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LeapFrog® Tag Reading Systemx$42.99
  (25 reviews)
Best Price: $49.99 $42.99
Introducing Tag Reading System, the revolutionary touch reading system that brings reading to life like never before. Tag engages children to make reading a rich, fulfilling experience. Children simply touch the Tag Reader (which looks like an electronic pen) to the book's pages, and words talk, characters sing and stories fly off the pages. With a huge library of hardcover books and games including favorite TV, movie and classic tales, each Tag Book allows children to learn at their own pace, building their skills and their confidence. Plus, by connecting the Tag Reader to the online LeapFrog Learning Path, parents can see what their child is learning -- and even receive recommendations on what books their child could read next! Includes Tag Reader, plus the "Ozzie and Mack" Book; additional Tag Books sold separately. Tag Reader requires two "AAA" batteries, not included.
A unique touch and talk device that brings stories to life, the Tag Reading System works with a library of books and games from LeapFrog. Funny voice-overs and cool sound effects add to the fun of discovery, helping ensure that children four to eight love the way this interactive, educational system boosts their confidence and their reading level. 
The tag reader is designed to fit comfortably in small hands. View larger. | 
LeapFrog books include fun, educational activities. View larger. |  | What We Think
Fun Factor: 
Durability: 
(what this means)
The Good: Educational tool brings stories to life
The Bad: Supply of compatible books and games is not endless
In a Nutshell: The Tag reader is a fun way to keep kids interested in learning | At a Glance
Ages: 4 to 8
Requires: 2 AAA batteries; setup uses a computer and the Internet
|  | | Let's Play Tag! With a wide grip that's perfect for little hands, the Tag reader adds a unique element to story time. The included book, Ozzie and Mack, features the rhyming adventures of Ozzie Otter and his playful animal friends. Text for this book is preloaded onto the Tag reader, so as soon as you load two AAA batteries (not included) into the reader, the story can begin. A little camera in the tip of the reader identifies words and symbols on the specially printed pages, giving kids lots of options. They can pick between starting a story at the beginning and having it read all the way through, playing a page at a time, or reading themselves and using the Tag reader to hear single, tricky words spoken aloud. This last option inspires kids to try reading books they might otherwise avoid, since the Tag reader is always there to help them out. Young readers are sure to enjoy the way character voices add drama to their favorite stories, the way touching certain pictures inspires quirky sound effects, and the leveled activities included in LeapFrog books. Explore the World of Reading
LeapFrog presents a library of books that are compatible with the Tag reader. Classics like The Little Engine That Could come to life, and kids' favorite characters, such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Kung Fu Panda, help them connect with new stories. LeapFrog has even teamed with National Geographic Kids to present activity cards featuring different animals that the Tag reader brings to life. To use additional books and games, you'll need to install the LeapFrog connect application on your computer. Once this is done, it becomes easy to download audio for the books you have and put them on your Tag reader. Use the included USB cable to connect the reader to your computer, and drag-and-drop up to five stories onto it. Watch Children Fall in Love With Books
Young readers may be too busy following the escapades of their new friends to realize they are building phonics skills, expanding their vocabulary, and improving their reading comprehension. The Learning Path can help you keep up with their progress. This parent-centered section of the LeapFrog connect computer application allows you to download education information from the reader to your computer and track your child's progress. Use it to help customize your child's unique learning journey and celebrate educational milestones. Overall, this innovative touch system makes reading an enjoyable experience, and there's plenty of room for the system to grow with your child's skills. Watching as children learn new skills and thinking up new ways to be involved in the learning process keeps adults on their toes. While the reader seemed quite durable, the imaginative world of stories that it opens up is a gift that will long outlast the reader itself. Although headphones are not included, the Tag reader is compatible with most headphones, so kids can concentrate on reading without being distracted or disrupting others. What's in the Box
Tag Reader, USB cable, LeapFrog Connect software CD, and the book Ozzie and Mack.
MPN: 30704 - UPC: 708431307049
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Customer Reviews
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A step up from leappad, but has limitations.
By A37X322CU8T03Q on 2008-06-21
The Tag reading system is definitely a step up from the Leappad in terms of playability. However, it has its limitations.
