Video Games??? - Fort Worth,TX

The DS is definitely for older kids...my 8-10 year old nephews play with those. The controls are too small for my 4year olds hands.

We started with a V-smile...and he loves it..lots of levels and educational, colors, letters,etc.. The controls are bigger and easier for a 3-4 year old. My 5-6 year old nephews like it as well. We had trouble with one controller, replaced it and it works wonderful. It is two years old and the kids are not gentle.

We also have the Leapster and it is great too. The two products are very similar. The biggest issue we have is that it has a "pen" to draw with. My son sometimes has problems with it and gets frustrated. Many of the games we have need this "pen" to do at least some of the actions to move forward, even though it has one of those big knob controls as well. This is frustrating to my son and he will stop and switch to the V-Smile.

For the most part they are very similar and he enjoys both...my two year old enjoys wathcing...so for now, they are not fightingover it!!

i think the DS is for kids a little more old i think for a 4 year old a educational game is better and something less expensive .
i give my kid for christmas a gameboy advance and he play only the first month and last month he lost it and he didn't care about the game.
my kid is 4 years

I am absolutely not a big fan of video games. I would definitely hold off for a while. Save yourself the trouble and wait!

Hi C., The DS would be a little too old for your sons. It doesn't have educational games for children only adults(like Brain Age and Big Brain Academy). The Game Boy Advanced(GBA) would be a better game system for a 4 year old, but it doesn't have "educational" games either. It's really just made for games. The DS costs more and I don't think it has many kid games using the DS cartridge. The DS can play the GBA games if you decide to get a DS in the future. We have both and I worry about my children using my DS because it has a touch screen and I think they touch a little to hard. The kids have the GBA and it has lasted a couple years now. We bought everything at Gamestop.
For more educational type systems, you should look at the Leap Frog stuff. They make My First LeapPad which is for the younger ages like 4 year olds. I'm not familiar with any others. We did buy the My Firat LeapPad at Kids R Us 2 years ago, but my kids didn't really play it much. My oldest kids are 6 and 5 now.

A Leapster is the way to go for a 4yo. Fun, but educational games. My oldest got one for his 4th birthday and it's still one of his most played with toys.

I would go with the Leapster. THere are educational games based on age and they are fun! We got my son one when he was three and he's now 5 and still loves it. He doesn't even realise it's educational but he's always telling me "hey mom, did you know that...." It's so cute!

Also, we did get the V.Smile first (the purple and orange system by Vtech) and we took it back after a few days and exchanged for the leapster. It had problems with the controllers working - a quality issue here. I know others that have it and have the same problems we did. Just an FYI!

I'm not a big fan of video systems. I have friends whose kids have them and they barely take their nose out of it. My daughter has a Leap Frog leapster and she loves it! The games are fun and educational. I'm not a video expert, but the games are not very long like nintendo, so it keeps her attention, but it's not like she can't put it down either. Plus it's small & portable so you can take it anywhere, just like a nintendo.

My oldet daughter(5 yrs) also wanted a handheld video game. I not a big fan of video games for kids. All my neices have one and that is why my daughter wanted one.
I did buy her the Leapster L Max at christmas time. The games are very educational and I really like that. I am also finding the Leapster games on sale at Target. I would go with the Leapster it may not what he really wanted but at least you know he is actally learning something useful.

My son is 5 and he loves the V-Tech V-Smile. We got it for him the Christmas before last and he still loves to play it. The games are mostly educational. He also loves his leapster.
Good Luck.

A Leapster is a great solution. It is hand held and feels like a video game; however, only operates Leapster cartidges that are educational. The Leapster L Max is more expensive and can be connected to the television. We do just fine without that feature.