Ask Slashdot: Android Apps For Kids Under 12 Months?

An anonymous reader writes "My kid seems incredibly interested in my Android tablet, but I'm not too comfortable with letting her play with my browser. I've been hunting the app store for apps that I could let my kid play around with, but haven't found much. It seems like most apps are targeted for slightly older kids and are trying to teach them words, math or whatnot. Has anyone found any cool apps for approximately 6-month-old children? I'm mostly looking for something that makes funny noises or where you just have to e.g. track moving objects on the screen."

Comments

6 months?

[cashman73]

I wouldn't worry about finding specific apps that are "safe" for a 6-month old. At that age, no parent should even consider letting their child use an Internet-connected device unsupervised. So, if yo show the child something on the web browser, or another app, you should know specifically what you're looking at and should be 100% comfortable with the material.

Re:6 months?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Insane.

Put the phone away. Talk to the child. You know: teach human interaction? This is a child, not your personal experiment.

A review of the evidence in the Archives Of Disease in Childhood says children's obsession with TV, computers and screen games is causing developmental damage as well as long-term physical harm. Doctors at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which co-owns the journal with the British Medical Journal group, say they are concerned. Guidelines in the US, Canada and Australia already urge limits on children's screen time, but there are none yet in Britain.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/09/ban-under-threes-watching-television

Why would you substitute the acquisition of developmental language skills and the attendant ability to relate and empathise - with a fixation on shiny lights and noises?

I understand that this is Slashdot - but value of the concept cannot be completely alien...

Re:6 months?

[Anonymous Coward]

A child that young (let's face it, under 12 months isn't even a child, it's a baby) should not be doing anything with a tablet or any electronics for that matter. I know the article submitter is proud that they have a child and thinks that their special little baby is the smartest and cutest thing in the world, but objectively speaking, that child is no different than any other. Getting him/her started on a tablet at this time isn't going to do anything but harm them.

Basically stop worrying about getting your infant baby on a tablet and spend time with them. Take them out to the park or something. The tablet can wait until they are 6 years or older.

Re:6 months?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is a child, not your personal experiment.

Isn't every kid a (personal) experiment of the parents? You screw some up so you try again, until you just say "screw it, all of them are messed up, I think I'll just quit now"

Captcha is very apt: condom

Re:6 months?

[icebraining]

As soon as I ready the title, I knew that some condescending prick would post something like this.

Who the fuck said anything about substituting normal communication with this? Are you somehow incapable of doing more than one thing per day, let alone per week?

Your study proposes imposing limits on screen time, not banning them as if a couple of hours of TV per week is going to mush the kids brains. Stop assuming everyone but you is incapable of having common sense.

Re:6 months?

[kheldan]

This. This, times 1,000,000.
The world doesn't need children who connect better with machines than they do other human beings.

Re:6 months?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Talk to the child.

Is there an app for that . . . ?

Re:6 months?

[hb253]

It may sound condescending, but really - 6-months old and you're asking about apps? All the kid wants to do at this age is pound things on the floor and slobber on them.

How about just giving the kid a colorful cardboard square and be done with it.

Re:6 months?

[Kozz]

Being a responsible parent and allowing a child some brief app time don't have to be mutually exclusive, does it? What if you want a simple tool to help you keep your child entertained for a brief amount of time?

Real-world example: the other day I had my 2yr old with me while we went Christmas shopping. I found myself in an unavoidably long line, with him in the cart. I pulled out my phone which had installed on it a simple drawing/painting app. Each new "touch" would choose a random color from a preset palette, and he could drag his finger on the screen to draw lines, circles, or whatever. I then took a photo of him, and he could draw on that as well. We played together on it for maybe 5 minutes, which was really all I needed so we both didn't drive each other a bit crazy while waiting in line.

I don't really see anything wrong with this, and I suspect you wouldn't either -- but I could be wrong. And maybe that's not what the original question was about, but just my $0.02USD.

Re:6 months?

[deroby]

Kids at 6 months are VERY alike. Off course the kid loves the tablet, it's got bright, moving, pictures; it's shiny and it makes funny sounds.

I also think it's the stupidest thing to hook a young child on. At that age (s)he's supposed to start looking around, learn how to move and build up a sense of the world and probably even more important : build some social skills, people-interaction. The latter quickly turns into finding ways to get your attention in the most diverse ways which you'll have to 'direct' into some positive way. But heck, you're supposed to play peek-a-boo with him/her, not Angry Birds !

That said, I don't think of it as being "bad" to have the child watch you play on the tablet; can't be worse than e.g. watching TV. But the posters question seems to imply that he wants to let a toddler "play safely" on it without supervision and I can see some kind of time-line evolving like this :
* watch zombo.com for a while, get bored
* play some tap-the-clown and he starts-laughing games, get bored
* play some simple puzzles, get bored ...
* play some of those never-ending games where time == success and get your reality-view completely screwed up.

