Clickstart or Leapfrog handheld - Which is better for 3 yr old?

Question

Clickstart or Leapfrog handheld - Which is better for 3 yr old?

Answer 1

The Leapfrog Leapster is wonderful!!!  My 5 yr old has had his for about a year and a half and his 3 yr old brother is getting his own for Christmas this year.  He can do the prek - k games on his big brother's.  Favorites are the Dora Adventure Game and the Cars one.  Without any games in it he can do a coloring thing that is lots of fun too.  (The difference between th Leapster and the L-Max is that the L-Max can plug into the t.v., but the games work on both).

Answer 2

Greetings!  Being an ECE teacher, I have to say the better system for children - Clickstart or Leapfrog is......

Neither.

Children four, three and under should have a wide range of activities that involve both social and physical skills.  Giving them copius amounts of time at the computer diminishes both tremendously (BTW, compter usage is one of the top ten reasons we are having a tremendous problem with childhood obesity).

Another damaging aspect with computers and electronic games is that it diminishes the child's imagination.  If a child clicks and points out items that go in a cake, for example, they will not see the idea of using sand to sift, dig and mold into "cake" patterns and thus expand on their own imagination.

Socially, these games are most often one player types of games.  Three and four year olds really need to learn how to interact with other children.  

Yes, we do have a computer in my classroom, but when it is used, it is often timed for ten minutes per child per day (we are a two class part day site).  Often times, our activities that we provide are more interesting than the computer, so we really don't depend on it that much.

Overuse of the computer by a child (it takes very, very little for a child to over use one) comprimises many of their social, emotional and physical skills as well as their imagination abilities and really does little to enhance cognitive skills.

This is probably not the answer you were looking for, but I think your child will be much stronger in many ways...and much happier.

Hope this helps. Take care.