Tag, LeapFrog

My childen have really enjoyed this from ages 4 to 6. It is a pen which 'reads' specialist books out loud and also lets the child play games, access sounds and other fun built into the books. I find these great for out and about as the pen is so small that a pen and 2 or 3 books are easily carried. There are a lot of books available , many based on popular Disney and TV characters. The only downside for me is there is limited storage on the pens so that not all the books the kids have can be stored at one time. It usually means that only 5 or 6 books can be stored (depending on the space required by each book) . YOu then have to take them on and off using software stored on your own computer. Overall though a great buy.

DS is just 5 and loves the TAG reader. He has sat for hours reading through the book and playing the games which was then reinforced with being able to connect online and see the rewards he had earnt. DS quite enjoys being read to anyway and is able to read some short stories. The TAG reader has just helped to increase his love of reading.He has even used it to read to his two younger sisters and play games with them. I can see we will be getting more of the books to increase his learning.

This is a new Touch Reading Scheme by Leap Frog. It's basically a pen that magically reads the words of the book as it is touched. There are lots of excercises which my five year old son finds great fun but are also perfect for helping him with his knowledge of the alphabet and putting letters and sounds together. There is also the facility for parents to monitor their child's reading development via software that comes with the Tag - not something I've had chance to do yet, but certainly an interesting extra.

We took this on holiday and it was perfect for journeys and for a quiet hour in a cold and damp tent! The nickname creator at the front was a particularly big hit and, much to his delight, also with older children. Although we only have one book, there are a range, so it's going to be good to buy additions for Christmas and birthdays.

It's great when you're child is learning to read and they find something that's really relevent to them which excelerates the process - and this toy has done just this.