Leapfrog, a developer of technology-based educational products, is offering 30% off sitewide with promo code MERRY10. You can also get free shipping on orders of $50. The offer ends today.
This is just one of many current holiday shopping deals. You can find a list of over 200 holiday shopping deals here on shoppersshop.com.
LeapFrog Sales Plunged 24% in Q4 as Parents Curtailed Toy Purchases
LeapFrog Enterprises has been one of the hottest toy companies with its edutainment products for children. The recession caught LeapFrog by surprise and toy sales plunged 24% in the last quarter of 2008. The company is also stock with left-over inventory. LeapFrog CEO Jeff Katz told Reuters that a theory that the toy sector had resistance during downturns did not hold up last holiday season.
"That was really a miscall that we didn't appreciate," Katz said, adding that the company should have recognized early on, close to October, that consumers would only buy items that were heavily discounted.
Katz said the extremely frugal nature of shoppers had blown a hole through the theory that parents will hesitate to cut back on toys for children, and that the toy sector was resilient to economic downturns such as the current one.
"The great wisdom of the toy industry has certainly failed me this year," said Katz
The LeapFrog CEO said parents were starting to recycle toys by handing down toys from older kids to younger ones.
LeapFrog's Text and Learn: A Blackberry For Babies?
LeapFrog has a new toy coming out called a "Text and Learn." The gadget is being called the "Blackberry for Babies" by the media because the device resembles a Blackberry. LeapFrog's website says it is meant for kids ages 3 years to 6 years so technically that does include toddlers.
Text and Learn is designed to let little learners play in a grown-up way! Children can exchange text messages with their puppy pal Scout, check Scout's planner to see what his week entails and more in the pretend browser mode. Other learning modes offer practice with letter matching, shape identification and QWERTY keyboard navigation through silly animations and sound effects. Children also explore letter names and sounds. Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning.
Unlike a real Blackberry, the device does not let kids connect to the Internet or send actual messages to each other. LeapFrog's Text and Learn is intended to teach children language, spelling and early computer skills. It has a real QWERTY keyboard and a LCD screen. The device is larger than a real Blackberry. NBCNewyork.com shows a Blackberry and LeapFrog's Text and Learn side-by-side for comparison.
Text and Learn will retail for $21.99 and be out this Summer. There's lot of discussion of the smartphone-like device being targeted at small kids in the media and the blogosphere. You can read more about it here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Here's a video here of pediatrician Dr. Lisa Thornton talking about the Text and Learn on CBS Healthwatch.
The Toy Industry Association (TIA) has announced the winners of the
annual T.O.T.Y. (Toy Of The Year) Awards. The Awards were conceived
to honor the best toys developed by the international toy industry
for consumers in the United States.
This year's Toy of the Year is the V.Smile TV Learning System by
VTech Electronics. V.Smile TV also won in the Educational Toy
category. In the Infant/Preschool Category there were two winners:
Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set (LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.) and
Peek-a-Blocks IncrediBlock (Fisher-Price). Other winners include: Robosapien from Wow Wee Ltd. (Most Innovative Toy of the Year), Aquadoodle by Spin Master Ltd.
(Activity Toy of the Year), VideoNow Color by Hasbro/Tiger (Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year) and the Schwinn Stingray Bike by Pacific Cycle (Outdoor Toy of the Year). Toys "R" Us won for best toy retailer. A complete list of the winners can be found here.
As the holiday buying season approaches magazines and retailers are starting to list their top picks for the hottest holiday items. Toys R Us has come in with their holiday picks. The top thirteen toys from Toys R Us include: Baby Counting Pal from LeapFrog, Barbie as the Princess & the Pauper 2-Pack from Mattel, Bratz Tokyo A Go Go Dolls from MGA Entertainment, Corvette C5-R Power Vehicle from Safety 1st, E-L-M-O from Fisher-Price, Laugh & Learn Learning Home from Fisher-Price, Operation: Shrek from Hasbro Games, Plug it in & Play TV Games featuring Ms. Pacman from Jakks Pacific, Sting-Ray OCC Bicycle from Schwinn, Trivial Pursuit SNL DVD Edition from Hasbro, Ultimate Big Air Ball Tower from K'NEX, V.Smile TV Learning System from V-Tech and VideoNow Color Personal Video Player from Hasbro. About the first pick, the Baby Counting Pal, Toys R Us said, "For babies on-the-go, this soft learning pal is truly a multi-sensory learning
experience with tons of activities for baby to touch, hear and see! With 4 modes of play, this pal musically introduces counting and colors, while offering a variety of different classical tunes."
Parents are turning to technology to help them teach their kids. Edutainment, educational software that is also entertaining and fun, is a hot trend in tech learning and Leapfrog has grabbed a large portion of the marketshare with its Leapster Multimedia Learning System.
Educational games are also available for computers and gaming systems. A nonprofit group called the
The Education Arcade, plans to launch a games for learning seal of
approval to help consumers identify titles that teach more than
hand-eye coordination. SAT Prep software is also increasingly popular.
The Princeton Review even has plans for software that turns a mobile
phone into an SAT preparation tool.
LeapFrog Enterprises has been one of the hottest toy companies with its edutainment products for children. The recession caught LeapFrog by surprise and toy sales 
The Toy Industry Association (TIA) has announced the winners of the
annual T.O.T.Y. (Toy Of The Year) Awards. The Awards were conceived
to honor the best toys developed by the international toy industry
for consumers in the United States.
This year's Toy of the Year is the V.Smile TV Learning System by
VTech Electronics. V.Smile TV also won in the Educational Toy
category. In the Infant/Preschool Category there were two winners:
Fridge Phonics Magnetic Set (LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.) and
Peek-a-Blocks IncrediBlock (Fisher-Price). Other winners include: Robosapien from Wow Wee Ltd. (Most Innovative Toy of the Year), Aquadoodle by Spin Master Ltd.
(Activity Toy of the Year), VideoNow Color by Hasbro/Tiger (Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year) and the Schwinn Stingray Bike by Pacific Cycle (Outdoor Toy of the Year). Toys "R" Us won for best toy retailer. A complete list of the winners can be found 
