Learning To Read And Write With The LeapReader

I love the look on Rosies face when she has read or written something new. She's thrilled with herself as well as quite surprised. She has wanted to be able to read for so long, now she is doing it she can't really believe she can. It's very sweet. Aged four now, she started Reception in September and is thriving. I am so proud of her.

When offered the opportunity to review the LeapReader I jumped at the chance. We are big fans of Leapfrog and already have the Jumior learning system for younger readers as well as several other products. I knew Rosie in particular would be interested in this one. She's on a roll now, eager to improve and to be as good at reading and writing as big Sister Poppy:

The LeapReader is aimed at children aged 5-8 years so I thought it would be interesting to see how both my big girls got on with it. There's a huge range of reading, writing and learning books to explore. We were sent Doc MacStuffins The New Girl as well as Planes Fire and Rescue from the Read Alone Series too:

Now first things first, one of the things I love about this system is no batteries!!! Yeeehh. Secondly when you first set it up it says you have to wait an hour to charge. Well ours took almost two hours but just as we were thinking maybe it was a dud one it lit up and started talking to us. Don't panic, just give it time.

It takes a little while to set up but once done you are ready. The book that comes with it is pretty good, allowing opportunities to read, listen and sound out letters as well as words. It also includes some of the special paper required to make the pen work. It's like magic! We will definitely be buying more of it. The other two books read word by word and include various games to join in with too:

For my 4 year old this is going to be fantastic. Just what she needs to practise her new skills, improve her confidence and develop her love of reading and books further as well as her letter and number formation:

In terms of my 6 year old, the read by yourself books sent to us were both far too easy/ babyish for her but then she is an exceptional reader and already reads full on adventure stories aimed at much older children like Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl. I will have to look at other books in the series and see if they are more suitable/ a harder level.

However, the introduction to the human body pack at the back of the book included has fascinated her and she is soaking up all this new information. I think the learning through books series might be more suitable for her standard and that she could get a lot out of them too: