Amanda Rock, About.com's Guide to Parenting Preschoolers, wrote yesterday about PBS Kids Sprout apps for iPhones and wondered, "Would you let your preschooler play on your iPhone?" I immediately flashed back to long doctor's office waits with my tiny hyperactive son and thought, oh yes! I'd have let him play with anything if it brought me a moment's peace!
You've been there, right? You're on hour two in the waiting room or the airplane, your child has blown through all the toys, and you're down to making a train with credit cards from your wallet. Or you have the world's slowest waitress and no playthings at hand, and your child thinks the salt and pepper shakers are the coolest things in the world. Or you're exiled to the entryway of the church with a whiny kid who's determined to see how high hymnals can be stacked before they crash to the floor. Any electronic trick that can forestall or fill that moment gets my blessing.
Back in the day, I'd surely have winced at watching my son handle a pricey iPhone with fingers that had recently been in his mouth, and I'd have had to monitor closely to catch that moment between "Hey, this is fun!" and "Hey, I wonder if it'll bounce?" But otherwise, it sounds like a primo addition to a bag of tricks.
Would you let your preschooler play with your iPhone? Regularly, or just in times of great desperation? Answer the poll on Amanda's site, then share what's in your bag of tricks.
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I regularly let my kids play with my iPhone. It is a routine of sorts when they run in to our bedroom in the morning and see it sitting on the nightstand. My 3 year old is remarkably adept at using the phone; picking it up, swiping to unlock, swiping through multiple screens to get to favorite apps like Topple and Barnyard Buddies.
This was learned rather quickly with minimal guidance. Quite a testament to the device’s ease of use I thought.
All of my kids are very gentle with the iPhone as I made a point of letting them know that it is both valuable and fragile.
I highly recommend “ABC Animals – Talking Alphabet Cards for Kids”. I’ve only had it for a few days, but I love it, and more importantly, my 2-year old son loves it! The animations/pictures are active, fun, and most of all, ENGAGING for my kid. Here’s a link to the AppStore:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=323265340&mt=8
ABC zoo is a teaching and development application for your kids. Easy-to-use on a trip or whenever you are out with your children to amuse or keep them busy. A useful and funny app that lets your kid get used to reading. Your kids will learn alphabet while playing.
Website: http://www.xoxol.net
How-to-use video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ciKEnNpIo4
ABC Tutor.
My son Connor is learning his ABC’s at school so I thought having him help me create an ABC app would be a fun activity for the both of us.
We created ABC Tutor.
He recorded the voices for the cartoon character Connor.
I hope others like it as much as he does.
We have developed a handful of applications for kids and mainly focusing on education category.
Math Magic: Kids can learn as well as have fun with math. They can practice addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions. Random problems will be shown to the kids and they need to choose the correct answer
Word Magic: Kids need to choose the missing letters for the picture shown. Best suited for kids from UKG till 2nd standard. http://wordmagic.anusen.com
Math Series: Kids need to identify the missing numbers. The numbers could either be in descending or in ascending orders. http://mathseries.anusen.com
Match Magic: This application is best suited for younger kids < 6 years. They need to match the pictures/colors/count the numbers by identifying and matching them. http://matchmagic.anusen.com
Count Magic: This application is also suited for kids < 6 years. This app helps to kids to learn counting. They need to catch the number shown. As they keep counting, audio voice will help the kids in counting.
Think BIG: This app is kids in 5 to 10 age group. A group of numbers are shown. They need to pick up the largest or smallest number.
All of our games have rewards and stickers and scores built to motivate and encourage the kids.
Please check them out at http://www.anusen.com and videos @ http://www.youtube.com/kidsiphoneapps
we have developed new fun app for kids!
ABC zoo is a teaching and developing iPhone and iPod touch application for your kids. Easy-to-use on a trip or whenever you are out with your children to amuse or keep them busy. A useful and funny app that lets your kid get used to reading. Your kids will learn alphabet while playing.
available here:
http://www.xoxol.net
good article, I want say you that exist a game that teach to children to use the iPhone: tap, move, drag and drop!
or go to:
http://itunes.apple.com/it/app/baby-click/id367593538?mt=8
I would recomment number sense if you are tryin to teach your kid Math. This interesting game has 5 mini games that will be loved by all kids….check it out http://punflay.com/number_sense-appstore.html
My little one loves baby explorer for the ipad. Here’s the link: http://www.punflay.com/baby-explorer-appstore.html
I am the marketing representative of Ice Whale, an educational iPhone/iPad app developing team. We are now providing “Math Exercise Kid” which is a series of interactive math exercise applications for children. We also provide free trails.
We are going to launch our latest app with a special promotion, the FREE full version Math Exercise Kid (Division) with no ads for limited time. We strongly welcome you to take advantage of our special offer.
Math Exercise Kid (Division)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-exercise-kid-division/id449543879?ls=1&mt=8#
Please visit our blog at http://icewhale.com/ for more information.
Mine practically has a lead shield over it! I have a gel cover, and then I got this store-applied http://www.zagg.com/invisibleshield/index.php?intcmp=top_nav_btn&s_kwcid=TC%7C9984%7Cscreen%20protector%7C%7CS%7Cp%7C7096879813&gclid=CMqbxPuasaoCFdBrKgodJS3z8g They put it on with some special glue, and give me a warranty. (and it does not void the warranty of the phone as long as a store person puts it on.) So when kids with I-don’t-want-to-know-what is on their fingers, when they’re done I take a lysol wipe to it! I have the same protection on my iPad and droid phone.