Let's go shopping!
Written: Jan 23 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun concept, well-designed cart, cute music and accompanying play food
Cons: A bit expensive and a tad loud
The Bottom Line: A fun, interactive shopping cart toy sure to entertain and impress your curious toddler!
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| stlmom's Full Review: LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart |
INTRODUCTION
The LeapFrog Shopping Cart is an adorable shopping cart concept designed for toddlers. Unlike most shopping carts out there, the LeapFrog model is electronic! The more my kids played with their new shopping cart, the more features they discovered that were built into the concept. While I’m usually a little skeptical about toys with electronic components, I was pleasantly surprised by the innovative concept, durability and overall fun-factor of the LeapFrog Shopping Cart.
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
The LeapFrog Shopping Cart is a plastic shopping cart, complete with food products and interactive electronic components that any toddler is sure to love. Designed for ages 2 and up, the yellow, green and blue plastic cart comes with a variety of plastic food products including a 1 pretend carton of milk, 2 pieces of chicken, 3 bananas, 4 carrots, 5 boxes of cereal, 6 eggs, 7 cherries, 8 cupcakes, 9 peas in pods, and 10 strawberries. Electronic components are embedded within each piece of pretend food as well as on the front part of the basket. A “Little Leap” character sits in the center and when touched even slightly plays a fun song and prompts the child to scan food. To the left of the electronic console, you’ll see a switch that offers three modes of play and an off button. (Gotta love those OFF BUTTONS!) See below for a more complete description of each mode of play. IN the center behind “Little Leap” is a child-sized scanner on a cord that sits inside a little hole. And finally, off to the right, is a speaker from the child will easily hear all of the songs and commands.
BASKET DESIGN
The basket of the cart is approximately 10” x 10” and stands roughly 18” off the floor. The handle is, of course, just behind the basket and stands about two feet off the ground. The basket rests atop a wheel base that was cleverly designed and very solidly constructed. Specifically, the cart features four wheels, two smaller wheels in the front and two larger wheels in the back. The wheels do not pivot which allows a child to push the cart in a straighter line. The larger wheels in the back also seem to help stabilize the cart for a smaller shopper. As you would see in a real shopping cart, a little grate has been designed on the very bottom of the wheel base; the grate not only allows a child to carry pretend food objects but also helps to secure base. To further reinforce the stability of this little cart, LeapFrog has connected the front legs to the back legs with long, solid plastic strips. The overall design of the basket, handle and wheel base provide for a very stable, sturdy and durable construction that will withstand a tremendous amount of wear and tear!
MODES OF PLAY
The LeapFrog Shopping Cart comes in three modes of play: GAME mode, LEARN mode and EXPLORE mode. GAME mode instructs a child to find certain food items by suggesting, for instance, that they make a snack using “carrots and strawberries”. If the child scans the right combination, fun music and praise are played. If the child is wrong, the toy happily chimes, “try again!” It’s all very positive these days, right? As a mom, I find that to be a plus. The LEARN mode asks the child to scan a sticker of one of the food products and the cart tells the child about that particular item. For instance, if you scan the carrots, it will count to four (for four carrots) in a song and laugh. If you scan the bananas it will count to three again in a song-like voice. In the EXPLORE mode the toy proclaims, “Let’s go shopping!” If you scan bananas it will not only tell you that there are three bananas but it will also tell you, “Bananas are fruits! Bananas make great banana bread!”
ASSEMBLY
As with most sizeable toys, there is some assembly required with the LeapFrog Shopping Cart. I’m happy to report, however, that the assembly was very straight-forward and was easy to understand thanks to some well-written instructions. To make matters even easier, the instructions are broken down into four steps and the parts to be assembled are large and easy to manipulate: 1) attach the legs to the basket, 2) attach the legs to the wheel base, 3) attach the handle to the wheel base and 4) attaché the character to the basket. All the components of the shopping cart are sturdy which allows for easier assembly and of course leads to greater durability for your child. All in all, the assembly took less than 10 minutes (probably closer to five minutes) and did not require specials screws or tools.
GOOD TO KNOWs
• This toy is a bit loud. There is a small switch in front of the scanner that allows for two volume levels, but the lower volume setting is still a bit on the loud side.
• Does not appear to be a battery hog. Batteries are located and secured by a screw under the basket, but after a few months of play we have not needed to replace them!
• All the food products store nicely in the basket. I always love toys that can store their own parts.
• For better or for worse, it takes up some space. This is good in that it is substantial and sturdy but if you’re short on space it may be larger than you might like.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
We love our LeapFrog Shopping Cart. It’s been thoroughly enjoyed by our 20 month-old as well as our pre-schooler! Overall, this is a cute, fun, interactive and even instructional toy that has our little ones giggling every time. Hope you like it too!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 44
Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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stlmom
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Location: St. Louis, MO
Reviews written: 89
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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King, Jr.
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