Considering them for our girls this Christmas – any recommendations for best ones in terms of usability, cost of apps etc?

Cheers

LeapPad Ultra by LeapFrog- was £87 in Toys R Us. Has wifi (restricted web access) and 8GB of memory plus stacks of educational apps and games.

We just let our 3.5 yr old use our iPad

We have twins and only one iPad…

We have twins and only one iPad…

It must be hell 🙁

Tablet for 4 yr olds?

😯

This is a joke. Right?

We bought our twin 4 year olds cheap android ones. They’re OK but the leap pads etc are better and we may get those instead. Either way is better than them wrecking a £400 phone or ipad.

I’m with sofatester…wtf!

This is a joke. Right?

Yes!! I knew it would come 😀 I do agree with you though!! I have a 4 year old and there is no way I would even contemplate buying him a tablet. He hardly gets near my iPad, even then it’s only for an interactive story book. Maybe I’m a bit old fashioned in my outlook? Buy them 27.5cm dolls to bring their playtime alive.

I really don’t see the harm in exposing kids to technology as part of a balanced set of activities / learning. My daughter has used phones / tablets / computers from an early age is an quite adept at navigating her way around them, more so than the missus! She(daughter not missus) mostly plays educatuional ‘games’ and is learning without realising while having fun. Her latest facination is Excel, and seeing if it comes up with the same answers to sums as she does. And to top it al she still considers access to it a treat for good behaviour, and something that will be removed for poor behaviour.

I can see the issue if using them as 24/7 digital childminder, but same applies to TV / DVD / DS / x-box / etc

I mean tablet-based learning/gaming toy, not an iPad/Android

I am thinking LeapPad type things.

Ahem also for 4yo

Sofatester kids love playing with tablet occasionally, they wanna copy mum n dad, guess it’ll teach hand eye co-ordination aswell as whatever educational apps they may use, get them pc savvy too, don’t see a problem if they don’t over do it,( or smash a top model ipad!) a cheap locked down tab should be ok

Her latest facination is Excel

Does she know what F7 does yet? 😉

whats wrong with giving a child a tablet to play with?

did the babylonians not let their kids look at their clay tablets, or egyptians not let them see their dads papyrus schrolls

tablets, assuming they are tough enough are ace for kids because of their child like simplicity, my 3 year old son knows how to turn on the doodledraw app on my phone, for balance we spent the afternoon painting dragons and gruffalos

I’m looking into it at the moment, though will probably wait until she’s 3 next year. The apps for the leap pads do look extremely expensive in comparison to a normal tablet with a tough case.

Its amazing seeing a 3 yr old being able to use and iPad better than some adults. Jnr FD draws on it, takes pictures, plays racing driver games, watches stuff on You Tube, plays games etc. He can switch between apps, close apps etc etc.

My mate who lives around the corner wont let his 4 yr old near a computer. I think she is missing out more.

Before the do gooders criticise, its my iPad, he only uses it for short periods of time, and he does all the other good stuff that proper middle class toddlers/kids are supposed to do 🙂

Ohh, and before people get too judgemental, our two do ‘normal’ stuff too – today they made a house from an old cereal box, the people living in it made from pipe cleaners, a fence made from lollipop sticks stuck together with Sellotape.

Its amazing seeing a 3 yr old being able to use and iPad better than some adults. Jnr FD draws on it, takes pictures, plays racing driver games, watches stuff on You Tube, plays games etc. He can switch between apps, close apps etc etc.

our two year old gets a go occasionally, mostly his mums old phone, watching him switch apps and mess around on it looking like he knows what he’s doing is fun – just randomly pressing buttons sometimes but he can open the matching pairs game and play that but quite frankly he’s shit at angry birds 😉

Very tempted by the allwinner and a tough/bouncy case, unfortunately after asking for my advice it looks like father in law will be ignoring me and getting them an innotab or something, 🙄 looks pricey for apps and limited in what it can do, bet I can’t drop DVD rips on it.

Apps are free.

A 4yr old will respect a tablet as much as it respects a cardboard box.

I would be inclined to say that you should be looking at toys that cost a lot less.

Nothing wrong with letting a kid use a tablet at that age but to own one..

Etch-a-sketch…

Delete – pick it up and shake it.

Save – don’t pick it up and shake it.

Does she know what F7 does yet?

Yes. It’s me that struggles with that 🙂

A 4yr old will respect a tablet as much as it respects a cardboard box.

it will be a useful learning experience, “oh dear, you broke it, no you cant use mine.” 🙂

Seem to recall I went through a phase (quite a few years) of breaking my presents on Christmas Day, thank goodness for argos no quibble 16day return policy, dukes of hazard barn buster was way better than the scalextric rip off that I was originally bought.

Inotab2… one of our 4 yr old twins taught herself to read on one… not sure why this topic promotes a wtf response. We had computers and consoles as kid in the early 80s… why get all Mary Whitehouse 30 frigging yrs later!

You’re quite right djglover, there’s no point in coming over all Mary Whitehouse…..

Oh god, what have I said……?

Ipad, with an iguy cover makes it pretty indestructible when in the hands of our three year old. I firmly believe that technology is going to play substantially more of a part in my child’s education than it did mine, so why not expose her to it at a young age.

If your want to continue to entertain/educate your kids in the same way you were then that’s your choice, not mine.

We’ve been looking around schools as junior DrP will be going next year – I’m amazed actually that the classrooms all use interactive whiteboards and have several pcs in each room.
This has been all schools we looked at.

He’s nearly 4, and has just wandered in the room, picked up the iPad, unlock it, opened the itv player app, and is watching a kids show….
Kids and computer/tablets are an inevitable combination it seems.

However, I and others with young kids have noted their pen handling skills and handwriting is rubbish.
Swings and roundabouts…

DrP

Sofatester kids love playing with tablet occasionally, they wanna copy mum n dad, guess it’ll teach hand eye co-ordination

Yes it sure will…

😉

My lads, aged 5 & 6, have a free run on our iPads. They use them to play games, watch films, make stop-start Lego Star Wars animations, draw pictures and FaceTime their cousins and grandparents.

Their reading and writing are both very good for their age groups and they both enjoy playing football, riding bikes, swimming and coming for a run with us. They also eat their greens. 😉

Depriving children of access to new technology is pointless and restrictive. The world is moving and IMO we should move with it as parents.

Yes it sure will…

hey I mentioned hand eye co-ordinations, nothing can stop you being an idiot if that is your vocation 🙂