iPad serves different functions for every member of my family. My traveling husband takes it with him to read books or watch movies, I use it to catch up on my blog reading and magazines, and my older kids use it for some of their homeschool lessons and to blow off steam. But even my two-year-old gets in on the mix, and here’s how.
1. Educational apps
We’ve got plenty of learning apps for my older two children (ages 6 and 4), but there are a plethora of fantastic ones for the littler kids too. My two-year-old’s go-to favorite is My Very First app (above), which provides three different levels of memory and matching games using colors, animals, shapes and more. But we’ve got everything from Alphabet games to simple math concepts that she loves just as much.
2. Interactive books
We still love our paper books, but the technology of interactive books for iPad is mindblowing. Most include features that encourage parents (or in our case, the oldest sibling!) to still read along, but allow kids to be extra engaged with various touch features that are especially fun for the littler ones. You just can’t beat The Three Little Pigs from Nosy Crow.
3. Entertainment
We’re the first to admit that on long trips we’ll pop out the iPad and let the kids enjoy their favorite show or movie. You can even purchase Cinema Seat, which transforms your iPad in a car DVD player. What’s great is that you don’t need to bother with DVDs; just purchase or rent movies or shows that upload to your iPad, or if you’re a Netflix subscriber, you’ll have access to your account with the free app if you’ve got 3G access.
Tell us, what other ways does your family use your iPad?
[photo via]
My 7month old loves watching his Baby Einstein videos and using the Doodlebuddy app to draw pictures (great to send to the grandparents). He’s even mastered using his index finger to touch the buttons on his peekaboo games and Fisher Price apps! The White noise apps and lullabies help him drift off to sleep too. Oh, and he loves using the video conferencing app to babble away to relatives overseas. They love it too!
The iPad has provided a wealth of great adaptive apps for my learning disabled child. Either for practice with school activities or games
What are your favorite ipad apps for a 5 yr old? Thanks!
Thanks for the post! It’s great hearing how your family uses the iPad. We’re developing an interactive book, and I was just curious whether you usually read those with your child or whether they listen/read/play with them on their own? Thanks again- you guys are great!
I purchased 1 baby einstein app about a year ago and my baby loved it so i purchased another one a couple of days ago but i couldn’t finish downloading it because of some problem. I found out that all of baby einstein apps for the iphone or the ipad has been discontinued. Is there a way i could download it again? Thank you!