Computers and Laptops for kids can be really exciting for the little
ones, and even an important educational, communication and entertainment
tool as they grow into young pre-teens and teens.
Besides being fun for the kids, they might even help us adults distract them from their constant use and interest in our own laptops and computers. Right now our youngest girl is just over 21 months and she is fine playing with simpler electronic educational toys like the LeapFrog Text and Learn - which she giggles every time she uses it and absolutely loves. But our 3 and a half year old son now manages to escaped the gated playroom and runs all over the house and inevitably into the family room where we keep our family desktop.
Not only does he know how to turn the computer on (the button is right in the front), but he knows how to log on and even access the internet. It kind of stops there though, and he can’t get any further beyond the browser’s home page. One thing I did is create a desktop shortcut of CrayMachine - an abstract yet simple flash game that makes interesting black shapes and sounds over a square orange screen. That’s his favorite computer game keeps his attention for a long time.
Kids-Toys-Parents-Love edit: At some point, they do figure it out and there is no turning back. Just before turning five, he was on my laptop making engineering drawings on AutoCAD, and when I downloaded Google Sketchup for him, I showed him a couple of things then took a shower, by the time I got back, he had placed a library near our house on Google Earth!
And our eldest girl, now 11 and a half, has been using the same family computer since she was six years old. She does her homework on it as well as book reports and even contextual contributions to this website. There was a period when she went on all of the free dressup game sites and interactive worlds, which ultimately brought in thousands of viruses, spyware, worms, Trojan horses and other bugs into the computer. I found this out when our cable internet provider sent us a letter stating that they would cut off service unless we cleaned up our computer. The bugs were using it to send out spam globally while clogging up our cable service. It took me an entire weekend to go into the registry and clean everything up!
Once I did, we limited the number of sites she could visit and armed our computer as best as we could, but ultimately we'll have to consider some laptops for kids to get her. Funds were a bit tight for this Christmas season, but I have a few ideas in mind for her birthday, such as the ASUS Eee PC 1008P-KR-PU37-PI
with an 10.1 inch screen and an incredible 320 Gigabyte Hard Drive!
Kids-Toys-Parents-Love edit: Funds continued to be tight so we waited until her thirteenth birthday for a laptop. But instead of the ASUS, we upgraded to a Samsung Series 3 with 15.6 inch screen and 500 GB hard drive Sadly,
she broke some rules and went to town on multiple social media
platforms and developed some unfavorable behaviors, so now my wife has a new type of laptops for kids!
For the little ones, cost and computer performance do not need to be an extreme considerations. Brands like Vtech and LeapFrog provide some great computers and laptops for kids at very reasonable prices while keeping the kids attention and providing them with learning experiences as well as entertainment.
The LeapFrog my own Laptop is a really cute and well priced laptop purchased for our youngest daughter for this year’s holiday season. It also comes in the Violet color theme with the puppy guide Violet, but she likes the green puppy Scout and has grown familiar with his voice.
The Oregon Scientific Batman Laptop is a super cool looking laptop for kids ages 5 to 8. Not only does it look like a real laptop, but it also has 26 English and 26 Spanish highly educational activities including addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
The LeapFrog Clickstart My First Computer is an introduction to personal computers for kids ages three to six that connects to the television through a console and comes with a wireless keyboard and mouse and mouse pad. At under $40.00, it's great for getting the little ones interested in PCs while keeping them away from the family's expensive computer!
Computers and laptops for kids are definitely worthwhile for the little ones to help them learn the new and wonderful world of computers without having to spend too much money. As they get older, laptops and computers for kids take on a more adult requirement and ultimately rising cost, but they’re becoming more and more an integral part of our personal, educational and professional lives. So while getting kids laptops and computers for the little ones is easy enough, bigger kids deserve a lot more investment in research and money.
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