(OK, maybe I'm exaggerating here; but I surely am not taking the risk with my kids, and yes I have 2. Have you Icebraining ?)

Re:6 months?

[mingle]

You have no idea... I have three kids under 6 years old (two of whom are twins). The last thing I'd ever do with a 6 month old is stick a screen or mind-numbing electronic gadget in front of them. As many posted have said; direct human interaction is what you should be striving for. Or if you're both too knackered (I know, I've been there!), physical object that they can hold and touch are the best alternative.

Re:6 months?

[iocat]

You're not supposed to entertain infants. You're supposed to keep them from dying. Anything you do or that they see should be intrinsically motivating for them. This is why they love super boring shit like seeing car keys or business reply cards. If they're bored give them a wooden spoon. All a tablet is going to do is frustrate them.

Am I saying you're a bad parent if you use devices to entertain your less-than-12-month-old infant? Yes, I am. I am straight up judging you and finding you lacking if, after hundreds of thousands of years of non-screen-based infant development, you suddenly are too weak and useless to raise a child without a tiny TV next to them. You're a disgrace to our species.

Source: raised kid without showing them TV until they were after 1 year old. I don't mean they never saw a TV, I'm just saying we never used it as a babysitter or were like "now's the time when you watch tv"

Re:6 months?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I look forward to the "Ask Slashdot" six years from now, asking how to cope with a tech-obsessed and uncommunicative autistic child.

Give the best app

[Computer_kid]

Love and affection. At that age it is nothing more then a glowing rectangle that makes noise. Go outside and show your children the world around them.

Real play and physical interaction are better

[Anonymous Coward]

My understanding is that physical play with 3D objects (e.g. blocks) for motor skills and physical interaction with a parent for language skills are much more important to young children than learning apps. Anecdotally, I've heard that kids learn language much better from real interaction with an adult than from language aps.

Although this might be heresy for a tech web site, put away the screens, big and small, for the very young!

Re:Real play and physical interaction are better

[icebraining]

And sleeping is more important than reading Slashdot, therefore we should be always sleeping and never read slashdot, not even for 5mins.

Simple answer

[Anonymous Coward]

This idiotic question is easy to answer. Any app calling shutdown() right at the beginning will do just fine.

Really, just stop fucking up your kids.

Parenting

[Anonymous Coward]

Parenting is the best app. It involves spending time with your children. Don't let them play too much with your tablet (or any screen/computer), as at that age staying at a screen that is a fixed distance away will highly impair their ocular development. Seriously, save games like that until they are older, get then some squeaky toys, rattles and building blocks.

You're a lazy excuse for a parent

[stemarcoh]

You've GOT to be kidding me! Are you serious? What the hell is wrong with you? Children that young need to experience THE WORLD not steer wide-eyed, slack jawed at a screen. You might as well put the poor thing up for adoption because you've already proven yourself to be a completely incompetent parent. This is so sad, so very very sad. I'll pray for your poor little child. (And I'm a devout atheist.) Let them play with blocks, with stuffed animals. Or, hey, has a novel concept - how about you, you lazy disinterested excuse for a real parent. Read them a freakin book. Bring them outside. Get a g*d d*mn puppy or kitten. The REAL WORLD people. The REAL WORLD is just on the other side of that plastic light emitting panel that your eyeballs are so hopelessly stuck to! GET A LIFE!! 6 months old. Oh my g*d!

Just stop

[p0p0]

A child shouldn't be handling technology until about 3 years old, as many Slashdot stories have reported. It's also just common sense that so much stimulation so early on is bad for a developing brain.

You mistake interest for curiosity. It is in the child's nature to explore and learn about their environment, but introducing them to your tablet is just going to impede their progress as all their attention is consumed by the device.

Our son is 9 months old

[ctrl-alt-canc]

and we decided he will not look at a TV/PC/phone screen before he is two years old as a minimum. We instead try to spend as much as time possible with him doing activities appropriate for a 9 months old baby. Maybe this is the reason why he is so active and curious about what happens around him.... And no, I am not a tech luddite (I am a physicist).

Re:Our son is 9 months old

[Anonymous Coward]

You have no idea what you're doing. Overstimulation of the mind is a bad thing. I know it sounds all cool and shit to think that you're going to pump stuff at the kid and something will stick but that's really not how it works and you're undermining whatever development you supposedly think he's gaining. Maybe your kid will be different but it's a known fact that most kids who are overstimulated also have problems later in life with paying attention, concentrating and socially interacting.

More specifically...

[NEDHead]

"My 3 week old is fascinated by certain shapes. Is there an app that looks like big tits dripping milk that would be something he could play with?"

Dumb ass posting; never should have seen the light of day.

play with your kids app

[johnrpenner]

how about the 'play with your kids app'??
like peek-a-boo, and pass the ball, and ride the horsey?

expecting a 10 month yr old to play w an android tablet instead of playing w a real human is ridiculous..
you can do better as a parent

2cents
j