Teaching Your Infant/Toddler/Preschooler to Use the Computer

Fun Websites to Get Your Child Using His Noodle

Introducing the Child to the Computer

A few months back I reviewed a Computer Learning toy that my mother had sent me for my son, who at the time was a little over 1 yrs old. Back then we installed the software, hooked the “child’s keyboard” onto the standard keyboard, and plopped my son down in front of the computer to see what would happen. The toy was interesting enough and held my son’s attention for a few minutes, but ultimately, even with repeated sessions, the program just wasn’t that fun to him. Ironically, the manufacturer of the program, Fisher-Price, has a website that offers free animation and interactive games for babies and children which my son tended to prefer much better than the at home toy. Over the past year, by playing around on the internet, my son has learned to recognize and press letters on the keyboard, move and click the mouse, and respond to directives given on interactive children’s websites. He nearly knew the alphabet and numbers 1-20 going in, but the computer has definitely reinforced his learning.

Finding Websites Your Child Will Actually Enjoy

Fisher-Price’s site was good, but limited in scope. That led my husband and me on a Quest to Find Good Websites for our son that would teach him things like songs, colors, numbers, shapes, and the alphabet. After much searching, we were really surprised at how many terrible websites there are out there and how few really do cater to the 1-3 yr old set. But we found a few that are GOOD and want to pass on our research to you, fellow parents. Below are some of our favorite findings.

Noggin.com
(http://www.noggin.com/games/index.php)

What’s great about Noggin.com is that it has fun games and printout coloring book pages for all your child’s favorite Noggin.com TV characters. Noggin is run by the folks at MTV, who have definitely done their homework on this mini demographic.

Most of the site is built in FLASH so animation and layout features are recurrent throughout the site, making navigation very intuitive and easy for child and parent. The animations are inventive and teach children important skills like learning numbers, letters, colors, counting, singing songs, drawing, patterns, and rhyming, among other things, as well as learning opposite pairs like big/little, more/less, near/far, and same/different.

My boy loves everything related to Oobi, Play With Me Sesame, Blue’s Clues, Dora the Explorer, Connie the Cow, Miffy, and Maizy the most, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before he explores the other Characters’ sections (see here for listings: http://www.noggin.com/shows/index.php).

We totally LOVE Noggin.com.

Fisher-Price
(http:/www.fisher-price.com/us/playtime/)

The Fisher-Price website is in serious need of a facelift. It’s serviceable, but the interface is boring and outdated. There are enough online games for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers to keep your child entertained for at least 30 minutes a pop, but as far as making it fun for parents, don’t hold your breath.

Games are organized by age group for easy access, but my son never liked the infant games and has preferred the toddler & preschool options since he was 1yr old. Our favorites are the Learn Your ABC’s, which has a very animated female voice singing the alphabet and prompts your child to hit any key to advance from letter to letter; Little People Animal Sounds Game, which should inspire your little lion to make lion (and other animal) sounds; and Learn Your Shapes and Colors, a cool yet simple interactive flash movie that carts out different shapes in various colors in different combinations for several minutes of sustained learning.

You probably won’t stay on this site very long, but you will visit it often.

NickJr.com
(http://www.nickjr.com/parenting/activity_finder/games/index.jhtml)
Click: Online Games

The NickJr website is a complete mess and needs an overhaul, stat.

The navigation often changes from one section to the next, and some features launch popup windows making it difficult to find what you’re looking for. Even just cruising around the site with no aim is a cumbersome and un-enjoyable activity. My suggestion is to find what you like and then bookmark it so you don’t have to re-navigate every time you want to see a particular video or play a specific game.For instance, why are the Online Games hosted in the parenting section?

Once you finally do click the Online Games button and launch the popup Flash window, the games are not so bad and the interface/navigation is decent enough to find things your child will want to watch. I liked the Radio feature, but my son thought it was boring (not enough to watch while he listened).

This site has potential, but needs organization.

UpToTen.com
(http://www.uptoten.com/)
Click: Kids, then Boowa & Kwala

Hands down, by far, UpToTen.com is the BEST, BEST, BEST website we’ve found for our child’s amusement and education.

With over 600+ games and activities, my son can stay online for hours. Seriously. Sometimes he even cries when we say it’s time to say bye-bye to the main characters, Boowa & Kwala, even if he’s been playing for a long time, even if it’s dinnertime and he’s hungry!

We typically start playing by going to the Songs section and singing the truly inventive and silly songs, categorized into three groups by season/occasion, around the world, and songs from the online story 10 Pretty Petals. In no time you’ll be humming the songs on your way to work, wondering to yourself why you hadn’t heard of Boowa & Kwala sooner than you did! The games section (331 of them) will keep your little one occupied for HOURS. There are literally 24 different game categories to choose from!

Another cool feature is the animated storybook. Check out Around the World in 12 Songs, which is available in English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, and French! Not all the songs are available in all the languages, so cruise around each language section (even if you don’t speak it) to see what you can find. My son really loves the Head Shoulders Knees & Toes song in French (Tete, Epaules, Genoux, Doigts de Pieds). Boowa & Kwala have strange English and French accents and well defined personalities, making them all the more lovable.

You and your child will absolutely adore this site and visit it regularly.

Score card (Max 5 stars)

UpToTen.com      *****     Best songs, characters, animation, fun!

Noggin.com          ****     Fun, lots of games, familiar TV characters

Fisher-Price.com    ***     Good for Alphabet, Shapes, Animal sounds

NickJr.com              **     Video clips, radio, games for 3yrs+

Sue Jenkins is a freelance web designer, graphic designer and illustrator, she teaches Dreamweaver classes, and offers private training to companies in the New York area. If your company needs a website, website redesign, logo, or illustration, see Sue’s consulting page for more information, or go directly to her website learn more about her design services. http://www.luckychair.com.