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Topic: Tablets

10 best tablets for kids

Summary: With the tablet becoming more and more commonplace, here are ten options for getting your kids in on the fun.

Ricardo Bilton

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The newest of the bunch, Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet is quickly becoming the de facto tablet for book-hungry kids. In addition to over a thousand picture books, Barnes & Noble offers a slew of interactive books designed specifically for the Nook Tablet. More, the tablet's Read To Me feature lets parents record themselves reading, allowing their kids to hear them read stories even when they their parents are not around.

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Topics: Tablets, Hardware, Laptops, Mobility

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47 comments
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  • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

    Where is the refurb Nook Color for $139?

    Then you also have the option of leaving it running the Nook software with it's library of kid's books and games, OR booting to a CM7 microSD to have access to the entire Android Marketplace.
    Tech-1138
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Too many choices

      There are too many choices for kids that are too fickle in their tastes. A Gizmotakeout model seems to make sense here.
      GizmoTakeOut
      Reply Vote

    • Elementary School Technology Support

      As someone who actually DOES make recommendations to the parents of K-5 students, the only tablet we recommend is an iPad (or iPad mini) with a child proof case. I would never let my own kids near the Android marketplace. And you can add Kindle, Nook and iBooks Apps all to the iPad. The syncing is an incredible feature. The rest are pretty much cheap imitations - except the Surface which is a more expensive imitation.
      KathleenVS
      Reply Vote

      • a valid retort

        As well do I....Apple does not want any part of the pie for education. Only good is for communication. There is so much more available than Apple has. We are the top district in the country for sped and the first of us to be a BYOT district across its entirety. So please don't think apple is an end all be all when most programs developed for education are Google and Android OS. So much more and reality is you are paying for the name.
        blu9
        Reply Vote

      • Why not Android?

        Hi Kathleen,
        I was reading your post and was curious about your statement "I would never let my own kids near the Android marketplace." Can you explain why?

        THanks!
        KGaskill
        Reply Vote

  • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

    Nice thing about the iPad is that since everyone is using it you get lots of access to support. Plus you can go to any nearby Apple store to get questions answered.
    neutrino23
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Not always nearby

      I suppose that if you live in a city you have easy access to an Apple store. Where I live, the nearest Apple store is about 200 miles away. I guess that is the price I pay for clean air, a stong economy, vast open space, and a low crime rate. I can live with that.
      itpro_z
      Reply 7 Votes

  • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

    Kids don't need a tablet. They need to learn the basics first. What is wrong with everyone? Cursive writing is vanishing, I guess printing is next. Paper and pencil or ink is becoming an alien concept. Wow, let's just turn everyone into a mindless little robot relying on a gadget to manage their lives. Ever see "Logan's Run"?
    Romas27
    Reply 12 Votes

    • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

      @Romas27 You are absolutly right! It is discouraging to hear from your 9 year old's Teacher "Don't worry about his writing skills, worry about his typing speed! I was dumbfounded and am looking to find a private school now.
      exwoodrk@...
      Reply 3 Votes

    • Let me guess - you're Amish?

      I believe it depends upon the child. If the child is bright enough to understand how to use a tablet then let them decide whether or not they are interested. Be sure to pick out one YOU like and tell your wife it's for the kid. Then, if the kid turns out to not be the brightest bulb in the pack or would rather play with G.I. Joe or Barbie or a pet, then you get to keep the tablet for yourself.
      theoldyankee
      Reply 11 Votes

    • Agreed

      I've listened to people talk of these things coming in... people rushing to them blindly as if they're a magic panacea... and yet those rushing are in positions of managerial influence. Granted, many stories I've heard are from luddites and the truth is in the middle...

      But with electronic books that can be leased, at a cost higher than printed books and for a limited period of time before they can be re-locked, like how some colleges* are now doing, all of this looks like a petty money grab - on top of the usual rants and cants accorded tablet companies' app store policies and other issues.

