Who would have thought a computer could fit inside a pen? LeapFrog, clearly. The innovator of educational toys has come out with the Fly Pen, a computerized pen that speaks and translates words into foreign languages, such as Spanish and French. What’s more, by drawing on special Fly paper, users can interact with their creations. (Read Review)
— “It’s unique: a kid’s computer that isn’t a computer. Everyone wants one for the child in their lives,” reported Lisa Delaney, manager of Sweetwater Toys in Baltimore.
— “I was unsure of how well this would sell this Christmas. I knew it would do ‘okay,’ but … it’s been spectacular,” gushed Dawn Ramona, co-owner of Toy World in St. Louis.
— “This is the hot item,” stated Hector Alejandro of Bismarck, N.D.

Early learning, taught in a fun way with interactive stories and activities, comes to life with the touch of a magic pen.
-- “We can´t be in the car for more than a half hour without...Leap Pad and additional games...by Leap Frog,” states Elise Brandt, member of the Mommies Group on the katoygroup Web site, echoing the feelings of several of the group’s members
-- More than 60 available programs keep this toy engaging and new so children aren’t bored and are happy to continue learning.
-- According to a Leap Frog representative, more than 17 million LeapPads have been sold since the product was introduced in 1999.

The “Touch and Tug Discovery Book” tells stories, plays music and has pictures of animals that interact with readers when the animals are “tugged.”
- This item was a top seller on eToys.com for babies in May 2005.
- This Discovery Book can attach to a baby’s crib or be conveniently folded for travel, making it a great “go everywhere” toy.
- This product teaches logic, motor skills, music and creativity, reading and language, and social development.

Hug, cuddle or squeeze this plush frog and you’ll get a variety of responses sure to engage and delight.
- This item was a top seller for several Web retailers including Amazon.com and WalMart.com in May 2005.
- Imaginarium.com says that this item promotes visual skills, musical ability, independent play and motor skills in little ones.
- Newly released tie-in products, including a “Baby Tad’s First Feelings” book, are sure to increase interest in this award winner.

Cinderella and Belle help guide the user through various learning activities, such as letter hunt, spelling games, addition and subtraction games, and number find. Both Belle and Cinderella tell jokes, sing songs, and encourage the child with sweet and cheerful voices. If left unplayed for a period of time, the princesses ask, "Would you like to play some more?" and if there is no answer, the toy shuts itself off. An LCD screen displays letters, numbers and other pictures during the activities. Although there is virtually no setup, it does require 4 "AA" batteries (included).

Kids listen to a nation´s statistical information, including its population size, music and currency, by touching the globe with an interactive pen. Students can compare information between two countries. The Explorer Globe includes a game that challenges players to find various spots on earth.

This train comes with 5 cars and an engine that displays different number of objects, which match to the number on the car, reinforcing the number/object correlation. However, the magic really begins when toddlers can attach each of the cars in any order and get a different response. With 3 modes of play, toddlers are introduced to numbers, colors, animal names, animal sounds, music and other fun sounds.

The LeapStages Infant Learning System transforms throughout baby’s first year based on the learning parents choose to match to their baby’s abilities and interests. There are four LeapStages Learning Screens: LeapStage 1, The Classical Connections screen (lying-down mode), uses music, lights, and black/white patterns to provide a variety of stimulation; LeapStage 2, The Baby Senses screen (lying down mode), shows real baby faces and plays music with real baby coos and giggles to encourage language development; LeapStage 3, With the Word Play screen (sitting up mode), rewards baby’s touches with colorful images and lights; LeapStage 4, The Learning Songs screen (standing mode), has lively melodies that promote language and memory development.

Depending on what button on the globe’s base is pressed, this globe can tell users all kinds of geographic information, including population, distances, a nation’s highest point, its currency and the lowest point of large bodies of water, to name just a few features.
— Michelle Burns, supervisor at Grandrabbit’s Toy Shoppe in Boulder, Colo., who was currently sold out of the product, said they have sold out of this product a couple of different times throughout the year.
— It was an Educational Source Top 10 Toy of the Year.
— It is a best seller at the Discovery Channel Store online.

This Leapster offers two ways to play: Kids can learn while traveling or plug into the television, with the unique dual screen learning. advantage, children can interact with the handheld screen. This educational handheld offers multiple skill levels and tailored tutorials. Parents can share in learning experiences as they watch their children play.

When Mr. Websley builds Storybook Factory to create talking storybooks, Leap, Lily and their friends act out "The Three Little Pigs," while Professor Quigley captures the scenes and words for the book! As narrator, Tad learns chunking and inflection and gains reading confidence. Children learn along with him, reading highlighted text that appears during the scenes. Kids can join this magical adventure and build a lifelong love of reading.

