Leapster2 vs. Nintendo DS

Ladies,

I was helping with one of the Mom in my group as her car got into an accident and was down to 1 car. I help her out with getting stuff at the store. We went to Target yesterday while her son was in preschool so we decided to stay close to the school.

Anyway, her son will turn 4 this week and her other son will turn 3 in Spring 2010. I mentioned to her about getting the twins' Leapster2. She says her son have it but he is really into "Nintendo DS" games. She show me several games for toddlers will still have educational games to play.

I'm thinking here......it cost double than the Leapster2 and then the additional games are about the same prices as Nintendo games. However she point out that Nintendo will have longevity and grow into for more advance games.

She think I should just wait until the twins' turn 4 next year altogether instead of buying any educational video/games. She telling me I should look for used 'Smart Cycle' bike for now to entertain them thru this Winter.

What ya think?

If you don't know what Nintendo DS -- here the link
http://www.nintendo.com/ds

 

She says there are several toddlers game that my twins would play such as Mario, Squeeballs Party, Car-O-Rama, Disney Tinkerbells, and etc.

 

I would get them the leapsters. One reason is the cost, the other is the durability! My boys played on their leapsters from age 4 until they got DS's at 6 1/2. The leapster is also much more durable, and the DS's will break much easier. As it is, my boys haven't even had their DS's for a year, and on one of them, the hinge no longer locks--not a big deal for a 7 year old, but a 3 year old will get frustrated by it. In fact, last year my SIL got her 5 year old DD a leapster over a DS. One other thought, if you get them a DS at 3 or 4, what will they want at 7 or 8? Do they really need technology made for older kids? Yes, there are some toddler games for DS, but leapster has many more games.

At 3 we did get the boys a V-smile for the TV (actually, they got it as a gift). The SmartCycle wouldn't be a bad gift either. I put off getting handheld games as long as I could.

 

My boys are 4.5 and we will have our leapster2 at least 2 more years. Like PP said, they are extremely durable (have fallen down a flight of stairs onto hardwood below) and are still going strong. The games are very educational, which is I bought it. We have a Wii for things like Mario Kart that they earn time on for good behavior.

Mendy

 

Another voice for Leapsters over the DS.

The DS is not at all duarable, and it has smaller buttons and pencil, which makes it more difficult for younger kids. With the leapster, the pencil is attached, so it can not get lost. My 8 year old got a DS this year (after using a Leapster for 3 years) She really likes it, but also still uses the leapster too). My 5 year uses his sister's DS sometimes, but gets frustrated very easy with it, and we are always having to remind him to put the pencil away and to be gentle with it.

He loves his leapster still, but the novelty for the DS as it is new is there. The DS technically says 6+, which is what we told him. The leapsters are 4+.

We do have a couple of 3+ games for the DS, which he uses on either his sister's DS or on my DS, but in general we encourage him to use the Leapster.

T

 

Thanks for the feedback! My husband prefer them to have Leapster2 over DS for now. That why when I told her that my kids still throw toys around and not sure if I wanted to buy them those DS because it is expensive! Should I buy them leapster this year or wait until they are 4 yrs old?

 

We got ours when the kids were almost 3 and almost 6 (Christmas is 3 months before their birthdays). My son did not really figure out how to use it on his own until he was around 4 years old (when he would actually listen to the instructions the game gave). For the first year he would need an adult to help him with it.

At 3 years 3 months, if they are technically inclined, they would probably be able to figure out the preschool games with some help initially. It is a great gift in that it lends itself to other gifts people can get (games, storage case, and the rechargable battery packs (you would need two of these if you get two leapsters)). Although we have two leapsters, we only have 1 of each game.

 

It depends on the kids. At 4.5 both our kids use our DSs (DH and I both have one). We also have Leapsters. When we got the Leapsters they were just over 3 so I think that was the right decision. BUT, if they were over four, I would have skipped the Leapsters. Of course it does help that we already have 2 DSs so it's not like we have to put out extra money for them.

 

My girls really didn't play their leapster till here lately. I think they'd get to mad with the ds. I have one though. They really like my iphone. they can play bejeweled and peggle

 

My 4 yr. olds have the Leapster 2's and they got them for Christmas last year. They've been able to figure most of the stuff out, but the last couple of months have really learned how to do more. They do enjoy them, especially my DS. My 6.5 yr. old has a Nintendo DS and I don't think that I'd give one to a 4 yr. old (at least not MY 4 yr. olds) b/c mine are so rough on their toys. I'd be afraid of something happening to the DS like being dropped or them using the pencil too hard. I'm not sure about the kinds of games they would be able to play or not as I've only tried to look for ones for my 6 yr. old. I can say that there are quite a few of educational games out there, but I think the games may be a bit more advanced than a 4 yr. old but I'm not sure.