Does the Innotab tablet live up to its claims?

A touchscreen tablet for kids has to do more than just keep them occupied with geegaws and doodads – it also needs to educate those sticky fingered toddlers and kiddies.  Aside of becoming savvier with technology and touchscreen interfaces, tablets such as the innotab and the leappad explorer are expected to develop ‘core skills’ in children. Better math skills, enhanced creativity, improved spelling and reading capabilities are just some of the skills that tablets such as the innotab are supposed to impart. Do they?

I’m going to take a look at some of the claims and see how the innotab tablet measures up.

Firstly the tablet is supposed to stimulate critical thinking. Games with logic and memory elements apparently  help in these areas. Thing is I’m not sure how they actually evaluate critical thinking

Secondly the ebooks and other activities claim to improve reading speed and language fluency. I think as along as kids are engrossed with the stories they will derive value from them but I’m not sure how many times they will re-read them over time.

Overall Opinion of the Innotab tablet

Negatives – I felt that some of the educational  claims were a tad exaggerated. At the end of the day it is an entertaining toy with some educational value. It doesn’t have the sophistication of adult tablets but then it doesn’t have to either.

Positives – I definitely think it entices a child to explore things further and engages their interest in activities. It does help in improving vocabulary, learning motor skills, words and numbers.

I’d say my major concern would be that older kids in the age group of 8 and above who are used to ipads and other tablets may get bored with the innotab pretty fast. On the other end of the spectrum really young children will find the innotab tablet a bit difficult to operate without help from adults.

Related posts:

1. Innotab Tablet And The Kidizoom Camera – Makes A Fun Gift Toys and games play key role in development of every...
2. Innotab Tablet Features Innotab Tablet Features The Vtech Innotab tablet is one of...
3. Vtech Innotab Tablet – Will it suit your child? Vtech Innotab Tablet – Will it suit your child? When...
4. Innotab Tablet Apps Cost Innotab Tablet Apps Cost Want to have an idea of...
5. Innotab Learning Tablet Reviews Innotab Learning Tablet Reviews Searching for innotab learning tablet reviews?...

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 13th, 2011 at 6:38 pm and is filed under Learning Tablet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.