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My daughter has just turned 5, so I've decided thats old enough to introduce her into the wonderful world of gaming.  I had initially thought of getting her a DS, until I realised how expensive the DS (let alone a 3DS) and their games are.  Then I thought about getting an iPod touch or an old 2nd hand iPhone, and loading it up with game Apps.

Has anyone looked at doing this for a littleun?  My wife thinks I'm just going for the cheap route, and while I am, I also think that an iOS platform has a lot more longevity (and cool factor with her firiends) than the DS. 

My little dude likes his DSi but doesn't actually game on it much. He like the camera, video, recording and drawing stuff on it a lot more.

I bought a DS for my daughter on her 5th bday.  She played it a bit, but the vast majority of games require decent reading skills which she didn't have at that time.  Pokemon was a good start, but without her reading it just didn't work out well.  Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros she played a lot, though.

She tinkered around with Dungeon Hunter on my iPhone a bit, but iPhone games are fairly lackluster overall. 

Honestly what she plays the most now (6.5yrs) is Minecraft, Terraria and Dungeon Defenders. 

Also, they don't recommend a 3DS for anyone under 6, I think, due to the eye strain.  After demoing one in a store, I understand the reasoning.  It makes my head hurt.

Verdict:  DS if you have to, but I'd just suggest waiting a year or two. 

You could always go with an android tablet too, the Samsung Galaxy S mp3 player (5" android tablet, wifi) is $210 on Amazon right now.

Leapster tablet or explorer, they even come in pink.

The iOS has greater future expansion capabilities. It will also have a wider range of kid's products.

A child can be happy with Cut the Rope for ages.

Santa has a leappad (http://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-LeapPad-Explorer-Learning-Tablet/dp/B004Z7H15Q/ref=pd_sim_t_4) ready for my 4 year old.  Had a quick play and it seems pretty good.

Just got my son a DSi for his 6th birthday. Got a good condition second hand one for £80 (with years warranty from the store). He's got two games and probably won't need many more. He hasn't been off it for two days. 

One of the main reasons we got him one is because a lot of his school friends have got one so they can swap games, play MP or whatever else it does.

Both my kids (6 and 9) have both 3DSes and iTouches.  Couple points I would make:

- iTouch is good for cheap, short term fun.  Tons of free apps and games (especially if cracked!), and good for short attention spans.  Especially fun for the younger ones with the video camera.  They can use hours making stupid videos.
- DS software is good for some of the really high quality games...all the Marios, Zeldas and whatnots.  Has a bit more longeivtiy
- 3DS...of course, you can turn down the 3D function or turn it off completely if it bothers you, but I have a feeling that most kids are immune to the dizzying/headache effects.  I'm sure that isn't completely true, but I am convince that this is a problem that tends to plague older people more than younger ones.  Just like staring at video screens all day or listening to that crazy devil music all day.

If I had to pick one over the other for either of my kids...I think I would pick the DS.  I just think they get more enjoyment over all.  They occasionally switch back to their iTouches for brief periods, but they always end up spending more time on the DS.  And the 3DS is cool.  Not a gimmick.  The 3D effect is cool, the graphics overall are better than the DS, has built in camera (and 3d camera), and even the AR stuff would be interesting to a small kid.

My two cents.

Bought my daughter a leapster explorer last year for xmas when she was 4, she still plays it frequently.  My biggest complaint is that over the course of the last year they have only come out with maybe 6 new games, only 1 of which was up her alley. 

She also has fun playing with my android phone as well.  I think I will probably wait until she is 7+ before getting her something along the lines of a DS.

I recommend an iTouch.  The DS is second fiddle in my house and the iTouch is great for video when the kids are in the car.  I bought a headphone splitter so they can all listen.

Thanks for the responses all - glad to see they have ranged the whole way from DS to iTouch to wait a year or two.  Now I gotta decide all on my own :)

My 3 year old is getting *2* tablets for christmas.  A LeapPad tablet because there's far more software available for it, and an VTech InnoTab because it does media playing and has an SD slot (8 gig SD card is good for about 10-12 hours of video).  We'll probably hold the InnoTab in reserve for long car rides unless she manages to *not* break the LeapPad (although the InnoTab is actually cheaper, it will also have a padded case that may improve the survivability).

Kids seem to pick up the touch-screen UI *very* quickly, this was brought on because she kept getting ahold of our Android phones, about 50% of the time she gets the music player going (and 100% of the time she sends nonsense texts to random people in the Contacts)

--Dave

EDIT: And SD cards ave gotten freaking *cheap*, we got 2 8-gig cards for $8 each on a Black Friday special.

I would say PSP with a game like Invizimals which is really fun