We received the leapster as a gift when my son was turning 5.  He opened it and went to town without any assistance from mom!  It comes with a couple basic games which carried us for a few weeks, but he quickly wanted to move on to something new.  We went to target and purchase the "cars" game.  Loved that one too.  He spent a few weeks playing on his own not moving up the levels very fast, but quickly figured out the concept for the game and is on his way to reading!!!