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Educational toy maker LeapFrog is jumping into the tablet market and scrambling to stay relevant by introducing a tablet for children called the LeapPad, which is a  5-inch tablet will feature a camera, a video recorder, 2 GB of storage, a touch screen and big buttons designed for little hands. LeapPad doesn’t run any of today’s popular tablet operating systems, but the proprietary OS lets kids play educational games and applications, videos and ebooks and also accepts cartridges designed for the Leapster Explorer. LeapFrog will start accepting pre-orders this June 29 and will be released on Aug. 15 for $100.

LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. unveiled LeapPad, a personalized learning tablet designed for kids ages four and up. As the leader in educational entertainment, LeapFrog has combined the latest technology, enhanced educational curriculum, and most entertaining characters to fuel a child’s learning in a durable form factor that mirrors popular adult tablets. LeapPad, now available for pre-sale, is revolutionizing the way children learn by offering the next generation in learning, digital reading and personal creativity. Designed with best-in-class educational curriculum and featuring endless and fun ways to play, this new tablet will be on every family’s wish list this year. “We wanted LeapPad to offer kids the ability to create their own personalized experiences and have fun while learning at their own pace with content that automatically adjusts to their skill level,” said Craig Hendrickson, senior vice president and chief product officer for LeapFrog. “LeapPad’s apps inspire kids to explore their inner creativity. Whether doodling on photos taken with the built-in camera, creating a story about themselves in the Story Studio, or bringing their favorite characters to life with the Animation Studio, there is truly something for every child.”

Designed for little hands and big imaginations, LeapPad will launch with LeapFrog‘s largest library ever and offers more than 100 learning game cartridges, books, apps and videos, by year end. Expanding the fun across platforms, the existing library of Leapster Explorer game cartridges and apps is cross compatible with LeapPad. Unique to LeapFrog products, games auto-adjust so kids can learn at just the right pace and each LeapPad book app is actually three books in one offering each story at three different levels. LeapPad even remembers a child’s progress from game to game and book to book to keep the content challenging and engaging. Kids can build a strong learning foundation with phonics skills, mathematics and spelling, and then take learning beyond the basics to geography, world languages, music, creativity, science and life skills such as brushing their teeth. As they embark on new learning adventures, kids can also practice their writing skills with step-by-step guidance and a child-sized stylus. Built with 2 GB of memory, LeapPad encourages learning on the go and inspires curious minds to imagine more with a complete suite of innovative creativity tools featuring a built-in camera and video recorder, microphone, as well as art, story, and photo studios. Adding even more fun, kids can stretch, stamp or draw on their pictures to create personalized snapshots. LeapPad‘s Animation Studio teaches children how to animate beloved Disney characters.

With Story Studio, kids create their own stories all about them using the built-in camera, personalized artwork and even their own voice. This new app offers kids the opportunity to create more than 27,000 story combinations, including imagining what they want to be when they grow up, building their own family tree and more. Best of all, LeapPad allows parents to easily and instantly share their children’s masterpieces with family and friends via email or Facebook. Kids will experience an entirely new way to read with LeapPad reading apps interactive cinematic book experiences designed to guide children through the story and develop a whole new love of reading. The variety of entertaining features engage children page after page. Each book is actually three books in one, as children read at their own pace with auto-adjustment of the story text.

Children can touch the words to hear them sounded out and benefit from a visual dictionary to help build phonics, comprehension and vocabulary skills. With the microphone, children can record their own narration and show their parents what they have learned. These apps bring reading to life through animation and motion-based activities while featuring popular characters such as Disney‘s Lightning McQueen and Cinderella, helping children improve their reading skills. LeapPad has 2 GB of memory and a 5-inch touch screen with 480×272 resolution. It offers kids motion-based play with a sensor and includes a built-in camera, video recorder, microphone and stylus. LeapPad will be sold at MSRP $99.99 USD, with downloadable apps priced at MSRP $5.00 USD and up and game cartridges at MSRP $24.99 USD. LeapPad is now available in green and pink, and for pre-sale at major retailers in the U.S., Canada, UK and Ireland. For details visit leapfrog.com/LeapPad. LeapPad will be available at major retail locations beginning August 15 and in other countries such as Australia and New Zealand later in the year.

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