (GBA-SP). Like GBA-SP, Leapster is a handheld system used to play video games. But unlike the GBA-SP games, Leapster games talk to the child, making it ideal for young children who can't yet read. In addition to the traditional multi-directional control pad, Leapster comes with a touch-sensitive screen and a special stylus attached to the unit that kids can use to create art, write, and drag objects across the screen. The system comes bundled with the video game Learning with Leap. Kids play six multi-level games, including a Frogger-type game that uses letters, numbers, shapes, and math equations.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1 ):
Kids say (1 ):

While both GBA-SP and Leapster feature a full-color backlit gaming screen and similar gaming controls, the new Leapster system has many features that distinguish it from GBA-SP and make it a much more appealing system for young children. More than just a handheld gaming system, it's also an electronic book reader, a digital art studio, and an interactive video player.

But what's really impressive is that the educational content and difficulty of the gameplay adjust on the fly. If a child is struggling with the arcade aspect of the game, it becomes easier. If the child is struggling with an educational concept, the content gets easier and a tutorial appears to teach the concept. For young kids, Leapster is leaving GBA-SP in the dust.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether games that combine entertainment and education are as fun as games without an educational component. Why or why not?

Game Details

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