- Unlike the Leapster where multiple users can share each device, each Tag is for a single user (player profile). LeapFrog highly recommends each child have his/her own Tag reader in order to take full advantage of Tag. Therefore, sharing doesn't work and means more $$$$ spent.
- Using a Tag reader on multiple computers might be cumbersome. I haven't found a way to "migrate" data easily, for example, in case of OS or PC upgrades. This affects the Rewards and the LEAPFROG Learning Path.
- Can only store 5 audio books at a time on the Reader. So if your child wants a different book besides one of the five, you'll have to connect to the computer to download/manage it. This will make it difficult for long trips. Memory is cheap, why not have more memory to begin with?
- Must connect to the internet, but then, who doesn't have internet access these days.
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Some nice points.
- Has a headphone jack!
- USB connectivity was pretty easy, but did seem a bit slow.
- Reader worked fine.
Best Commute Option Ever
By on 2008-06-15
We use this toy for our almost-five-year-old during our daily commutes. It's wonderful because a) it grabs her attention and delights her during what is usually a very shaky, depressing, hungry time of day, b) it's not like a video game in which you have a catatonic child in your backseat who refuses to talk--it's an interactive learning toy that prompts questions and interesting conversations, and c) it's not obnoxious--no weird beeping, no shooting noises, no electronic "music." It's filled with great music that's real. (The most obnoxious it gets is when she repeatedly clicks on an interesting phrase. Last week we heard "It was spectacular!" five times, before she informed us what she believes "spectacular" means.)
It's not often when our child thinks that a toy is as awesome as her parents do. But I can tell this one is definitely on her short list. It's the only toy that regularly travels from the car to the living room, to the kitchen table, to the bedroom, and then back to the car. That's right. She *carries* it. She doesn't ask us to carry it around for her. As far as I'm concerned, that's the highest praise you can give.
Tag is lots of fun for me
By A1TY4MTF4IU5VT on 2008-06-11
This is a review by my daughter Tess, a soon to be second grader:
Tag is lots of fun. I like to read with it and play the games. You can do more than one story at a time with it. I like the nick names. When you touch a character, I like that it says something about the picture. I wish I had all the books.
My kids love it- I hope the company comes out with an upgraded reader with more memory
By A3K1RB5R42LAQF on 2008-07-23
This is simply an awesome toy for teaching kids to read and have interest in books. My son takes his books with him where ever we go and he will sit for hours reading through the books. He loves the sound effects
However I do see some flaws with the system itself that I hope the company can address
1. the memory of the pen to hold audio's for the books is very limited. Therefor when my son wants to read all his books, I have to hook the reader up to the computer and swap audios. I think this is very annoying to do.
A simple solution for this would to make a reader pen that accepts memory sticks so you do not have to constantly swap out book audio.
2. I think a rechargeable battery would have been better than to have to constantly change the batteries.
The batteries die pretty quickly in the reader when used as much as my son uses his.
other than that this learning toy is really great. Hopefully an upgraded reader will come out soon
Great Investment
By A1YPVL5N4TSM6S on 2008-07-15
We bought this product for my 3 1/2 year old son as something to keep him busy on a long drive from NY to NC. He loves Tag and over a two week period I can't think of a single day where he didn't pick it up to play with it. He has three books: Ozzie & Mack, Click Clack Moo (Classic Series) and Cars Tractor Tipping (Activity Series). While he had more fun intially with the Cars & Ozzie and Mack books he has since invested more time into Click Clack Moo and loves it. This is another great product from LeapFrog and I would recommend it to anyone.
My son actually ripped a few pages (because he fell asleep with it one night) and I put some tape over the ripped areas, the pen still reads it just fine.
Great Product!!!!!
- Perfect for my 6 year old
By AGV8EKMALZ5EC on 2008-07-07
My son loves his new tag. He's learning to read and while he still uses his leapster and book reader he really enjoys this. I had no problem loading the software onto my Macbook pro running Leopard, very easy. I so totally love that the books are regular books that fit into the bookcase with no cartridges to deal with or spiral bindings. The tag can read just the word or just the page. And even without the book on hand it will read the whole book to you, like an audiobook. I agree the system would benefit from more memory, but it forces my son to plan ahead when we go on trips. Again though, no cartridges! As far as not being able to share the system, at least you can still use the same books.
- The Holy Grail
By A2Y8YBZW0GDUEQ on 2008-08-18
There was an article about this toy before it came out in Wired Magazine. It basically interviewed the inventor and peaked my curiosity. So I purchased it. It is an impressive device by any modern day standards. Basically it's a camera that recognizes words and images on specialized paper (the limited series of books that you purchase). Once recognized it plays sound bites or reads the word(s) on the page that you are passing the pen over. It's smartly designed and a child quickly understands how to operate it.
At first it's a game and your child will just want to click on everything to hear the sound bites. As time goes by they start exploring the less than obvious features like read back and games. Before you know it you have a totally transfixed kid. It's great for a long drive and it certainly beats the pants off a dvd. I do believe that this device is positively contributing to my child's learning. I will say that the books vary in quality. I am writing reviews on most of them ; ) so you can follow along if you wish. To start with get Sponge Bob as it is the best of the bunch followed by Kung Fu Panda or Cars.
Last thought if you're still with me. This is a wonderful invention. I do recommend it especially for parent's that are looking for an alternative to TV. I just wish to caution that it is not a substitute for quality reading time with your child so make sure to read to them as well. Overall a great investment.
I hope this review helps.
- My nephew loved it!!
By A189WLP4ITO78O on 2008-06-20
I took this home to my nephew and he had a blast "exploring" all hidden secrets buried into each layout. The titles of the books are right down his alley. Looks like Leapfrog did it again. All the learning and fun rolled into a great product...
Ingrid
- Great tool
By A1RYU9N6NMKDHM on 2008-07-20
My 6 year old loves this system. She loves that they look like "chapter" books and can use the pen whenever she gets stuck. I let her have a new book when she can read the current one without the pen. This goal has got her reading much better.
- Had I known....
By A24PBT351N7BYG on 2008-09-03
After seeing a neighbor's LeapPad, and wanting to get my just-turned-5-year-old more into letters and words, I did some research and got him a Tag Reader. Wish I'd gotten a used LeapPad instead. Did not realize just how dependent on downloading this product is until I bought the first add-on book and found, only after opening the package, that downloading is required to use the book I had just made a trip to the store to acquire. Now I had to find time to go online to make it useable too? I'm plenty internet savvy and no Luddite, but with two small kids I do not appreciate having to go online as often as it is now apparent I will have to with this product. (I know, I know, I could have found this all out ahead of time with more research. But I didn't invest the time, OK?, and the packaging does not at all make the computer dependency obvious.) Had I known this I would definitely have looked for a good used LeapPad instead, with its self-contained books and tethered (i.e. harder to lose) optical pen. And just how durable is the Tag's pen, anyway? What happens when my two-year-old gets ahold of it and throws it tip-first into the floor? Parents of preschoolers, look for a good used LeapPad instead, they're plentiful on Ebay.
- My kids love it
By A27OHAFVKKHFU on 2008-06-17
my kids love this product. it is easy to use and the games are fun for them.
- My son loves The Tag!
By A20PGFLOFQQ2FJ on 2008-07-16
My 5 year old son will be starting kindergarten in the fall. He received The Tag as a gift. He uses it all the time and already has 4 books! The Tag is really helping with his letter and sound recognition. I am impressed with the stories and graphics as well. The Tag is great, especially for use in the car, restaurants, waiting rooms, etc. Highly recommended!
- Real Literature! Real Fun!
By A3LN8NQ09FHS78 on 2008-07-27
I could not be more excited about the Tag Reading System! The highly portable pen and use of real literature are important developments in interactive reading technology. This system grows with a child, developing a toddler's prereading skills, expanding an emerging reader's sight word recognition, and fostering a young student's love of literature. As a parent and educator, I highly recommend the Tag System for both home and school.
- My Kids Love The Tag Reading System!
