Kids and Digital Cameras
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times my boys are trying to sneak my digital camera to take pictures. They think it’s fun, however I don’t want my camera broken, so I’m constantly taking it away, which results in tears and tantrums. That’s where a kid friendly digital camera comes into play. Sakar has a LeapFrog Talking Digital Camera that is durable for kids, all while taking pictures and is quite easy to use. There’s a lot when it comes to a digital camera, so I’ve outlined some of the good and bad with this camera.

Pros: As I mentioned above, this camera is tough. It’s been thrown around and dropped, yet it still works. It has a 1.5 inch screen where you can view pictures, take pictures of your subject, or change functions. Your child can also look through the view finder to take a picture, but neither of my boys used the view finder when taking pictures.


It’s quite user friendly, and only has three buttons. The on/off button is on the left, and the playback, flash, scroll buttons are on the right. The camera makes a sound to let you know it is on, and then you simply look at the screen and take a picture. After each picture, the camera tells you things like, “Great shot!” This was really cute at first, and Chan would come show me the pictures that he had taken.
The resolution goes from 640×480 to 1600×1280. There are actually 3 different settings, and you can change the resolution by using the function that shows stars. One star means it is on the lowest resolution, 2 stars, middle, and 3 stars means it is the highest resolution. We kept it on the lowest resolution, because if you do this, you are able to take a couple hundred pictures. This is great for kids, because the more pictures it can hold, the better. My boys have been taking a LOT of pictures.


The overall look and feel of the camera is also great for kids. It’s not so big to be obnoxious, but big enough for small hands to grip. This camera also incorporates a flash. While I think a flash is a great idea, it tends to expose the subject a little too much, and results in pictures that look white or washed out. You can see that in the example above. However, the pictures are quite nice when you are outside in a natural light.

As good as you can get with a 2.1 megapixel camera that is meant for kids anyway.  And really, kids don’t care about quality that much I’ve noticed.  Chandler especially is proud of the pictures he takes regardless of how they look.

The camera is battery operated, but powers off by itself after a minute or two of not being in use. This is a nice feature because your batteries will last longer. This LeapFrog camera also comes with software that is great for basic editing.

Cons: As mentioned above, the flash overexposes subjects. The pictures that I had posted above with the flash used were very typical of any that we took. I tried them in different lighting, etc, but the flash always made the pictures look really horrible. Because it doesn’t really serve a purpose, I think it might be a good change just to not have a flash at all on this camera.
Another thing that I felt somewhat annoying was the sounds. It does praise your child by saying “Great Shot!” And says things like “Goodbye!” when the camera is powering off. You are able to turn the sound off, but if your child turns the camera off and then back on again, it’s those loud sounds again. I feel it would be better served to have an actual switch on the camera like many toys do that will turn the sound on and off. I know I would definitely appreciate this as a parent.

The software that the camera comes with really doesn’t do very much. You can change up the pictures just a little bit with color, special effects, and erasers, but I would love to see more incorporated such as scenes and stickers. These are little improvements that I think would make the software more fun. I also was not able to actually install the software, but can access the program when I have the cd in my computer. I’m not sure if it is because we are operating on a mac, but I haven’t been able to put the software on my desktop, I have to have the cd in to use it.
My last complaint is the price point. Everywhere I’ve seen this camera, it retails for about $50. I think it’s a good digital camera for kids, but would be more likely to buy it if it was around the $30 price point.

Price: $49.99

Where to Buy: Toys R Us

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The product reviewed in this article was a sample provided to me by the company or PR representative. These views and opinions are my own and I was not compensated by this review.

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