Leapfrog Leappad Ultra or Vtech Innotab 3s – Fun Educational Games
The Leapfrog Leappad Ultra or VTech Innotab 3s
Choosing the most Appropriate Fun Educational Games.
In my last post on Leap Frog Pad, I discussed the alternatives to the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra that are available from different companies. In that post, I compared the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra to its rival, the Vtech Innotab 3s. In that article, I put both of those kid’s learning tablets side by side and showed the pros and cons of each. If you haven’t read my innotab vs leappad ultra comparison, you can refer to it here.
One of the areas that may be confusing is around the apps that are available for both the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra and the Vtech Innotab 3s. I wanted to clear them up for us adults. Both of the kids tablets have apps that are made by the same publishers, Disney, Pixar, etc. But, just because they are made by the same publishers, doesn’t mean that they will work on either brand of kids tablet.
I can download an Android app and install it on any Android phone, regardless if the phone is made by Motorola, Samsung, etc. These kids learning tablets are not the same as an Android phone. Just like an Android app will not run on an iPhone, games for the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra will not run on a Vtech Innotab 3s and Visa Versa. So, no, you can’t run Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja or Candy Crush on this kid’s tablet.
I hope this clears up any confusion between which apps will work on either the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra or the Vtech Innotab 3s. For either unit, the games are available on cartridges, as well as online. Cartridges plug into your child’s learning tablet. An important recommendation is to communicate to the grandparents, aunts and uncles exactly what device your child has ( or is getting ) and what is compatible with the device. In addition, you may want to organize it, so you don’t have five of the same Leapfrog Leappad game under the tree. Ouch!
Categories of Fun Educational Games for the Leapfrog LeapPad Ultra:
There are several educational content areas in which your child can build skills using their Leapfrog Leappad Ultra. There is a wide selection of the LeapPad fun educational games, compatible with multiple Leapfrog products. The categories include ( but are not limited to ):
- Reading and Phonics
- Mathematics
- Science
- Geography
- Art
- Music
- Language
- Health and Hygiene
- Social Skills
Click here
Just like Leapfrog, VTech has similar categories for the Innotab as it does for the Leappad.
Click here
While each LeapFrog Leappad or VTech Innotab fun educational game has different skill levels and age groups that they are recommend for, I believe that treating a child as an individual makes sense and looking to the recommendations as guidelines for the average neuro-typical child. If you had a gifted 7 year old that was functioning on a 10 year old level, for instance, you would want to challenge that child with what is appropriate for their cognitive level. Conversely, if your child had areas of delay, say they are 8 years old and delayed in math and currently on a 7 year old level, then you would want to target that area. You would then start with the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra game designed for the level where they are currently functioning.
Care must be taken with choosing fun educational games for gifted children. It is not as easy as figuring out an area to target with a child with delays. Gifted children, while brilliant in their own right, often have little gaps in their learning that have not been explored, because of their accelerated rate of learning. Finding those gaps in a gifted child’s learning may actually be harder than finding areas that need work in a learner with an area of deficit.
I certainly hope that this article helps clear up any confusion in selecting the appropriate games for either device, the Leapfrog Leappad Ultra, or the Vtech Innotab 3s. In addition, I hope my posts on Leap Frog Pad have been helpful in how I would select fun educational games for children, based on their cognitive level, as opposed to simply using their chronological age.