Comments on: LeapFrog® Leapster® Learning Game: Scholastic Math Missions

By: Fumiko

Fumiko — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 21:33:46 +0000

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

We use this game along with the leapster TV. My daughter started using it at age 5, and she's now 6 and this is still her favorite game to play. When she was 5, she needed a little help with some of the math...I expected that since the game is rated ages 6-9. But, she is now finishing kindergarten and can play the games on her own.

She loves playing the math games and "earning" money that she can then use to play the little arcade games. Truthfully, she doesn't play the arcade games very much, because she loves seeing her "dollar" amount increase and loves the math games. She doesn't seem to want to spend her "money" on the arcade games! I think this is great because it also teaches her about money and saving.

I can't find a single thing wrong with this game...by far one of the most educational leapster games available.

By: Winfred

Winfred — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:35:18 +0000

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:4.0 out of 5 stars

The overall design is excellent. Teaching is nicely mixed with fun. The kids got quite intensive Money training. Excellent Addition/Substraction. The multiplication is on the light weight side.

By: Xanti

Xanti — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 18:33:42 +0000

My son, who is now five, received his leapster last November. He has several cartridges, all of which he enjoys. However, the Math Missions game, which we recently purchased online, seems to have captured his attention in a way that the others did not. While all the Leapster titles attempt to make a game out of learning, this cartridge does an exceptional job. For example, instead of requiring him to identify that 4+5=9, it gives him three fish, weighing 4, 5 and 9 pounds each. He needs to figure out how to put them on a scale to make the scale balance. This is a much more interesting "puzzle" and it teaches what an equation really means, at an intuative level. Another activity reminds me of the old game "Mastermind", where he needs to figure out the right combination of candies to put in a box. Through trial-and-error and deductive reasoning, he can figure it out. It's a fun challenge that teaches important logic skills.

The incentive system is also well done. By earning money for doing math tasks, my son can then pay to play "video arcade" games, which are more fun than educational in nature. (The games are simple and just the right level of complexity for 5-7 year olds, along the lines of early video games like pac-man.)He LOVES these games, and is willing to spend hours doing the math puzzles in order to earn the money to play the video games.

This is a great game. I hope Scholastic puts out more cartridges for the Leapster platform.