Nintendo DS Lite

Our girls were 8 and 10 when each of them upgraded from the older style Gameboy modesl to the DS Lite.

This is one of the few toys and games by kids play with frequently.  They're not game "junkies" so we really don't have a problem with them needing to be limited with video games.  These are great for long trips as we go camping frequently and the kids can "hook up" on the road and play many of the games together.  They can also "chat" with eachother from their rooms.  They use this feature ones in a while, but not often.

When each of our children has gone to sleepovers, it seems all the girls have a DS and they all bring them and hook up to play games.  Everyone seems to really enjoy it.  The kids are usually allowed to bring the games on the bus for long field trips and again, all the kids will join up on a single game and have tons of fun.

The DS seems to have more games for the younger crowd.  While I haven't personally owned others like the PSP, I noticed it seems the games are geared more for the teenage crowd.

I only wish the DS Lite was compatible with hooking to the Wii, but so far it is not.

On one of the units, the stylist doesn't sit tight in it's holder anymore and if not careful, it will fall out.  So far we haven't lost it and the other one is fine.