electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

[shaveice]

my daughter, like most little kids, is beginning to express interest in electronic gadgets cuz they see older kids using them; totally understandable to me. i think it's inevitable and if she's gonna play with something, i'd like it to be as educational as possible.

the ipad comes to mind but i have no intention on paying 6 or 7 hundred bucks. no doubt, the screen is cool and the images/video quality must be really good but that's way too much.

i don't think there's a "perfect" item but 'educational value' has to be the most important quality.

nintendo ds? ipod touch? netbook?

as you can see, i'm only beginning to wonder about this one and i'm open to any suggestions you might have.

by the way, i mentioned a netbook because i know that there are a number of websites (e.g., pbs kids) that have educational games and a number of those are just small flash files; if there's web access, she could play those games or i could grab them from the web and have her play with those games (like a stand alone app).

my apologies for this broad question but this may be familiar to those of you with kids and who may have addressed this issue with your own...

thanks ;->

[Random]

Re: electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

You should look into the Leapfrog Leapster Handheld Learning Game System.

[sophielynette]

Re: electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

I would tend to choose a DS or iTouch over a netbook or even an iPad simply for the portability factor. Smaller devices can be carried around to be used in the car or as entertainment at boring adult functions. Of course the tradeoff for portability is losability. I would think the DS, designed more for children, would be more durable than the iTouch, but of course the iTouch has the wonderful benefit of the App Store, an almost unlimited collection of free or affordable games and applications, many of which are geared toward children and can be educational as well as entertaining.

Of course the Leapfrog is also an option. The commercials make it seem pretty cool.

[MyopicJoe]

Re: electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

I second Sophie's vote. The iPod Touch has been good at keeping my kids entertained. There's a variety of apps and games, even two player ones. It can also hold the kids' music for road trips.

My kids like the DS also. I recommend getting the DSi with the built in camera. DS is more durable than the iPod Touch, when you think about a 6 year old running around with one. It depends on your daughter's personality.

The Leapfrog just gathers dust and takes up space in our home. Maybe you can find it used for cheap and give it a test drive, but my kids never got into it.


P.S. The iPod would be more usable by the whole family.

[craigwatanabe]

Re: electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

My 6-year old loves his Nintendo DS. The games are geared for younger children and even have some non-game applications including a wifi adapter that allows you to browse the internet in limited ways. That requires separate purchase.

The leapfrog although having great intentions fall the wayside in a short time period. Look at it this way, I see the Leapfrog at the thrift stores, I don't see the Nintendo DS there. Children can grow with the DS, they outgrow the Leapfrog.

My wife and I had a long hard discussion about gaming devices and didn't want to get our youngest into that arena at such a young age. However we also realized in this modern world, these games took the place of more traditional toys we grew up with. So with that we try to focus on Nintendo DS games that will allow him to interact with it. There are games that require you to write a word and the DS will turn it into an object. Write the word "car" and a car appears on the screen. It starts to move, then you have to write things to make it stop, or even write in obstacles such as "wall" or "pothole" or something that will make your car interact with what you wrote.

As he grows up he can graduate to more elaborate games and also convert his DS into an electronic organizer for memos, calender, to do and contact functions. It's a versatile hand held gaming console.

[shaveice]

Re: electronic gizmo for a 6 yr old

thanks for the info and suggestions! also, while searching for stuff on the web, i came across this option:

Archos 7 8 GB Home Tablet with Android
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003COZM2C

about $200 at amazon.

a nice 7 inch touchscreen and 8 gigs of space. the one thing that confuses me is that the description says that it supports flash files (flv) but in the discussion section, someone said that it doesn't. gatta look into it further...

thanks again!