Kids can sing along to 10 great learning songs that are based on the Letter Factory and Talking Factory videos, while playing with Letter Factory flash cards that help them to master key phonics skills. It includes 26 letter cards, a card case and a music CD. It teaches letter names, letter sounds and learning songs.
— “Leapfrog is a consistent seller, innovative and trusted by parents,” mentioned Marcus Witt, owner of Live & Learn in Vancouver, B.C., “This product really catches the smallest learners.
— “This is a great learning toy. We find it to be a wonderful seller, and an excellent educational tool,” declared Bobbie Douglas, owner of Utah’s Best in Salt Lake City.
— M. Fields of Alexadria, Va., Kinah’s mom, said “The songs on this CD are great! My nearly 3-year-old jumps around to the music and is learning some of the songs because the tunes are so catchy.”

Kids can get step-by-step help solving beginning algebra homework with this handheld computer game system. FLY Through Algebra is the faster, easier way to learn how to solve simple algebra problems. It aids with single variable equations, inequalities, factoring and even graphic linear equations. The kit comes with a FLY Through Algebra FLYware Cartridge, 50 pages of graph paper, 50 pages of FLY open paper, a lead pencil cartridge, interactive glossary, key-facts study sheet, control panel, flight manual and a storage box. Launch date: 2005. (Read Review)

Using a FLY Pentop computer, players navigate around a Harry Potter interactive Marauder’s Map and use their movie knowledge to master 15 magical games. If they think they know Hogwarts, they’ll soon find out by trying to correctly answer the game’s questions. The game includes a Harry Potter Marauder’s Map and a Quick Start Guide.

This interactive writing system will help kids learn how to compare and contrast essays, write their own persuasive essays, engage in creative writing, such as short stories and poetry, and more. The system takes them through brainstorming and outlining to editing and revising. The game includes a FLY Through Writing FLYware Cartridge, 20 idea maps, 20 pages of drafting paper, 50 pages of FLY open paper, a Story Starter, Poetry Slam, FLY thesaurus, control panel, flight manual and a storage box. Launch date: 2005. (Read Review)

This game sends kids on a desperate mission to save the universe using the secrets of Sudoku. It’s a fun and interactive way to learn and play Sudoku. The game includes Sudoku: The Power of Nine FLYware Cartridge and a comic and puzzle book with more than 200 puzzles.

With this portable, lightweight system, letters, words and numbers come to life with the touch of a Magic Pen, and interactive learning games, sing-a-longs and word play give kids a full-throttle jump into the exciting world of reading. Children can just snap in a book, pop in a cartridge, and be ready to read and play.

This is the only basketball game that teaches numbers and counting all the way to 100 – in both English and Spanish. The product features rally sounds and a cheering crowd for encouragement, and children can choose the counting mode and language. The game can be attached to a chair, doorknob or wall, and includes a 3” soft ball. This product received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Award for 2007.

Children can create more than 325 three-letter words with interactive, magnetic letters that sing and teach, and are based on the LeapFrog Talking Words Factory video. The Word Whammer features three modes of play: letter hunt, word builder, and word hunt. Lights follow each letter during play to reinforce the learning. Volume control and 3AA batteries are included.

Benefit from 15 activities, including bilingual learning for letters, numbers, colors, shapes and musical instruments. Learn ‘N Groove for sitting babies or standing toddlers.
— As of 7.27.2010, this product had 4.5 out of 5 stars from 568 reviews on Amazon.com, and was listed No. 34 in the top 100 best-selling toys and games. PROS: Colorful, appeals to a wide age range and entertains consistently. Includes bilingual feature. CONS: Children might try to climb on it.

These fun-to-use maracas feature twinkling lights, silly sounds and lively music, and introduce numbers from 1 to 10 and the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple in both English and Spanish.

This product turns any TV into a child’s first computer, featuring a desktop experience that looks and works like a grown-up PC. It delivers a safe, age-appropriate computing experience through engaging games that help children build important preschool and basic computing skills. The system features a cartridge console that plugs into the TV and a working desktop, as well as a child-sized, wireless keyboard and convertible mouse for righties and lefties. Friendly green puppy Scout guides children through leveled-learning activities involving keyboard navigation, mousing, phonics skills, simple math, shapes and more. “The ClickStart system is a welcome tool for parents who want their children to benefit from using a computer, but would rather spare their high-end desktops the task,” Erin Nelson of LeapFrog told TDmonthly. Launch date: Fall 2007.

FLY Fusion Pentop Computer enhances homework productivity by providing easy access to subject information for faster problem-solving and real-time homework support. New for 2007 is a sleeker design and improved hardware capabilities. Students can upload notes and drafts they write on special FLY paper to a PC and convert them to word processing or e-mail documents. Users can also download useful applications for their FLY Fusion platform, as well as store and play an album’s worth of MP3 files. Launch date: July 2007.