I was wondering if anyone has a system/computer for younger children. I saw something that hooks up to your TV and it is like a computer, I think it was V-Smile? (Not sure. Ive seen things on TV too but I could never remember the names.
I know they are too young for a true computer (I think) So Im looking for ideas along these line. Any suggestions would be great!
Hi Kara,
My son started with a regular computer when he was about 2. My husband bought a new laptop, and just let the little guy use the old one. It was still a good computer, he learned to use the mouse, played some basic games, and now he's 4, and knows how to use a computer better then his grandparents! It's never too early, kids are smart and learn very fast...
Kara
Is this what you looking for? http://www.leapfrog.com/en/families/clickstart/cs_clickst...
There's also something like this http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?cpncode=12-3100...
that fits over your keyboard.
OR
http://www.allegromedical.com/daily-living-aids-c519/bigk...
with a http://chestercreektech.com/product_info.php?ref=5&pr...
which is the option we are going for with my daughter. She's 2.5 and LOVES the computer. Whenever I'm on she sits with me and she loves to play simple games on it. (SesameStreet.com is a favorite).
Good luck!
My daughter will be 3 in february, and she has been using the computer for about 6 months. We like the Reader Rabbitt games. She knows how to navigate the mouse and click with her little finger, she will play a game for about 20 minutes at a time. She loves it.
We also got her for christmas the v-smile pocket. There are games that are age appropriate.
Vsmile did make a computer looking thing for young children. I just let my 3 yr old play on a computer with no internet access. He really enjoys it & is on it playing games all the time. Also he learned how to play his favorite movie on it as well. The Vsmile has made many educational programs for children to play on. I would reccomand you try the Vsmile first. It can come in very handy.
Both of my kids have been using real computers (laptops with trackpads as opposed to mice) since that age. They love the nickjr.com site and pbskids site. Granted we supervise closely but they LOVE the computer! There are a lot of educational games you can purchase and some really great kids websites online. Computer games are an almost daily activity here. Good luck!
My daughter started using our desktop very early. She is now five and can navigate through her favorite websites. I simply added a folder to favorites with her name and she can sit down and find those websites on her own. It helped that she could recognize her own name and at first only had a couple of sites to choose from. She only clicks on the websites I add to the folder so we have no problem with her going anywhere unsafe.
Kara,
We have that V-Smile/V-Tech system that hooks up to the TV. Some relatives of ours gave it to us and I guess there kids loved it. However, my daughter who is almost 2 really doesn't seem to care about it that much. She will sometimes just sit and watch it but she doesn't do anything with the interaction and typing part. I feel like on an educational level for learning computers it doesn't seem to work. If she's going to stare at it and the TV she mind as well be watching Seasame Street or something educational. We ended up giving her an old laptop of ours that she can play with and she likes that much better. Hope that helps and good luck.
I know this is a little late, but another great product out there for children for computers is the Fischer Price Easy Link. You plug it into your USB port on your computer and it has little fobs that connects the kids to different web sites. They are only allowed to acess that particular web site at a time, they cant print things (unless you allow access) and they can't access anything on the hard drive or anything else. My 3 year old loves it!
I am looking for the same sort of thing for my soon-to- be 3 yr0old twin boys. The Leap Frog one looks good but I wonder if it will work for twins. What do you think?
Kara, we've found over the years that Leapster carries a wide variety of age-appropriate computer-based products, frequently available at your favorite major discount store. While our kids enjoyed "V-Tech" products, we found them to be more "toy" than "learning" and the sounds were highly annoying to adults. Not so much with Leapster products, which often come with volume control. Good luck!
