On the first day of Christmas, Bonggamom gives to thee...a Leapster Explorer Camera & Video Recorder

Merry Christmas, and welcome to Day 1 of my 12 Days of Christmas giveaway series! Today I'm giving away the best Christmas present ever to one lucky Bonggamom Finds reader: a Leapster Explorer Camera and Video Recorder from Leapfrog! We were sent one to review and we've been playing with it for about a week. Here's what we think of it:

The Basics
Here's some information about this latest cool accessory for the Leapster Explorer:
The Leapster Explorer Camera & Video Recorder snaps into the Leapster Explorer’s peripheral slot to expand the entertainment and learning possibilities. With the most built-in photo educational activities and LeapFrog’s largest, brightest full-color touch screen, the Leapster Explorer handheld with Camera & Video Recorder provides visual engagement in learning math and reading. Using the Leapster Explorer Camera & Video Recorder, kids can:

• Take, edit and store up to 1,000 pictures
• Stretch, stamp and draw on pictures to create personalized snapshots or use them in activities
• Play eight learning activities using their photos
• Create personalized cards to email to family and friends
• Show off photos and photo albums with voice captions and background music
• Select one of six songs and direct a music video

The Bongga
This is the best accessory ever! The kids are having so much fun taking and personalizing photos. They love editing their photos by drawing on them, adding borders and cartoon stamps:


You can also use the photos to create greeting cards for various holidays and occasions. For instance, here's the card that Jammy created to wish everyone on Bonggamom Finds a Merry Christmas:




You don't even need an occasion; some of the card templates have superheroes, cheerleaders and other themes for everyday fun. Here's one that The Pea created just to annoy her brothers. Actually, on closer inspection, that's just 3Po, duplicated using the Mirror Image tool that comes with the Explorer Camera. Or it could be Jammy. When you're an identical twin, it doesn't really matter!


You can even make music videos with the videos you record! Finally, when you connect the Explorer to your computer using the Leapfrog Connect app, you can upload your photos to your hard drive so you can share your child's photo and video masterpieces with family and friends.

Entertaining as all that may be, this accessory goes one step further. Just like all Leapfrog products, the Camera and Video Recorder also adds an educational component -- kids can actually use their photos to play some learning activities!


The Blah
The camera takes a long time to start -- right after you tap on the camera icon to launch it, the Explorer screen blacks out without warning, and stays that way for about 20 seconds -- so don't freak out and think you've destroyed your Leapster! Also, I wish I could figure out how to specify the location that the Explorer saves your photos to (it creates a "Leapfrog" folder on your Shared Documents drive) and how to specify image quality. But then again, it's not supposed to be a DSLR, it's supposed to be a fun toy for kids!


The Bottom Line
The Camera and Video Recorder accessory for the Leapster Explorer opens up a whole new world of fun for your child!


Required entry:
Leave a comment on this post and tell me what your child would do with the Leapster Explorer Camera & Video Recorder. This entry must be completed before any extra entries will count.


Extra Entries
For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment on this post for each extra entry, with a way to verify the entry (i.e. tweet link, blog post link, blog comment link, Facebook id, Twitter id, etc.).


1) Grab my 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways button and post it up on your blog (1 entry).

2) Write this on the Leapfrog Facebook Fan Page (1 entry):

I entered to win the new Leapster Explorer Camera & Video Recorder on Bonggamom Finds! You can enter too at http://tinyurl.com/279natk

2) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook wall (1 entry):

I entered Day 1 of the 12 Days of Christmas giveaways on Bonggamom Finds! One lucky winner will receive a Leapster Explorer Camera! http://www.bonggamom.com

3) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Blogger (1 entry).

4) Tweet this, up to once per day (1 entry per day, leave a comment with the tweet link for each tweet):

Day 1 of 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways on @bonggafinds: enter to win a Leapster Explorer camera fr @leapfrog! http://www.bonggamom.com #giveaway

5) Join any of my other 12 Days of Christmas giveaways (leave a comment with the name of the giveaway you joined, 1 entry per giveaway you've joined).

This giveaway ends at midnight PST on January 6, 2011; I will draw a winner at random on January 7 and post the winner's name as soon as the winner confirms acceptance. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck!