Poingo Makes Books Come Alive
Publications International, Ltd., has created a (relatively) new interactive product, Poingo to make books literally “come alive” for children. It’s a pen that senses locations on the pages of special Poingo books with a tiny infrared camera mounted in its tip.
“Children ages 3-7 will love using the pen-shaped Poingo to touch pictures or text, and bring their favorite characters to life with words, sounds and music. Almost everything on the book’s pages comes alive, engaging the child and making their reading, and learning, experience an unforgettable one.”
We were sent a Poingo starter kit to review and are totally digging it. Because it’s inevitable and is the first question I’m always asked when someone sees our Poingo…on with the comparison: There are currently several similar products on the market, with the Leapfrog TAG being the main competitor. We don’t have a Tag but borrowed one from a friend for comparison sake. There are a few major differences as well as some similarities noted when we used both for a few weeks. They both have their positives and negatives and, in our opinion, there is no clear winner. It’s all a matter of preference.
Our observations:
*Locally, the Poingo system is at least $15 cheaper at regular price for the starter kit. ($35 vs $50.) The price point of Poingo makes this cool technology available to more families.
*The Poingo sound is not as crisp nor as clear as the sound of the Tag.
*With Tag, you can point at individual words on the page and Tag will read just that word. Poingo only reads the entire page which is very frustrating for the child who is learning to read and wants help with only a few words. It took us a long time to figure this out, but the pages’ narration can be interrupted with another tap that the pace can be controlled.
*They both claim to have several books available but I can only find 2 books for the Poingo (Nemo and Cars – my son loves them both!) but over 20 for the Tag.
*Poingo looks all contain licenced characters but the Tag system offers much more variety.
*Both systems run on 2 AAA batteries. The Poingo’s 256 MB of internal memory is much larger than that of the TAG’s 16 MB, and it can store up to 50 books where the Tag can store only 6.
*For the Poingo pen, you have to go online to download more content by way of a USB port . I had no luck in doing this and received no response from the customer service (disservice?) reps after several attempts so we’re still just using what the system came with.
*The Poingo has two volume levels and a headphone jack. The Tag has a headphone jack.
*Both systems are targeted to a similar age group (preschoolers and early school aged children, 3-7 for Poingo and 4-8 for Tag) but the books rip incredibly easily. They should both be built much more sturdily and perhaps coated in something plastic or rip-resistant given their target audience. In my opinion, both systems should say 2-6 or 7 because my early reader loves his Poingo system at 2.5 years and anyone over 7 is likely going to think it’s a little “babyish” according to the 7 year old who played with ours.
While they both have their annoying features, I’d actually love to have both in my house because they also have their good points and the kids love them. The technology is very cool and there’s so much potential. I’m waiting for the Poingo and Tag v.2 to be developed and I want to try them!
Win it! We’ve got a Poingo system for one reader to try! To enter to win, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on February 4, 2009.
CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED
January 28th, 2009 at 5:59 am
This would be fantastic for our youngest boy.
January 28th, 2009 at 7:43 am
My 6 yr old kindergartner says he doesn’t want to learn to read so I am looking for anything that will make it interesting for him.
Heather’s last post…Ethan and the Inauguration!
January 28th, 2009 at 10:03 am
This looks like it would be fun for my daughter, thanks!
Jill W.’s last post…Bloggy Carnival is in full swing!!
January 28th, 2009 at 10:42 am
You don’t need to enter me in the contest, as we actually have both the Tag and Poingo systems. I just wanted to make a few comments.
We found two Disney Princess books for Poingo at Walmart (can’t remeber which ones as I have two boys so didn’t buy them) and also the Lion King and Winnie the Pooh for Poingo at Walmart (which I did buy). All the books (so far) are already loaded on the Poingo so you don’t actually have to download anything, and just connecting it to the computer made the 20 free songs work (a little sheet that came with the starter kit).
My kids love both of them, the books are cheaper for Poingo, and bigger, but there are fewer available right now. Both have games in the books, but you have to kind of explore to find the ones on Poingo (but they like to point the pen at everything anyway!), where they are obvious in the Tag books.
Even my two year old likes to play with them, it’s so cute to hear him repeating phrases and words! But the pages are only slightly thicker than a regular book, so I really have to make sure he doesn’t turn the pages to akwardly and rip them. Lots of fun though!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Jasper would like to try this!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I would love to get this for my 2 year old, he loves going to the library and getting books so I’m sure he would enjoy this also.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
My daughter would love to try this!
January 28th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
This is an awesome product for kids. Our young one hates reading because its ‘tooo hard’ ‘I don’t know that word’. We definitely need this.
January 28th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
looks great
January 28th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
enter me please
January 28th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Great product!
gkstratos@yahoo.com
January 28th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Nice prize.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
My kids would love this!
January 28th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
my duaghter would benefit from this
January 28th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I’d LOVE to try this with my son!!
Andrea’s last post…Wordless Wednesday – Four Six Eyes
January 28th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Awesome, technology has come a long way since I was young. Wish these were around then (:
January 28th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I’d love to try this! My DD has been begging me to help teach her to read..this sounds like a nifty way to start!
January 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
This would be great for Tristan. It would spark his interest in books even more. And it would be a help to me by letting him hear the story when I’m too busy to read to him.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
What a great prize. I’d love to win this for my kids. I think that this is a great way for them to start to read. Thanks so much.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
love to win
January 28th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
Yay! My son loves books and this would be handy so mommy could get a few things done…
Krista’s last post…Wordless Wednesday: Oregon Sky
January 28th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Oh that would be awesome!!!
Michelle’s last post…Woot woot! Massage Envy Contest!
January 28th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
This would be great , I have a 3 year old sith Speach Appraxia and any kind of learning material would be wonderful, he already has a speach therpaist and other kinds of help so I know this would be fantastic for him
Please enter me aharris007@sc.rr.com
January 28th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
I would really enjoy winning this and giving it to my neice Katy!
Thanks so much!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
would love to try! thanks!
January 28th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
love to win this
January 29th, 2009 at 12:42 am
What a neat idea to get some reluctant readers to “read”.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:17 am
My kids would love this!
January 29th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Sweet!
January 29th, 2009 at 9:52 am
This would be great for my nephew. He is in preschool now and will start kindergarten this fall.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Sounds interesting. I have been tempted to buy a Tag … but we have a Leapster that she loves.
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January 29th, 2009 at 10:42 am
This would be the perfect reading start for my 17 month old grandson. It would definitely keep his interest, and mom’s too
January 29th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I would love to win the Poingo for my son – It looks like a great system. Thank you.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:28 am
I’d love to win!
January 29th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
This looks like a wonderful system and the books are really fun. Thank you for the great giveaway!
January 29th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Oingo Poingo!
January 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
my son is the perfect age for this, it would really help his early reading skills
January 29th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
This sounds great for my little nieces
January 29th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Love the prize and thanks for the contest.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
This would be perfect for my preschooler! Thanks for the chance!
January 29th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
Can I win this please?
heh
Stephen Saunders’s last post…Happy Birthday…
January 29th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
great giveaway! the kids would love this! thanks for the giveaway!
January 29th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
My niece who’s 3 and is very taxing on her mother as she has a hard time of entertaining herself and so full of excess energy would probably benefit greatly from something like this, I know her mother would. Thanks for a great giveaway!
January 29th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
enter me please
January 29th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
This looks like fun!
January 29th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
We love our Poingo as does my daughter. From a teacher’s perspective, I quite like it as a learning tool. They actually sell them at Costco sometimes for 26.50!
Multi-Tasking Mommy’s last post…Another MTM Interview…Get to Know Me Even More!
January 29th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
oh I hope to win
January 29th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
This looks like a lot of fun for my nephew.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
My kids would both love this!
January 30th, 2009 at 12:32 am
This would be such a Great product to have for our two youngest children who are three and four !
Thank you so much for offering this wonderful giveaway !
January 30th, 2009 at 12:51 am
Poingo would be fantastic for my niece. She is just now learning to read.
January 30th, 2009 at 7:29 am
looks like a great product to have
January 30th, 2009 at 7:41 am
I would love to win this for my great grandson who is turning three in April! Thanks for this giveaway
sbrodeur@sc.rr.com
January 30th, 2009 at 8:44 am
This looks like it would be fun to do together. Thanks!
January 30th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
My granddaughter would love this!
