My wife received an iPad 2 as a gift in September and loves it, but my kids know how to use it better than she does. She uses the Gmail app, Safari, and that’s pretty much it. So, why are there about 150 more apps on the iPad? To keep the kids occupied of course. 
NielsenWire published a release saying that in fourth quarter of 2011 there was a nine percent increase over the third quarter in tablet computer usage by kids in families with children under 12 with seven out of every ten kids having used a tablet. A whopping 77 percent say that kids play games and 57 percent use it for educational purposes. If you add smartphones to this and are honest about your parenting, that number is probably closer to 100 percent.
We have a laptop computer that we keep on our dining table so the kids have free access to it if they climb up on a chair. YouTube has long been a way to pacify the kids when we need some quiet time or are trying to get them to sit at the table and eat. But neither my five-year-old daughter nor my 18-month-old son have really gotten the hang of using a mouse. The hand-eye coordination just isn’t there. The iPad is a completely different story. Both kids are really good at navigating and finding the apps that they like. Finger and gesture navigation is natural and easy for them. My 18-month-old son even knows how to unlock the iPad using the slider.
My wife and I usually don’t leave home without the iPad anymore. The waiting room at the doctor’s office is easy now with videos loaded onto the iPad. Downtime in a restaurant is also not the adventure it once was. But my kids use the iPad the most at home. If the kids see the iPad, they want to use it. Almost all apps I have downloaded are free. In fact, I paid for an app for the kids for the first time this past weekend and it was to upgrade the lite version of a game both of my kids love playing, My Playhome. My Playhome is an electronic version of a dollhouse and almost everything can move or do something, including opening the fridge and having the dad eat a cold slice of pizza. This is probably one of the most highly awarded apps for kids in the iTunes store.
More so than keeping kids entertained at home are the parents who use it to keep their kids occupied while traveling. Countless travel websites, magazines, and newspapers have touted the benefits of traveling with a tablet computer. The New York Times ran a column in the travel section about apps to keep children happy while traveling.
Finding the best apps that are free or free for a limited time is made easy by the multitude of mommy bloggers who post about apps and deals. The blog I get most of my notifications for free-for-a-limited-time apps is Mobile Savvy Mama. The Los Angeles Times travel writer and travel podcaster Jen Leo has a site called Best Kids Apps that reviews apps and posts notices about deals on apps.
Just this past weekend, I discovered how far we have come in using technology to mollify a screaming kid. My wife and I were in a number of stores running errands with our kids and the only way my 18-month-old son would calm down was when I pulled up the PBS Kids Sprout video app and let him watch videos. I also learned that trick doesn’t work well if 3G isn’t fast enough to play the videos smoothly. Now, I have to load some Mickey Mouse videos on my iPhone 4S to keep him occupied on the rare occasions we are without the iPad.
Hmm, where’s that Etch A Sketch?
We conscientiously let our 15 month old watch a lot of tv. When Katie isn’t around her toys, tv, and books, she has a sort of ‘countdown timer’ before fussiness sets in. Various things contribute to how long this clock will run, but treatin…g it as a certainty pays dividends. Even so, we haven’t introduced anything during car trips, as yet. When we went to the ER Saturday night (Katie’s had a virus and her fever ‘spiked’ so we took her in for blood work), we took our iPhones and Ipad. After the first 30 minutes we began playing cartoons and didn’t stop until she went to sleep, about five hours later. This minimized crying throughout the ordeal. It would have been a calamity if we hadn’t had those things. Many people have said that Katie is a sweet and well-dispositioned little girl. Books are her favorite ‘toy’, and she loves the stimulation of being read to. I don’t think this is affected by how much or little media we let her watch. I think it’s just the way she is (and I feel very lucky for it). Kids enjoy and crave stimulation. I think if you play with your kids, read to them, and practice calmness and patience exercises, then your child can watch whatever. PS. most people agree that tv for kids as young as Katie is a bad thing. I know that.
This has essentially replaced the TV as a babysitter mantra our parents used. I actually think children will push all devices to have touch interfaces in the future. I mean its so natural to want to touch a screen to interact with it, my friends who have small children have difficulty keeping their kids fingers off the big TV in the living room because the kids are so used to the touch screen on the ipad or android tablet. And its not just video I mean give a 3 year old a few color children’s books on a tablet and they will be entertained.
BTW- if you don’t have an iPad, I highly recommend Zoodle’s Kid Mode.
There is an iOS version, but all the good stuff is flash-based, so iOS devices are sadly left out of what I think is the BEST kid’s app yet.