By A3MOUER8DKT293 on 2008-07-31
I originally bought 1 pen and 1 book for my 5 year old daughter to try out. She loved it! Then, my 3 year old son started to play with it as well. Needless to say we now own 2 pens and 8 books. They are great for riding in cars or just sitting on the couch. The only downfall is that you can only store so many books on the pen at once. Other than that I am a very happy owner.
- Leap Frog's best idea yet!
By A2AOBYW070L876 on 2008-08-18
My nonverbal autistic son loves all things Leapfrog and loves story readers. Leapfrog has combined the best of two worlds with the story reader component along with interactive features. I was worried the tip would be delicate and he would break it but no problems so far. The download is very user friendly, the only drawback is only being able to load 5 products at a time so if you have more than that you have to delete and reload but this isn't a huge deal. The positive feedback for the game features is a very nice touch - not only praise for correct answers, but hints to encourage success and promote self esteem instead of "no, that's wrong" or some other negative statement like many toys. Would highly recommend this product for both fun and education.
- worth every penny
By APHUHAEDZ2LS3 on 2008-09-12
My 6 year got this for her birthday. It is so easy to use. It is worth every penny! The pen works no matter how hard or soft she touches the books. And no matter where you touch the pen, it says something so they always have an answer. Very full of interesting facts.
- Love product but.......
By A2TXG0IYC0COB3 on 2008-07-14
My 4 yr old daughter love this product, I love that leapfrog offers fun rewards for the child but overall I am still a fan of the old leapfrog pad reader.
- My Daughter LOVES TAG!
By ADY6FEOJ12W45 on 2008-07-20
At first I was very reluctant to purchase this product, I was very curious at the same time. After reading all the customer reviews I can possibly search for, there was no way I could not go out and purchase this product for my 5 year old daughter. I put her on the computer and had her try the demo she fell in love with it! I rushed over to the store and invested $200.00 worth of Tag merchandise. This product has taken our reading time to another level. My daughter is putting words together and she is recognizing words as well. She has been learning something new everyday. It also raises educational questions that your child may never would have asked before like what does endangered or extinct mean? what types of animals are endagered? I love this product and my daughter can't wait to get more books. They also have a good selection of books that contain many game activities. I was also able to download five books along with the activity cards in the Tag pen. Installing the software was a breeze and downloading all the stories into the pen took literally fives minutes I was amazed.
- Awesome toy
By A2NOW4U7W3F7RI on 2008-08-08
This is an amazing toy system. Definitely my kid loves it, I have a detailed review in my blog as it is several pages long.
http://amimu.blogspot.com/2008/08/leapfrog-tag-system-reader-books-cards.html
- It does what is says...
By A39T7F7239R7P5 on 2008-08-09
The LeapFrog® Tag Reading System does what it says, it gives your child a hand held tutor for reading a Tag book. The "read the entire page" function is helpful when the child does not want to read the book, but only hear the story. Initially I thought that this feature was defeating the purpose of getting my child to read the book, but I discovered later that it actually increased his enthusiasm to try to read it by himself. I did find though, that the word games provided the most interactive experience for him. He liked the story comprehension challenges that the game questions posed.
In short, he memorized all of the words of all the three books I bought him. At first I thought this practice defeated the purpose of teaching him how to decode words, but after placing him in a summer reading program, I was informed that word memorization was actually the preferred method of sentence decoding. After trying to explain the rules of phonics and vowel usage for words like "rough", "tough", "brought", "know" and "said"...I surrendered to the word memorization method. It seems to be working for him, but occasionally he does go back to word decoding by way of phonics.
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LeapFrog® Tag Reading System Accessories
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| Product Features |
- The amazing touch technology of the Tag Reading System encourages a child's love of reading as words talk, pictures sing and stories live out loud!
- The Tag library includes over 20 books and games featuring characters from TV, movies and classic tales.
- Tag storybooks and learning activities help children build vocabulary and reading skills such as word recognition, reading comprehension and phonics skills.
- Children learn to read through an exciting and interactive experience in which they can also earn online rewards.
- Parents can connect the Tag Reader to the online LeapFrog Learning Path to see what their child is learning, and explore ways to expand their child's learning journey.
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