      * private colleges, with no union or any other public sector influence (apart from taxpayer-funded subsidies and other handouts that question the claim we're a "free market, where government intervention hurts", but I digress...) - these issues seem to be all over the map, and teachers all over the place are all zombified by the latest pied piper/pt barnum craze.
      HypnoToad72
      Reply Vote

      • Old Habits

        Everyone comments on what is being lost by providing technology to kids at early ages. What we should focus on is that the "toys"we discourage and say they are inappropiate for kids will be the tools that will run their world. Many of the skills we learned growing up and are no longer essential.
        a.j.laffrenier@...
        Reply Vote

    • Upgrade

      In what era do you live in? Why do you want to keep your kids in thepast? MOVE ON with times, kids know about computers and pads at early stage now, it's all good! Its. In you not to let them be in their pads all day. Its your parental responsability to teach them to colour, read books etc...so stupid to say they dont nedeed, They do!
      Evelyn Rushton
      Reply 5 Votes

      • It's not about keeping them in the past!

        Fair dinkum, you lot. Up until a certain age, let them be kids and teach them the basics, you know reading writing arithmetic. Ok if you have a tablet introduce them to it while they are being supervised but really! Why would you buy one just for them?
        Let them go out side and learn to ride a bike, play football, play dolls you know, be a kid. Plenty of time to teach them tech at school and at home as they get older.
        Then when they get a job they can buy their own tablet and fully appreciate earning and products products they may want.
        martin_js
        Reply Vote

    • Sadly yes they do..

      I beg to differ, Children do need tablets.. While I am not dismissing the importance of basics I also understand that the world is very rapidly becoming dependent on technology. Most job applications are online, many government facilities and aid are moving to automated and internet applications. I had an older women tell me she couldn’t review her blood test results because instead of mailing them, the doctor posted them online. I have been turn down for receptionist jobs because I don’t know how to do a lot of computer stuff. By giving a child a tablet they are essentially learning important skills that will be needed in life, Just like a play kitchen, baby dolls, Lego’s, or a play work bench. If you do not expose your child to technology they will not be prepared, and will fall behind the other more privileged children in school and sadly in life, much like the children that attended pre-school and the ones that didn’t. An example of this is everywhere, I know how to use the internet, I can file, save, open, and create documents, I can also fill out an application in 30 -60 minutes because I grew up being ‘plugged in’ while my grandmother struggled to learn enough just so she could spend 5 hours applying for Medicare.
      Meagan Rogers
      Reply Vote

  • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

    Cursive writing is disappearing because noone teaches children how to hold a pen or pencil correctly. Holding it the way man, many people hold it today makes cursive writing difficult - so get rid of it!
    leyshon@...
    Reply 2 Votes

    • Cursive

      Cursive writing is disappearing because it is an outdated skill that serves no purpose in a modern society. I attended primary school way back in the 60s, and was forced to learn to write in cursive. As soon as I moved on up in grade levels, I reverted to printing and continued that for the rest of my life. I can print faster than I could ever write in cursive and it is much easier to read. Now I am vindicated, as computers can read my hand print easily, but not cursive. I say let it die.
      itpro_z
      Reply 10 Votes

      • Cursive writing is for quill pens.

        The whole purpose of cursive was to prevent the removal of the quill from the paper and extend the amount of letters/words that could be written before having to refresh the ink. With the invention of the BIC pen and others cursive is not needed.

        The does not mean printing/block text will ever be removed. The ability, desire and need to write on paper will always remain. Cursive is a thing of the past and is often difficult to read. I am thankful for it's demise.
        NOmoreMicrosoftATall
        Reply 11 Votes

  • RE: 10 Best Tablets for Kids

    We don't use a chisel and stone tablet anymore either, paper and ink replaced it because it was better, modern ink pens replaced a quill feather because they are better and now cursive writing and mailing letters will go the way of the stone tablet and chisel... it is already old tech, and young people are not going to spend their time learning how to do it anymore... do we really need cursive writing? Even authors use a computer... not a typewriter to "pen" the great novels of today.
    Gordylocks
    Reply 10 Votes

    • It's a pity some people can't even READ it.

      There are two sides to the issue. Everyone is frothing over WRITING, but nobody has said a peep about READING it.

      And, yes, even some corporate logos use fancy cursive script. Try to get Jr Brat to figure it out because we, in our infinite so-called "wisdom" decided to let it go.

      Now try to do the green thing and replace a burnt out fuse or resistor on a circuit board for a nickel instead of spending $1000 for a new TV. Most people have no clue about electronic devices, not even the rudimentary basics... because everybody had the same sorry mindset about "old hat", "old tech", etc, and then whine why nobody understands anything anymore... we let it all go because we saw zero value in the past... sorry to digress into what could go into about 1000 tangents...
      HypnoToad72
      Reply 2 Votes
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