Lil' Techies

Our kids won’t be getting a Nintendo DS until they are at least pre-teens, nor will they have a TV in their room. But as lovers of technology, I do believe there are a few tech gifts that could have positive impacts on our kids, rather than turning them into tv-heads.

Tech gifts (under $35) that won’t turn your (under 8) kids into TV-Heads:

• Try refurbishing an old laptop that has the bare basics on it–word processing, image editing, calculator, etc. They will surprisingly find great uses for it. We gave our kids our old PC laptops and they love typing and looking around.
• An MP3 player will let your kids store family photos, videos and favorite songs. I have found that my kids don’t abuse the MP3 player but really enjoy it on car trips or in doctor’s offices. We look at pictures, they listen to their favorite songs (often sharing the earbuds) and can pick up radio stations. We have a Sansa Fuze which we got for about $30.
• A bike computer (otherwise known as a speedometer or odometer) is great fun for the school-age kid. We ride our bikes almost everyday to school–the bike computer lets them learn about speed and distance.
• There are a lot of kids digital cameras on the market, but we have found purchasing a used one from eBay to be just as fun. Kids have a great time photographing their life and these pictures will give you fodder when doing digital imaging projects with them!
• We spend at least a half hour reading to our kids everyday, but sometimes they like to spend alone time reading too. Since our kids are not of reading age yet, the VTech Reading Pen has been hours of fun for them. It lets explore the VTech books and have multi-sensory experience with the stories. Since the pen only works with the Vtech books, I don’t see the reading pen as a threat to their own interest in reading, just another way to explore books.

I was hesitant to make this one a family activity because of the title implications, but Elf Yourself is too good to pass up! The kids and I had a hilarious time finding pictures, uploading them, then watching JibJab turn our faces into dancing elves. The final result says it all!

This Christmas, we are looking forward to tracking Santas flight schedule at the Norad website using Google Earth. According to the website, if we go to Norads Santa Tracking page on Christmas Eve, we will be able to watch Santa get closer and closer to our house. For our young kids, this will be a great chance for them to see where we live on a global scale–I wonder how they will feel about their cousin in Maine getting Santa goodies first!

For more information on using Google Earth to introduce kids to geography, science, literature or culture, check out Back to School: Educational Uses with Google Earth.

For

A few years back I coined the term “TV-Heads” for the boys to warn them about spending too much time watching TV or playing computer (computer-heads). My oldest has actually acknowledged this as a real condition–he describes his head being fuzzy and his burning when spending too much time watching shows. Our youngest talks about too much TV making him “less smart”.

In October, the Neilson reports suggested that kids are watching more TV than ever–about 32 hours a week. That is an entire day’s worth of television in one week. This is not surprising to me with the 24 hour kids cartoon stations, DVDs and DVRs to record their favorite shows.

What is a good amount of television for kids? The AAP suggests 2 hours/day (14 hours a week), but even more so, suggests that the type of television kids are watching is more detrimental than the hours spent watching it.

When I first started letting my kids use the Internet with me, I just used my regular browsers with them–Firefox, Explorer or Safari. I quickly realized that even though they were too young to search, I still had to worry about ads and other unfriendly features of the adult browser.

What makes a browser kid-friendly?

Because my kids are on the Internet with me around, I don’t worry about cyberbullies or predators. Instead, I am looking for a browser that will let them feel like they are moving around freely, but will also shelter them from inappropriate images, videos or….especially…..ads. Advertisers seem to know the colors and animations to use to get kids to click on them–I have watched my kids fall victim to countless advertisers.

Browser Shopping

I am looking for a browser that:

• Blocks ads
• Does not block searching
• Has a timer (ie. lets them know when they are on too long!)
• Blocks viruses
• Free!

Some options

Kid  Rocket
http://kidrocket.org/

KidZui
http://www.kidzui.com/

Buddy Browser
http://www.buddybrowser.com

Look for future posts that review these different options!

TV time is a sensitive subject in our house. The kids love it, but the parents feel the boob tube will suck the life out of our children. One alternative that we both agree on, is the podcast. For many of our favorite shows, there is a podcast version that goes “behind the scenes” or takes clips from the show and feeds an audio version to subscribers. Some great choices on iTunes are:

• StoryNory: Stories for Kids
• The Sesame Street Podcast
• Pinky Dinky Doo Podcast
• The Sherlock Holmes Adventures Podcast

To find others, open iTunes, choose the PODCAST tab and choose KIDS AND FAMILY from the Podcast dropdown menu. Burn to a disc to play on your CD player or download to your iPod.

Play the podcast, set your child up with some crayons and paper, and watch them relax and listen to some familiar voices and stories.