Kids as young as 3 can get into the digital age!

Here’s a fun tech toy: Leap Frog Text & Learn. This new toy looks like an oversized PDA. Just like the parents have. (And maybe if the kids have their very own PDA, they won’t try to play with the real one. Leap Frog says 1 out of every 10 kids get a hold of the parent’s PDA at one time or another. Some PDA’s have been found in the toilet! Ugh!) Text & Learn is brightly colored and has built in games. There’s even a QWERTY keyboard. Kids can send a text message which really doesn’t go anywhere, but is acknowledged by Scout, the built in puppy dog! Scott can also send messages to your child. It has sound so Scott can talk to your child. Kids can check Scout's planner to see what his week entails and more in the pretend browser mode. Other learning modes offer practice with letter matching and shape identification. There are also silly animations and sound effects. I enjoyed playing the “break the letter balloon” game. Scout announces a letter and you have to pop the balloon that has that letter on it before it floats off the top of the screen. Heck, it kept me interested for several hours! If they want, parents can connect to the online Leap Frog Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand their child’s learning. It’s available at Amazon.com and Toys R Us for $21.99.

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/preschool_toys/text_learn.html

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