8-, 4-, 2-Year-Olds and the Tag Reader by Leap Frog

I purchased the Tag Reader from Leap Frog for my son for his fourth birthday. He is a smart little boy but entirely too active to be bothered with sitting and learning to read. However, he will let me read to him daily and loves reading time with Mommy.

I was hesitant to purchase the Tag Reader because I don't think it should be a replacement for a parent reading to a child. Reading to your child provides important bonding time for a parent and child and that can never be replaced with an electronic toy. I realized that with or without the Tag I would still read to him and this would be in addition to our reading time so there was no guilt about him reading to himself.

The Tag Reader requires three AAA batteries that are not included. There is a disc to install on your computer. This took about ten to fifteen minutes so I'd suggest doing this before you promise your child you will get it set up. Set up was easy, but it did require internet access to update the program after installing. You simply select which titles you would like added to the Tag and sync with a USB cable. There are no cartridges so this is the only way to add the content for each book onto the Tag Reader. This was quick and easy and adding three books took less than ten minutes.

The Tag Reader comes with a book and the audio is already loaded onto the Tag. I was pleasantly surprised that the book included was really cute and all three of my kids enjoyed listening to it. My four year old was going along with the pages and my two year old loved using the Tag to dance and listen to the book and dance.

My four year old had no problem learning how to use the Tag Reader and which pictures to point to for different games. Each page has games and learning activities that are both fun and educational. As I said previously, my four year old will not let me sit down and teach him to read, but he will play with the Tag Reader for quite a while and do the activities.

One thing I don't like about the Tag is that it only holds about 5 books. So far we have less than that, but that means we would have to unload books to add more. I believe there is a Tag Reader with more memory now though. It is a fair trade off for not having cartridges. No cartridges means less to get lost and makes the books relatively inexpensive.

Overall, I'm very impressed with the Tag Reader. My 2- and 4-year-olds both love it. The first set of batteries lasted just under two days. They played with it at home and took it in the car to listen to the stories while riding. I would recommend this toy for children that love to be read to and also for children that might need a little motivation to read. It's very educational for children who are drawn to electronics and may not like to read on their own.