LeapFrog's My Own Leaptop Laptop Review

Young children always want to play with the toys that adults or their older siblings get to play with, and so they absolutely love it when they get their own versions of these toys that were built especially for them.
So while you may not let a two year old child play around willy nilly with a full adult laptop, you can definitely give them an age appropriate laptop experience by giving them the "My Own Leaptop" by LeapFrog, an imitation laptop computer designed specifically for young children.

The "My Own Leaptop" computer system is designed to be an extension of the My Pal Scout and My Pal Violet electronic plush puppy toys that are very popular among children.

There is both a My Pal Scout, and a My Pal Violet version of the Leaptop, and each makes use of the puppy characters in order to engage the child's attention. Just like the puppies, the Leaptop can learn the name of its child user and engage that child personally. It relies a lot on sound, since it's meant to engage children who aren't yet skilled readers, and either Scout or Violet's voice will issue from the speakers in order to provide the child with a fully immersive and interactive experience.
Adults can hook the system up to a PC or Mac in order to calibrate the Leaptop for the child's name, and can also send the child special email messages that will be read out by either Scout or Violet when the child presses the email button.

The Leaptop can also play songs which can be downloaded onto the system by the parents, including a very special customized song in which the child's name is spelled out for him or her. This will encourage the child to learn about the alphabet and to gain an understanding about how the letters relate to the spelling of his or her own name.
During the child's name song, the letters spelling the name will appear on screen.

During other songs, Scout or Violet dances to the beat of the music. There are over 20 songs that parents can select from to download onto the Leaptop computer for children to play and enjoy whenever they wish. There's even a "blog" button where either Scout or Violet reads out cute little blog entries that will engage children in imaginary play with these wonderful characters.

Learning activities involve learning about the alphabet and animals, and there's even a music maker mode where children can participate in musical activities.

All the buttons on the Leaptop are built for child sized fingers, so they're quite large and colorful in order to help hold the child's attention.
The casing for the Leaptop is made of heavy duty plastic, and colored specifically to the pre-set puppy character: green for Scout, and purple for Violet.

For plenty of learning fun in the form of a pretend laptop computer for young children, the LeapFrog "My Own Leaptop" computer is a wonderful product.
Children love the interactive nature of the system and will happily play with the buttons in order to see all the different interactions available. With plenty of fun and educational appeal, this is one product that parents can feel good about. See our Author's box below for a current list of the Top 10 Toys of the year.