I think my four-year-old will learn some good things from this book. For those wanting to know exactly what is inside here's the run-down.
The first page is for learning the alphabet and the sound of each letter.
One page has an activity to complete a pattern.
Another page asks the child to identify blend sounds like "br" and "st" by finding pictures of words that begin with those sounds as well as by touching the letter combinations.
One page has two monsters and groups of different numbers of candies (1-9). The child needs to identify the numbers and do simple addition.
The child can learn about the seasons and months of the year on another page.
Another page has dinosaurs on it. The child can hear the names slowly pronounced and learn which are carnivores and herbivores.
The last page has five pictures depicting sad, scared, angry, silly and happy. The child hears a short clip of music and is asked to choose the emotion the music sounds like. They can also make their own music by selecting the emotion and then clicking on five different instruments.
There may be a page or two I have forgotten or games I haven't heard my daughter play, but I don't have the book in front of me. My daughter has only had this book for a week and she has played with it for at least 30-40 minutes every day.
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I admit it I bought this because the cover was so colorful and engaging, that I thought even if my 2 year old was way too young for the content, we could still have some fun exploring the pictures until she is more advanced. I'm glad I did. Even though there are definitely many elements in this book which are beyond a 2 year old's abilities, the Leapfrog system itself operates under so many levels that it can actually be tailored for a much younger child's exploration. At one level (the youngest ability level), she can just play with exploring the names and sounds of the illustrations (very basic). The games and activities for older children seem very engaging covering a wide range of topics:
Activity 1: A two page spread of a refridgerator with an illustration for each letter of the alphabet and you help the narrator find items ("Hmm, I would like a sandwich. Please help me find something to put on it.") with great positive reinforcement.
Activity 2: A two page "vowel show" with really adorable illustrations, focusing on the vowel sounds in context.
Activity 3: The word circus -an exploration of letters and words again, with great, vibrant illustrations
Activity 4: Consanat Blend Galary -haven't played with this one at all, but on the left side of the page you see a painter with an easel and the paint colors each have consant blends ("sw," "tr," "br," etc.) and on the right side of the 2-page spread there are 20 of his "paintings."
Activity 5: A two page spread story about a special lunch, with Leap (the frog) as the main character and involves some math skills as we count the items he eats.
Activity 6: Pattern Palace -a very creative way to work with young children's ability to understand pattern development.
Activity 7: Skip counting featuring 50 numbered birds and questions to guide your child through counting games. My toddler is too young for this, but enjoys just clicking on each bird to hear its number and sound effects.
Activity 8: Monster mathematics -very realistic illustrations of candy (8 candy canes, 5 chocolates, 2 candy corns, etc.) and the monster makes great "munching" sounds as you help him pick the right quantity/etc.
Activity 9: Months and Seasons (haven't tried yet, will update)
Activity 10: Party months (haven't tried yet, will update)
Activity 11: My community -two page spread of a town with key buildings (hospital, fire station, barber shop, cinema, post office, police, zoo, supermarket, ice cream shop) with descriptions/songs/etc. Great page!
Activity 12: Dinorsaur class photo -adorable pictures of various, detailed dinosaurs with fun facts and sounds. Definitely lots of content here (and dinosaurs I have never heard of!)
Activity 13: Feelings funhouse: an exporation of feelings through music and illustrations. Great idea, but the illustrations on this one are not as great as the other pages.
I think a bright 3 year old would get A LOT out of this. And because it's not a long story, it can be used in short bursts just flipping through the pages or doing one page here, one page there. I really do recommend this highly.
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I love this book and all the different skills it teaches. I hope they make more for the other grades. I will list the activities:
ABC SNACK TIME: Alphabet in the fridge w/corresponding food or item above it. Example H has 3 hot dogs in hats above the letter. Game will tell you to find the letter 'k', or find the pizza, or find the letter that makes the 'lllll' sound.
THE VOWEL SHOW: The vowels are listed. Below are some simple words like wig, bat, lips, etc with a picture of what is word is. Game will say find the vowel that makes the 'aaaaa' sound. Or find three words that have the sound 'aaaa' in it, like cat. If you find the three words it makes a silly sentence out of them.
WORD CIRCUS: Small words like pig, wig, fox, box. Games focus on finding beginning sound, rhyming and spelling the simple words. (This game reminds me of the Leapfrog flash cards)
CONSONANT BLEND GALLERY teaches some blends, like 'sk', 'gr', 'cl', etc. Has pictures that begin w/the blends and the game will instruct you to find a picture that starts with one of the various blends. As I am using this as an ESL tool also, this game annoys me with the goofy french accent, which my son has some problems understanding.
THE SPECIAL LUNCH: This is a simple written story, with an occasional picture thrown in to represent a noun, rather than having the written word. So it goes, "Leap made himself a (picture of a sandwich)." Later, it will ask you questions about what the story was about, like "Who did Leap make a sandwich for?"
PATTERN PLACE: A picture of a park with a guy driving blowing a horn, boy playing drums....and then the game will give you a sequence of noises to repeat. The second page has deals with shapes and completing patterns using sequence.
SKIP COUNTING A tree of birds with numbers on their bellies. Count by ones first, then later by 10's and some other variations.
MONSTER MATHEMATICS Piles of different candy in different amounts. Find who has more 1 marsh mallow or 2 candy canes. Then it's find less. Then adding the candy.
MONTHS AND SEASONS Reviews the months and seasons.
PARTY MONTH Reviews months, days of the week and dates.
MY COMMUNITY picture of a town with different buildings/areas labeled. Help find Tommy and it gives you clues to try and find him. Next game is also clues "This person works with mail, who is it?" Reminds me of Sesame Streets, 'who are the people in your neighborhood' song.
DINOSAUR CLASS PHOTO Identify herbivores and carnivores/those that walk on two legs, and by other characteristics. Then listen to clues to try and figure out what dinosaur to find
FEELINGS FUNHOUSE mixes feelings (silly, scared, angry, sad and happy) with music.
Please forgive the typos....
Honest reviews on LeapFrog LeapReader Book: Get Ready for Kindergarten (works
My daughter loves her books and is constantly "reading" them with her pen. She loves all the little games in the back, too, that make her think about the story in different ways. Really happy with this purchase.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for LeapFrog LeapReader Book: Get Ready for Kindergarten (works
There are so many different activities in this book. From the alphabet fridge to the counting games. My son loves this whole book and spends at least five minutes each day going through it. It might not sound like a lot, but he really dislikes learning and five minutes is long for a four year old boy running on what seems like gasoline all day.
