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Devices mix learning with fun of video games
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The Associated Press
Your kids can learn math, how to tell time and other skills needed for school — and you don’t have to pry them away from video games.
That was the appeal of two new handheld devices my three boys recently tested: the $70 Leapster2 and the $90 Didj, made by LeapFrog Enterprises and designed to put learning games into a format likely to be coveted by children.
The Leapster has been around before, but the second version adds new game titles, such as “Star Wars Clone Wars: Jedi Math.” Designed for children ages 4 to 8, it connects to a computer with an included USB cable, allowing kids to earn rewards and certificates online and letting parents monitor their progress.
The Didj, geared for 6- to 10-year-olds, takes the connection a step further, allowing parents to customize games to, for example, help children study multiplication tables or learn specific spelling words for a classroom test. Players can also use the connection to customize a Didj, including designing their own online game characters known as avatars.
For today’s kids, veterans of many a gaming system, there’s not much of a learning curve to the Didj. They just pick it up and play.
The built-in “Jetpack Heroes” game takes a spaceman through a maze, picking up treasures for a couple of minutes as he goes along blasting foes.
Then comes the first math problem: 4 + 1, which wasn’t exactly rocket science for my 8-year-old son.
But it gets tougher as it goes along, with the system getting into more complicated times-tables.
Similar in feel to the Didj, though a little heftier, the Leapster2 has a pen with a touch screen to select games, and a voice that coaches you through your choices.
The built-in game helps teach numbers and letters to children piloting a dragon through clouds. They start out having the dragon breathe fire at nasty storms, while swooping into numbers or letters to select the right answers, before it becomes more difficult.
My 4-year-old liked it, but much preferred the $25 “Jedi Math” add-on cartridge. In that game, you start off piloting a ship, then blast your way through the universe on a quest to find C-3PO, with a voice command telling you the number on the ship you have to shoot, to help you learn the digits.
Later exercises include lessons on how to tell time, with the correct answers helping unlock doors.
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