Let's Go Shopping! with the LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart
Written: Feb 02 '03 (Updated Sep 11 '03)
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Pros: LeapFrog learning, gender neutral, FUN!
Cons: Basket is small, Loud - even on low...
The Bottom Line: Children & parents will Shop, Learn and have a blast with the LeapFrog Pretend & Learning Shopping cart!
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| marytara's Full Review: LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart |
Before the holidays I spotted the LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart in a LeapFrog flyer and was very intrigued by the product. However, I just about spit my soda out when I saw that they were charging nearly $50 for this learning toy. I've been impressed with LeapFrog products to date, but the $50 tag on this item seemed a bit excessive, even though it had won all sorts of awards* for being a super duper product for 2002. Fifty smackers or not, I still hoped for this item for my son's birthday or a holiday gift - which both fall in the month of December. Suffice to say, I was thrilled when I found the LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart go on sale and I managed to pick one up for $24.99, approximately half price from the suggested retail. Yay!.
Not just for girls!
My husband wasn't so thrilled with the idea of a shopping cart toy for our son. There is a certain stigma that these types of toys are for girls. Its understandable when many of the play shopping carts sold are bright pink and found in the "girls" aisle. Having only a son, I don't get to go down that aisle and spend very often. The LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart is not found in the girls aisle, but over with the rest of the LeapFrog products. The toy is done in a lime green, sunny yellow and bright blue and is not girly in the least. At least 3 other little boys we are friends with also received this shopping cart this past holiday season. I know LeapFrog has recently come out with a pink LeapPad, I sincerely hope they do not follow suit and come out with a Pink version of this Pretend & Learn Shopping cart. While it might look cute, it would go against the gender neutrality that this toy currently holds - that I consider to be a huge plus.
Putting it Together
I set up the LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart one day while my husband was at work and it was just my son and I looking for something new to do. The shopping cart snaps together pretty quickly. Simply attach the legs onto the base of the cart, then the basket, then the handle and last snap on the Tad to the front of the cart. I did need to use some force to get the pieces to click together fully, but nothing too complicated. The shopping cart does require 3 AA batteries which are not included - and a Phillips screwdriver is necessary to open and shut the battery hatch. I was pretty proud of myself that I used my husband's Leatherman Wave tool to do this and didn't require any additional assistance.
Let's Go Shopping!
This cart is just my size!
This fun shopping cart is recommended for kids ages 2 and stands just at the right height for a toddler or preschooler to push along. The cart is made of a durable plastic and it has a low center of gravity making it pretty difficult to tip or become unsteady. The wheels roll smoothly on either carpetted or non-carpetted surfaces and are made of a sturdy plastic. The basket is significantly smaller than that of the Little Tikes shopping cart. You might be familiar with the Little Tikes cart, as that is the one you've apt to have been run over with at your local grocery store by an enthusiastic young shopper.
What are we shopping for today?
There are ten food items included, each made of hard plastic and in a kid-friendly size. There are number labels on each item, so if there are 7 cherries in the basket, each cherry has a number on it (1 through 7). The items in the basket include:
1 carton of milk
2 chicken legs
3 bananas
4 carrots
5 boxes of cereal
6 eggs (half a dozen)
7 cherries
8 muffins
9 peas (in the pod)
10 strawberries
On each item there is a raised circle the size of a coin with a LeapFrog sticker and a number on it. This is where you scan the item, just like a UPC code.
Modes of Play
Ohhhh Tad, Turn me On!
The LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart can be played with in the OFF position for quiet imaginary play or slide the switch to one of several ON positions for interactive, but somewhat noisy play. You see, this shopping cart has a small scanner attached that actually works. When you scan items the cart becomes interactive and teaches all sorts of things - math skills (numbers, counting, quantities, greater than and less than), colors, as well as nutritional tips and bizarre food trivia facts. Its really quite fun, even for parents.
There are 2 volume settings on this cart, loud and louder. The high volume is definitely too loud, and the low setting is not low at all. This is definitely an area for improvement.
Explore Mode
In this mode, if you press down on the Tad (who is riding in the front of the cart - just like a little kid), he will sing a shopping song.. Let's go shopping, we've got lots to do.. La La La.. The song is catchy and my son will kind of dance along with it, but oh boy can it get on my nerves!
