LeapFrog: Disney-Pixar's Brave for Tag & Explorer

Thank you to LeapFrog for sponsoring this review. For more information about LeapFrog, please visit their website. #CleverBrave #spon

With two emerging readers (ages 5&6) in our household, books are one of our most favorite sources of entertainment these days. While a good classic book is always nice, an interactive book with buttons you can push and games you can play is even nicer (especially if you're a gadget loving little boy!)!

(Make that a gadget loving little ninja!) ;)

 The new Disney Pixar Brave Tag Book for the Tag Reading System is different from the Early Reader Tag books that we have previously owned. Brave is classified as a Read-on-Your-Own book, meaning that it contains advanced vocabulary and more complex story lines. The higher reading level made the book feel more like "storytime" instead of "learn-to-read time," which was a nice change of pace from what we've been working on lately. Sawyer really liked that the book told the entire Brave story instead of just a few scenes.

He liked listening to each page being read aloud to him (just touch the book icon on the page) and then going back and following along word-by-word with the Tag Reader. Several of the pages also contain games and other interactive options that include observation, reading comprehension and vocabulary skills builders.

  

There are also several educational games in the back of the book that my boys thought were a lot of fun. They especially liked this archery word-building game.

LeapFrog was incredibly generous and also sent us the Disney-Pixar Brave Explorer cartridge game for us to test out. We popped it into the LeapPad, and Sutton had no trouble figuring out how to work it right away (as soon as he snatched it out of my hands and ran off with it!). I have to tell you, for as much as the boys had loved the Brave Tag book for the entire morning, they pretty much forgot all about it once I showed them the LeapPad Explorer game in the afternoon! It is SO much fun!

They both loved Merida's archery game, where a quick physics lesson in force and gravity show you just how you'll need to shoot your arrows to hit the targets. Sutton also really liked the nature games where he got to learn the scientific names of plants and animals as well as their parts.

The boys didn't mind at all that the game is based around a female character. "Merida is really good at archery, Mom!" Sawyer exclaimed after playing his first few levels. I was impressed at how quickly he picked it up and at how the games seemed intuitive and natural to him since he is less tech-savvy (and usually less interested in any sort of gaming) than his brother. 

In fact, he liked it so much that he spent the next couple of hours begging me to "pretty, pretty please?" let him keep playing it! How could I say no to that sweet goofy face?

This post is sponsored by LeapFrog. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Posted in: Books, Games, Kids, Review