The iPad Experience from the Child's Viewpoint

iPad Choices of a 3½ year old girl

 

Alpha Tots was engaging for my 3½ year old. She liked the airplane flying in the letters and then having something to do, like build a robot. She learned quickly to press on a letter until the program was ready to present the next letter. Some activities were hard for her to figure out. For the letter G the watering can had to be held up high in order for the tomatoes to grow. For the letter S, stacking the rings in the right order was frustrating even though she has performed that task many times before in real life.

 

Alphabet Tracing: She liked tracing the letters. She didn’t pay attention to the arrow directions but enjoyed making letters on the screen.

 

Intro To Letters: She liked looking at the letters but had trouble using the record button at the right time.

 

Intro to Math: She liked tracing the numbers. She seemed fascinated by the sound of touching sandpaper when the program ball traced the number. She waited until the ball finished before she traced the number.

 

Doodle Buddy, Draw Free, Chalkboard and Brushes were interesting also. She liked using her finger to make lines, curves and dots and change colors.

 

Blocks!: This program was her first choice, as the lego blocks are a familiar sight. Creating designs with different colors and shapes was fun for her.

 

iPad Choices of an 8 ½ year old boy

 

Motion Math HD was great fun and required effort on his part. It “made fractions fun” he said. He didn’t mind missing the correct answer. The motion part was good for him.

 

Count the Coins: He could move the coins around for better counting, but he didn’t stay with it very long.

 

Puppet Pals: He loved that program. He easily made stories with sound effects and dialogue. He concentrated on it for quite a while and enjoyed the creative aspect. 

 

Story Patch: Another favorite because he could makeup a story.  He used the help feature to create the story but he was delighted to choose visuals from the menu.

 

Kid Paint: He loved creating a picture. He made one with perspective – cars on a bridge over water with boats. 

 

Garage Band: He easily created a song using different instruments and added vocals too.

 

Blocks!: He also enjoyed creating with the lego type blocks. Adding people figures gave it a story dimension for him.

 

Posted by Diane McDougall