new educational devices win kids' attention by being handheld game machines

Your kids can learn math, how to tell time and other skills needed for school — and you don't have to pry them away from video games.That was the appeal of two new handheld devices my three boys recently tested: the $70 Leapster2 and the $90 Didj, made by LeapFrog Enterprises Inc. and designed to put learning games into a format likely to be coveted by children.The Leapster has been around before, but the second version adds new game titles, such as "Star Wars Clone Wars: Jedi Math." Designed for children ages 4 to 8, it connects to a computer with an included USB cable, allowing kids to earn rewards and certificates online and letting parents monitor their progress.The Didj, geared for 6- to 10-year-olds, takes the connection one step further, allowing parents to customize games to, for example, help children study multiplication tables or learn specific spelling words for a classroom test. Players can also use the connection to customize a Didj, including designing their own online game characters known as avatars.

For today's kids, veterans of many a gaming system, there's not much of a learning curve to the Didj. They just pick it up and play.The built-in "Jetpack Heroes" game takes a spaceman through a maze, picking up treasures for a couple of minutes as he goes along blasting foes.Then comes the first math problem: 4 + 1, which wasn't exactly rocket science for my 8-year-old son.But it gets tougher as it goes along, with the system getting into more complicated times-tables with multiple choice answers.For my 10-year-old son — at the top end of the targeted age — the times-tables remained a little easy, though the game was still enjoyable.On the other hand, my 4-year-old son — below the target age but always up to a challenge — was able to get some of the simpler addition. The game interface is enough like others he's tried that he could clumsily forge through, though he had to rely on his older brothers to yell out answers for harder problems.Similar in feel to the Didj, though a little heftier, the Leapster2 has a pen with a touch screen to select games to play, and a voice that coaches you through your choices.The built-in game helps teach numbers and letters to children piloting a dragon through clouds. They start out having the dragon breathe fire at nasty storms, while swooping into numbers or letters to select the right answers, before it becomes more difficult.My 4-year-old liked it, but much preferred the $25 "Jedi Math" add-on cartridge. In that game, you start off piloting a ship, then blast your way through the universe on a quest to find C-3PO, with a voice command telling you the number on the ship you have to shoot, to help you learn the digits.Later exercises include lessons on how to tell time, with the correct answers helping unlock doors.My 4-year-old seemed to enjoy the quizzes and learn from them, though he still insisted the game's "best part is killing droids."The $30 Didj version of "The Clone Wars" cooks along a lot faster than the built-in "Jetpack Heroes" and there seem to be more regular tests. Questions are a lot more varied even at the lower levels — asking about shapes, numbers and even fractions, as the Jedi pauses from slaying clones to work out the puzzles.My 8-year-old told me he'd be as likely to play the Didj game as one of his many titles for the Nintendo DS handheld game device. He'd slyly worked into his calculation, however, that his parents seemed more inclined to give him more leeway in playing the Didj or Leapster2 over other game systems."Because you learn, you get more time on it," he said.

The information from: www.allforinfant.com