LeapFrog Learn & Groove Alphabet Drum Rating :
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
97 of 103 people found the following review helpful.
Great idea but poorly designed
By Nelson
This toy seemed like a great idea and I bought it for my 1 year son with great expectations. It is a small drum, that lights up and plays music and sounds when tapped. My son loves to tap on the table, so it seemed like the perfect gift for him. Unfortunately, I was disapointed due to some serious design flaws.
The drum has 3 different playing modes: Alphabet mode, music mode and dancing mode. On alphabet mode, every time it is tapped upon, it displays a letter of the alphabet while speaking it loud, in order. On music mode, it plays music and rhythmic lights, inviting the kid to tap on the drum and in dancing mode, it tries to suggest movement to the kid with voice commands and pictures (clap your hands, hit the drum, etc).
The drum has 2 language settings (English or Spanish) and also a volume control (low and high settings). The high setting is not very loud.
Unlike some other reviewers say, this drum does not teach counting. They probably refer to an older drum model from leapfrog (look for leapfrog learning drum here on amazon). This one only teaches the alphabet.
In all, this seemed a great idea to me. The drums' reaction to the child movements would encourage tapping on it, teaching cause/effect relationship. I did not care much about the alphabet as my son is too young for that, but didn't mind if he got some introduction to it anyway.
So, what are the design flaws?
Well, to start, the sound made by the drum when hit is very low. On music and dancing mode, you can barely hear it as it is completely shaded by the background music, which is played independently of hitting the drum. Still on the music and dancing modes, the drum lights follow some random patterns, that is, they keep drawing figures on the drum whether it is being hit or not. When a child taps the drum, the figures change, but as they would have changed anyway, it is not easy to realize that the change was caused by hitting.
So much for cause/effect relationship on these 2 modes.
Only on the alphabet mode, it is easier to realize that tapping the drum has an effect on it, as it speaks loudly and displays a letter in reaction. For my one year baby though, this effect is not very interesting, as he will tap very quickly on the drum causing the alphabet to be interrupted and he will not even look at the letter because his little hand is tapping on it. I believe that with time, he may do it more patiently.
Another terrible flaw is the sound made by hitting the drum, if you manage to hear it. There are several different possible sounds (as if they were the sounds of a multiple drum table), some of them quite nice, others quite boring. And it doesn't seem to be a way of choosing the sound, so sometimes your hit is rewarded with a clear sound, other times with a barely noticeable thugh.
In all, these flaws completely remove one of the things I expected my kid to learn from this toy, which is cause/effect relationship. So far, he has not been enthusiastic of the toy, though he will play with it for a few minutes if I show it to him and tap on it first.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Learn & Groove Drum
By N. White
My recently one year old twin grandsons love this toy. It far exceeded my expectaions. The graphics are great both for the alphabet and the numbers and they enjoy the dancing figure with the music. They love music and really do learn and groove with this interactive toy. The age guidelines on this toy are appropriate and I look forward to them combining the drum with their maracas as they grow and become increasingly creative with these toys.
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Fun toy, but with limits
By C. J. Smith
I bought this drum for my 7 month old and he enjoys it quite a bit. It seems to have a very repetetive program in the drum and music modes (a 7 month old can't tell the difference, but I would expect that an older child would). Overall it's pretty nice and the volume control is especially appreciated.
Product Description
Get in the learning groove with this delightful drum.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #41778 in Toys & Games
- Brand: LeapFrog
- Model: 10061
- Released on: 2006-06-12
- ESRB Rating: Everyone
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.90" h x8.10" w x6.60" l,1.00 pounds
Features
- Tap the drum for learning fun!
- Features three ways to play: Alphabet, Dance-Along and Music Play learning modes.
- Letters of the alphabet light up when baby taps.
- Music Play allows baby to explore creativity and develop gross motor skills with tapping, crawling and moving to the music.
- Introduces the alphabet in English and Spanish.
