I’ve been a fan of Leapfrog ever since we got our first Leapster for Nathan the Christmas he was six, so I jumped at the chance to review the new LeapFrog Tag Reader. Even though Kaitlyn is only 2 1/2, she is already trying to “read” her books and she can hold a crayon correctly, so I wanted to see how she would do with the Tag. And, I wanted to see how it worked for myself! Verdict? SUCCESS.

The great thing about the Leapfrog Tag is that the audio is in the Tag itself, not in a separate (and very easy to lose) cartridge. It comes ready to use with the audio for the book “Ozzie and Mack” already uploaded. You just turn it on and touch it to the book, and it’s ready to use. I also received the book Disney Princess: Adventures Under the Sea but it doesn’t seem to interest Kaitlyn as much as I thought it would, which is probably why it’s meant for ages 4-6. Even though all the books say ages 4 and up, I think Chicka Chicka Boom Boom would probably be easier for her to follow, so I’ll get that one next time.

The Tag System comes with a CD that contains the Connect application, and a USB cable. You get it installed on your computer, and then you have all the audio needed for any of the Tag books or games. When you buy a new book, you go into your Library and select the title, drag it over to the list of what’s on the Tag, and drop. The Tag can hold the audio for up to five titles at a time. It’s really easy to use.

You can watch your child learn with The Learning Path. You set that up through the Application CD, and then when you connect the Tag to your computer, it downloads information about what your child is doing with their Tag and what skills they are learning. How cool is that? So for example, you can see that when the Tag said “touch the letters that spell cat”, you can see how many times your child correctly touched the right letters. I just think that is so cool!

The Tag comes in either green or pink (I’m glad I received green, Nathan uses it too), and you can buy a carrying case separately. Right now you can buy either Tag and a Tag Book, and get a Tag Storage Case 50% off! Enter promo code FL8TGA. I’m really enthusiastic about recommending this product, for a birthday or Christmas gift, or to help reinforce the reading they do at school. It’s fun to use and educational too, and that’s what Leapfrog is all about!