LeapFrogMr. Pencil Saves Doodleburg Learning Game (works with LeapPad Tablets and LeapsterGS)

My son will be 4 years old next week and we got him the leappad 2 explorer for xmas. I found Mr. Pencil as a cartridge on sale for $8 and it's been working fine. He loves this game and so do I. Up to now although he has mastered recognizing and reciting the alphabet, numbers and shapes since he was 2 years ol d he never wanted to practice drawing them. He's even had the leap frog trace & draw alphabet tablet (lights up the letters on an etchasketch type drawing space) for 2 years but would never draw the letters alone only with help This leappad & especially Mr. Pencil has him really eager to write like a big kid. If you or your child are more into fast action and tend to be impatient then this is not the game for you. Theres lots of story segments and lessons on drawing , animation, art concepts and colors. The tracing of lines requires patience and stylus control so it's more geared toward kids who don't get frustrated too easily. Others have said the game is unforgiving but I don't think so. Some of his lines are wiggly and imperfect. I think the game focuses more on the concept of staying in the lines to teach the overall structure required to make the shapes, letters and numbers. My son has learned that practice and patience is the key. It's really great to see how proud he is when the game praises him and I high five him for doing a good job. It has great activities to practice drawing shapes, letters & numbers. The characters are engaging and entertaining. There are options to play the game progressively or just practice writing & drawing. I read another review that said it didn't save the progress and started from the beginning everytime the child played. This only happens if you don't connect the leappad to the internet so you can update the game content. Be sure to set up the leappad by connecting it to your pc so your child gets the full experience & enjoyment of the game.

We got the new Leapster Explorer for our 3 year old for his birthday. I know he is a little young, but he always wanted to play vidoe games at the same time as his 5 year old brother, and it had just been released. This was one of the 2 initial games I bought for him, and what a good choice it was. He has always liked to color and draw and has always seemed to be more deliberate when he is creating than his older brother. Let me tell you this was one of the best purchases I ever made. He will sit and play with this game for quite a while, which is out of character for him unless he is truly engaged. This game focuses on repairing the town with Mr. Pencil and teaches kids to draw, beginning with straight lines, etc. I would really recommed this title as one of the first you get for younger kids with the Leapster Explorer, especially if they like to color. It's a really good first step, as it requires no letter or number recognition (reading/math) so you can start them really young, but it does progress into those areas.

Bought this for my 5 year old nephew for Christmas, he was so excited when he opened it! he is learning to write letters and draw shapes with this game. He really loves it. My 3 year old niece loves it too, and wants to play with it but has a hard time drawing the shapes. When drawing the shapes it asks you to you cannot lift up the little pen at all, it has to be drawn with one solid line. The touch screen is also very sensitive, so it takes many tries to draw the little shapes it asks you to. The drawing of shapes is too difficult for her, and it sometimes took me a few tries to do it as well. But nonetheless, she loves the game too. Its a great way to teach the kids how to draw, write and learn how colors mix together to make new colors.

All in all, this is a great game. We have ten of the Explorer games, and this one is not obnoxiously noisy or repetitive. My son (4) has managed to control his fine motor skills a bit better by practicing his letters and drawing on the dotted lines. There's many activities and it is easy for him to entertain himself for awhile.The only thing is that some of the 'follow the dot' patterns are too small for small hands to manuever...one rabbit is maybe an inch tall and trying to use the stylus to follow the curves really isn't happening. This only seems to happen on a few of the games.Of the ones we have, Star Wars, Globe, and Penguins of Madagascar have been the clear five-star favorites. Of those, Penguins rules!

I was concerned when buying this game that my daughter who is left-handed would not be able to use it. She does not have a problem with it. It works both ways. I also do not find it too sensitive. In fact, it allows for quite a bit of deviation from the line: some of my daughters squares look like circles but the game accepts them. So far, the game has not been a huge hit with my 4.5 year old. I would say it depends on the child and their interests. I like the game, i think it can be fun and definitely very educational. Hopefully, my daughter will get into the spirit of this game soon!Also, it froze once so i had to turn off the leappad. But that happened only once.

Got this for my 3 yr old and my 6 1/2 yr old ended up loving it. They fight over it sometimes! My 3 yr old is in preschool but she isn't catching on very quickly to letter tracing or recognition....she has improved SO MUCH after just 1 week ofplaying in this game we can't believe it! Even her teachers notice! My 6 1/2 yr old completed it in a day last weekend, they do offer an expansion app thru their leapfrog connect system for under ten bucks, but I told her she'd have to wait until her little sis finished the main game....my 6 yr old has completed everything actually. She is too fast.I HIGHLY recommend this game for beginners. Sometimes my 3 yr old does get frustrated when tracing circles and stuff, but she just keeps going and eventually gets it and then can do it on her own on paper with a pencil! LOVE this game as a parent and I hope they come out with more expansion apps for it as I'm sure it won't take long to complete!

My 4.5 yr old girl LOVES this game. She played it all the way through and we got the expansion. We got this on a super sale on Amazon, so that was even better (it was $8 I think). Good for reinforcing writing and other kindergarten skills.

I brought this for my 3 year old daughter and it has been a brilliant buy. She has learnt to write several letters and shapes already after only a couple of months of use!The 'game' is really interesting for children as it allows them to select the area they want to play in. As a parent, I love the fact that she thinks she is playing, but actually she is learning valuable lessons in english. She has recently started nursery and her teachers were impressed that she could hold a pencil correctly and had really good pencil control. I put majority of this down to this game. On the leappad there is a facility where you can track your childs progress.As this is the most played with cartridge the tracking relates in majority to this game. As I said she is not 4 until another 2 months, but is pitched at age 5-6 on the tracking system! I think this is a great application and have already recommended it to a few friends, who have or are going to buy it for their children too.

Exactly as described and arrived on time.

My 3 year old loves this game, it teaches about writing, colours and much more! Very limited games on the leappad for 3 year olds to sit and do on their own but this is by far the best one my son has! No help from Mum required!

It has been a good game for getting my 3 year old to improve his pencil control, and he has enjoyed it. I won't fault it for that. But it's very American, and I do wish that Leap Frog would realise that in the UK we would much prefer having educational games talk to us in a British accent.