New from LeapFrog – LeapBand

Forget the iWatch, it’s LeapBand mania.

That’s the case in my house anyway. For the last week or so we ‘ve been road testing the LeapBand and I’m impressed. Obviously what I think is only part of the story. The main ‘reviewers’ of the LeapBand this week have been my two youngest: Little L (4 yrs) and Miss J (8 yrs).

So what is the LeapBand?

LeapBand is the first wearable activity tracker for kids aged 4 – 7 years.

LeapBand gets kids moving and having fun.

First up kids choose 1 of 8 virtual pets (unicorn, robot, dragon etc) to customise. They can choose their pets name and colour and then they’re ready to get started. The video below shows a few of the activity and play modes of the LeapBand. There are physical challenges/activities, pet nurturing and games.

LeapBand has 50 different activities and challenges and tracks physical movements, so the more active the kids are the more points (called jewels) they earn with their virtual pet. As you earn more jewels you unlock more things.

The LeapBand gets kids active but also teaches healthy habits.

My favourite feature of the LeapBand is the School/Quiet Time setting. Parents can set times when the LeapBand is ‘out of action’. We have set our quiet time to start at 8 pm. One night (after 8 pm) when the kids had gone to bed, a very concerned Little L came out to me and said the LeapBand was broken. I told him it was bedtime and he should be asleep and that the LeapBand had to get some rest too…he didn’t really buy it 🙂

Now for the verdict.

Below is the criteria I based my review on and exactly what we thought, and by we I mean: Miss J (8 yrs), Little L (4 yrs) and me (old).

Review Criteria

Amusement: Score 4

This is how engaged the kids were and how ‘amused’ the LeapBand kept them. When playing the LeapBand Little L was kept amused for a good length of time and didn’t seem to get bored with it as quickly as with some other toys. The LeapBand is easy to understand with clear directions so he was able to play alone without instruction from others. The games are entertaining and fun and he really enjoyed the activity challenges. My eight year old daughter really loved it. This kind of surprised me as she is out of the 4 -7 age bracket. She particularly enjoyed the physical activity challenges.

Battery/ Charging: Score 4.5

It’s GREAT that you can charge the LeapBand via USB, the only down side is the cord is quite short. It’s not a major problem but worth a mention. The LeapBand has a long battery life when fully charged. I usually put ours on to charge after 8pm, when it’s in quiet mode and the kids have gone to bed.

Parental Control/ Tracking: Score 5

You can fully customise your child’s LeapBand experience, which is good news for parents. The LeapBand comes with 14 pre-loaded challenges but also allows parents to set up to 36 activity challenges. The other feature I LOVED is school/quiet time modes. Parents can actually set which times the kids can play on the LeapBand – our LeapBand goes into quiet mode at 8 pm each night so there is no sneaky play under the quilt at bedtime.

Educational: Score 4

Being a LeapFrog toy you can be assured there is some educational value to the LeapBand. The main message of the LeapBand is healthy habits and most of the games and activities are based on this theme. The educational content is well suited to the age bracket (4-7 yrs) and as with all the LeapFrog range the learning is cleverly disguised as fun 🙂