"Let's go shopping!" an enthusiastic Tad calls out. "Scan a LeapFrog Sticker!. It can get quite redundant, I wish they had just said scan a sticker, or scan a food item. But, they needed to add in their brand recognition for a bit of early brainwashing. Anyways, I digress. To scan an item simply touch the coin-sizes sticker with black side of the handheld scanner.
When you scan the item in this mode, you'll hear the name of the item and how many. For example, We have 10 red strawberries it might also count out from 1 to 10 There are 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 strawberries. If you scan the item again it gives some more information, which might be telling you the food group, or giving a fact about the item. So, in the case of strawberries you might hear, "Strawberries are Fruit! or Did you know strawberries have 200 seeds? Wow!. Sometimes it will also say, "I like strawberries, yummy!.
Kids can have all sorts of fun in this mode scanning items and learning about the quantities and a bit of factual info about the item. Most of the factual tidbits are pretty mundane, but I admit that I learned a few things myself. For example, Did you know the milk from a cow is white, but milk from a yak is pink. I feel all the more better now that I know that....
Learn Mode
There are quite a few similarities between this learning mode and the exploration mode. First and foremost, pressing down on Tad will start the ever familiar shopping tune that by now you either have a love or hate relationship with. The good news is that its very quick and stops after just a verse or 2.
Learning mode is a bit more musical than explore mode. When you scan an item, we'll take the strawberries again... Tad will say 10 Strawberries and then sing Count along with me Music will play and Tad will count up the items - in this case all the way to ten. My son loves to count and will count along with Tad. The only thing is that because there are only 10 items it only reinforces counting up to 10, my son who is just 2 has been counting to ten for some time. In fact, he's been known to count to eleven, so I think this learning mode is a bit too simple.
The biggest "learning" in this mode actually has to deal with relationships - less than and greater than. For example, if you scan the milk after you scan the strawberries it will tell you that there is: "1 carton of milk. We have 1 carton of milk and 10 strawberries. One is less than 10 (Well duh!) But if you then scan the chicken legs it will let you know that "2 chicken legs is more than 1 carton of milk". And so forth...
Tad also deals a bit with learning to share. For example, scanning the strawberries you'll hear, "10 strawberries.. 5 for you, and 5 for me!". This is only done for the even numbers, I guess they couldn't decide how to divvy up 9 peas...
Game Mode
My son's favorite mode of play is by far the Game mode. Perhaps its because that is farthest setting on the switch, I'm not sure, but he always ends up putting the cart into Game mode.
In this mode Tad will challenge you to find certain items that are on his grocery list. The grocery list varies depending on if Tad is making dinner, dessert, etc. For example, when Tad is making dinner he asks for carrots and chicken legs. If your child scans the chicken legs correctly it plays a tune and asks for the remaining item. But, if your child is like mine and enjoys randomly scanning items, then Tad will give you a clue about the color or quantity of the item until you get the right one.
Thankfully, in game mode there is a bit of a reprieve from the shopping song. Pressing on Tad in this mode is a signal to Tad that you want to continue shopping. Otherwise, if you don't scan any items within a certain amount of time the cart turns off automatically.
Overall
As a parent, my complaints with the cart are minor. The basket is a bit small and can't hold many extra pretend food items other than the ones initially provided. The volume settings need some tweaking as even the low is quite loud, and that silly song is well.. just silly.
My 2 year old thoroughly enjoys playing with the LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping Cart. The cart is sturdy, fun and educational. He enjoys pushing it along, pretend shopping, and scanning the items. Sometimes he'll even pretend that the scanner is a microphone or a telephone and talk into it. He-woh? The LeapFrog Pretend and Learn Shopping cart has received oodles of attention right from the get go and continues to be an item he is interested in playing with. And when he's playing.. he's learning.
We're quite impressed with this LeapFrog product.
Other LeapFrog products we recommend
My First LeapPad
Learning Friend Baby Tad
My First LeapPad
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*No Doubt! This toy has won all sorts of awards!
from the LeapFrog website www.leapfrog.com
2002 Approved Award Winner, Parents' Choice
2002 Winner, Toy Wishes All Star, Preschool Category
2002 Winner, Seal of Approval, The National Parenting Center
2002 Winner, Family Fun Toy Awards, Active Toys Category
2002 Winner, All Star Award, Children's Software Revue
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 25
Type of Toy: Educational
Age Range of Child: 12 to 36 Months
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Epinions.com ID:
marytara
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 in Education, Kids & Family |
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Member: MT
Location: Jersey Shore
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