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Technology and Edutainment

Kids are phenomenal with technology.

I know a lot of parents aren't keen on letting kids play on tablets or watch TV. But oh Lord, has "kids entertainment" changed a lot since even I was a kid. So while it's definitely not allowed on all day, I'm okay with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Blaze and the Monster Machines edutaining 2/3 boys while I deal with the final third of our children.

Here's the technology in our house that the kids are familiar with:

Starfall

Starfall.com is, from what I can tell, everything that ABCMouse offers, but without quite as large a price tag. $35/year isn't half bad at all! Negi is able to do it without supervision (if I'm cooking dinner, he'll ask to play Starfall and then bring me the tablet or phone back when he's at a congratulatory screen or finished making a pumpkin or something similar), but Oli I still need to sit down for the more complicated games. He is able to navigate through the alphabet app just fine though. Izzy is fascinated too. In the few months since we've been using it, Oli has picked up colors and most of the alphabet and matching games, and Nedge expertly solves all the puzzles. Remembering the hit-and-miss PC-only games of my childhood (though JumpStart is remembered fondly) makes me glad that there are such great options for the kids to have fun AND learn.

Wii U

Negi and Oli can both navigate to YouTube (kids only videos), Netflix, or Amazon Prime apps on the gamepad with no trouble. However, we haven't had it hooked up lately as the gamepad doesn't have a super long battery life and the cords kept dying on us/getting chewed up by a child/vacuum cleaner.

Nick Jr and Disney Jr

These are awesome, awesome channels. Paw Patrol and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Teletubbies are among their favorites, but once in a while they'll enjoy Bubble Guppies and man those guppies can sing. They see examples of cooperation, problem solving, using math, identifying shapes, and so much more. They haven't worked out how to operate the remote yet (we have a universal remote in our bedroom and use the roku app for the big tv in the living room. Negi chewed up the buttons for the old roku LT when he was a baby) but the options that show up with Charter Spectrum's app allows them to see what is available and choose.

Amazon Prime

ALL THE DORA AND BLUES CLUES YOU COULD EVER WANT. We even bought the fourth season of Dora. Dino Dan is A+ quality too, and Negi has learned so much about dinosaurs (and it's far less grating than Dinosaur Train). Absolutely worth the 100$/year price tag for their edutainment options alone.

VTech VSmile

This can be a little harder to come by as I haven't seen it sold in stores, but I do see it frequently at garage sales (that's where we got ours!) or online or craigslist, and the games are super cheap. It's a very simplistic video game system with a big joystick and big colorful buttons. Negi does quite well with it at four years old, and Oliver likes to run back and forth and will solve puzzles if I help him figure out the controls.

I'm always open to new ideas and technology, especially when they can help my boys' brains grow in new and exciting ways. :-) Check some of these ideas out if you haven't already, and feel free to share suggestions of your own!


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