What kind of hand-held device would entertain a child who is used to playing with an iPhone?

My 6 and 3yo loves ipad. They have no problems using it themselves, everything from math-games, normal games, short-stories to watching videos. In the 4 months we've had it, it has not been dropped, yet. There are some rules to use it, and seems to have taught them to respect it.. The wife, she misses her ipad though :)

I went through this. A two year old didn't understand that a cheaper electronic device with a screen was supposed to take the place of the alluring iPhone. I bought an ipod and put a lot of pics on there. Kid loved it. Now, 18 mos later, he knows who ellen is because he figured out how to download video podcasts. I suggest the ipod touch and a big rubber case. That works perfect.

n+1ing Leapster - it will be cheaper than an ipod or ds and has a great library of educational software for younger kids.

IF you think the ipod touch is too fragile try the Nintendo ds . Nintendo is known for making durable products.

3rding the Leapster. It's much like a Gameboy with a touch screen, except it's vastly more durable and games are educational. (Though very high quality though, you'd never even know you're learning stuff! Really :) There are a lot of games for it, and while 3 is a little young for most of the games, at around 4 she'll get a lot of use out of it.

Old iPod Touches are on craigslist and eBay for around $50. FYI, The first generation didn't include a speaker which is pretty important for games.

iPod touch - definitely. I think it's possible a new model (maybe with a camera?) will be announced soon (Sept. 1), so check around before you pull the trigger. Aside from the games, the ability to play movies (plane trip, car trip, etc) easily makes the iPod touch win hands down over the competition. I don't recommend leapster - it's useful for about 2 months max for most of the kids I know - and a 3 year old may have already passed that stage. The games are expensive (when compared to iphone apps) and aren't really very good. Although I'm sure others may have had a different experience, most parents I know bought it, but found it was not really used much... If your daughter has already played a game on the iPhone, she probably will not enjoy leapster....

Seconding the leapster. It's solid, made for repeated dropping and banging and hitting siblings. You can let the child play with minimal supervision, something I wouldn't do with a fragile iPhone or iPod. The games are a little more expensive than they should be, but you can often get them second-hand from Craigslist and eBay.

My kids (2,6,10) when not playing with their lego or art supplies, love the ipad, itouch and iphone. They have access to leappad and ds as well as our computer games and PS console but the iStuff wins hands down. All of my devices have been dropped multiple time (including on concrete) with no resulting problems. The huge number of free games means i can swap out games and books for variety really easily.