LeapFrog Leaping Letters

Opening the LeapFrog Leaping Letters couldn’t be any easier. Cut a couple pieces of tape and open the box and the main unit pulls out easily. No tape, no zip ties, no hassle for parents and that gets this toy a gold star in my book any day. In a separate baggie lies the instruction manual and the 26 alphabet letters all about one inch in size and in multiple colors.

Playing with the LeapFrog Leaping letters game is a lot of fun. The timer is awesome because it has multiple settings depending on where your child is at in their learning. There is a long, medium, and short timer setting and I would guess the longest setting to be somewhere around 5 minutes and the shortest to be maybe a little over a minute long. This versatility is great because depending on how familiar your child is with their alphabet and where their fine motor skills are for placing the letters in the appropriate spot they can tailor the timer to fit those needs.

Each letters sits in its own space and LeapFrog was thinking ahead when they designed the Leaping Letters game because they designed each slightly different. It is easy for a young child who is learning to confuse some letters that look alike in a context like the LeapFrog Leaping letters game. For instance, it is easy to confuse a C with a U or an M with a W. But LeapFrog cleverly designed these just different enough that they will not fit in any other spot than their own. This is helpful for your child to learn the differences and get the letters placed correctly before time runs out.

I like the LeapFrog Leaping letters and its ability to help teach young children about the alphabet while keeping it in a fun game format. I love that the timer has the ability to accommodate both young children who are just learning, while at the same time challenging older children who are becoming more adept with their gross motor skills. I also enjoyed that each piece was brightly colored and completely unique, that way children can learn the difference from commonly confused letters.

The LeapFrog Leaping Letters game is of a decent size and I think that for the size of the toy they really should have included a compartment to store the letters when your child is done playing. I strongly dislike that I have to find an alternative way to store these so that they don’t get lost. Because realistically, once the letters are lost this toy becomes useless and not as fun. The pieces are fairly small as well, so they have a higher risk of being lost.

This toy is appropriately directed towards the preschooler age range of 3-6. LeapFrog Leaping Letters is a fun game that helps children in this critical age range build important skills like their fine gross motor skills and learn the proper placement of letters on the grid.

If given the opportunity I can’t confidently say I would buy this toy again. The reason is because there are a lot of educational toys out there to help build the same skills marketed by the LeapFrog Leaping Letters game. But with this game the big drawback is the fact that there is no compartment to store the letters with the main unit. Even though the game itself is at an affordable price point, I would be worried enough about losing the pieces that I would look for another education option for my son before buying this toy again.