Leap Frog is one of those companies that has a pretty good brand going on. You can associate the company with educational toys with a technical twist. I’m going to be reviewing two of their products today, one for the very young and one for a little older than that.

The first is the Leap Frog Learn and Groove Musical Mat, and it is a mat about 4 feet with ten buttons on it like a weird version of Dance Dance Revolution. It’s made for those ages 3 to 5, and it has lot of great play for someone of that age range.

Each of the ten spots has a number, animal, and an instrument. There are games so the kid can follow the lead and learn some beats, as well as the possibility of Free Play.

I don’t see this particular item on the Leap Frog site yet, but I found it on the Bed, Bath, and Beyond site for about $29.99.

As for the LeapStart, this is one of two that are sold from the company, and this particular model that you see in the image on the right is the one of Kindergarten and 1st Grade.

This educational toy is made for creative thinking as well as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). It has a set-up like a portable gaming system, but the “cartridges” are these books that can be placed within the Leap Start.

From there, there is this stylus on a wire that can read invisible dots on the pages. This allows for questions, challenges, and all kinds of things to help speed along learning. They are designed to teach school and life skills, with levels of Preschool, Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and then First Grade.

The Leap Start itself costs $39.99 on the Leap Frog site, with the books costing $12.99 each.