even before christmas, odin was already quite familiar with leapfrog products and has had endless hours of fun with his fridge phonics set and his little touch leappad. and if today is any indication he’ll be having endless hours of fun with several new toys from the prolific educational toy maker, including this new leapstart learning table that was given to him by a very nice grandmother 🙂

so many leapfrog toys were unwrapped by so many family members that a few commented that we should collectively purchase some stock in the company.

and i guess we’re not alone according to a recent profile of the company, leapfrog’s wild rid, in wired magazine. apparently sales of just the leappad family of products have been nothing short of astonishing:

“Winner of Toy of the Year from the Toy Manufacturers of America, it was the best-selling toy in the US in 2001 and 2002, and was knocked from the top spot in 2003 only by the books and cartridges sold separately for the device. Powered by the LeapPad and its accessories, LeapFrog’s sales soared from $160 million in 2000 to $680 million in 2003. It was the fastest-growing toy company in history.”

my only gripe with the otherwise excellent series of products is that they seem to re-use the same voice files across products so you end up hearing a lot of repetition throughout the day if your child plays repeatedly with two or three of the toys. but on the other hand, i guess repetition is good for learning, so as long as they continue to get the odin seal-of-approval, i’ll grin and bear it.