January 30th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Count me in
January 30th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Was looking for a review comparing the Tag and the Poingo. Thanks for your advice. We have two Tag readers and my kids (1y, 3y, 4y) love them. I had no clue that the Tag would read an individual word. So as soon as I read your review I ran to grab a Tag to try it for myself. I’m thrilled to know this as it will help my 4 year learn to read. Your review leads me to purchase the Poingo simply for the additional memory. My kids quickly learned which Tag pen is matched to which 6 books/games but I wish the Tags could hold more books bc we have ten total. Also, I’m reading that Leapfrog has this week announced a toddler version of the Tag that will be easier for tiny hands to manipulate and will come with toddler books, so I’m guessing that is why LeapFrog rated the Tag as a 4+ toy—so they can market the toddler version to the toddler set. But my toddlers have easily been able to manipulate their Tags so I think the rating should be 2+.
January 30th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I would love to have this for my son.
Shilo Beedy’s last post…A Family Completed Contest
January 31st, 2009 at 4:40 am
Great review!! Would love to be entered to win for my godson!!
Thanks so much!!
Michele R.(CA)
luvkittysmeowmail@gmail.com
Butterfly Whispers
January 31st, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Thanks for the honest review.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:25 am
Oh, what a great prize!
My niece would love it
Thanks
February 1st, 2009 at 1:32 am
These would be great for the grand-children. Thanks.
February 1st, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Wow this would be great for my little reader
February 1st, 2009 at 7:08 pm
first time I heard of this
February 1st, 2009 at 8:15 pm
My kids saw this in the store and really liked it! I’d love to win one for them! Thanks!
February 1st, 2009 at 8:23 pm
My preschooler would really love this. He is so ready to start school and really enjoys his learning toys. Thanks for the great giveaway.
February 1st, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Count our family in!!!! This would be great!
Carla
cpullum(at)yahoo(dot)com
February 1st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
My son is just starting to read and I think this would be a great incentive!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:09 am
Thanks for the review of both products. I’d love to win this for my youngest son. Thanks.
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:36 am
We have never tried the Poingo products, but we have numerous Leapfrog systems. I don’t think any of these are the “holy grail” to having a smart child. Usually we play with the child and use it as a tool rather than a teacher. Human interaction is the key to educational success. These electronic devices just make it more fun!
Thanks for the contest.
superdavefive(at)yahoo(dot)com
February 2nd, 2009 at 6:45 pm
How fun and educational! Great product!
February 2nd, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Thanks for the giveaway!
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 am
This would be perfect for my little one who is mastering the art of reading
February 3rd, 2009 at 1:59 am
My nephew has a sight disability and I think Poingo might make him interested in learning to read. I’d love to give this to him to try.
February 3rd, 2009 at 2:13 am
This would be so perfect for our reading loving family! : )))
Thanks so much for this fabulous give~away! : )))
leahita[at]gmail[dot]com
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:57 am
I would love to win this for my niece and nephew. They are both learning to read now and love Disney books. I saw on the mypoingo.com website there are more coming this spring.
February 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 am
Would really love to win this for my grand children, age 4 and 6.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm
This would be great for my younger kids.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
This would be perfect for my son. Thanks for the chance, justicecw@hotmail.com
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 pm
looks like this makes reading fun…kids have it good these days
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
These are great learning tools as it gets harder and harder to get kids to read. They seem to need electronics
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Sounds like a great idea~
Amy Tucker’s last post…Win a free night at Ski and Stay in Lehigh Valley, PA; includes knit cap and vest [no transportation].
February 4th, 2009 at 12:10 am
My son would love to have this! Thanks for the giveaway!
February 4th, 2009 at 2:09 am
This would be so neat to try! I love your comparisons too.
February 4th, 2009 at 6:44 am
I would love the chance to win, thanks.
February 4th, 2009 at 8:03 am
This looks great, it would be terrific for my nephew!
February 4th, 2009 at 8:14 am
This looks like a fun way to introduce reading concepts to my son.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:06 am
This would be fantastic for my grandchildren, currently in pre-school and Kindergarten. They already have a love of books and because of their big brother love all kinds of gadgets too. So this would be right up their alley.
February 4th, 2009 at 9:47 am
enter me
February 4th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I would love to win this for my son. It looks like a great oppurtunity to start teaching him to read.
February 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Please enter me and thanks!