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]

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?

[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?

[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.

Re:6 months?

[Myopic]

Why would you choose to give them a mind-numbing electronic gadget instead of a mind-engaging electronic gadget? Do you give your children mind-numbing wooden toys? How about reading them mind-numbing books? Golly I don't give my children mind-numbing anything. Any electronic gadget used in my household engages the mind, like everything else in my house.

Re:6 months?

[NFN_NLN]

How about taking care of your kid by *yourself* some in order to give Your Wife a break? The tv/smartphone is your first consideration?!

It was once socially acceptable to dope up children with opiates. Anyone with any common sense should have been able to see this was not healthy.
History repeats.

"Youngsters were introduced to the pleasures of opiates at their mothers' breast. Harassed baby-minders - and overworked parents - found opium-based preparations were a dependable way to keep their kids happy and docile; this was an era before Ritalin. Sales of Godfrey's Cordial, a soothing syrup of opium tincture effective against colic, were prodigious. But Godfrey's Cordial had its competitors: Street's Infants' Quietness, Atkinson's Infants' Preservative, and Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup.

Opium was viewed as a medicine, not a drug of abuse. Contemporary medical theory didn't allow that one could become addicted to a cure. However, the chemists and physicians most actively investigating the properties of opium were also its dedicated consumers; and this may conceivably have coloured their judgement."

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.

Toddler Lock

[throup]

Toddler Lock works nicely. Cool colours and sounds as they touch the screen. It temporarily replaces the home screen so it locks out phone/internet/other app access until an adult follows the onscreen unlock instructions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=marcone.toddlerlock

vi and cc

[kthreadd]

If you want to make them into responsible open source contributors you better start as early as possible.

Related question

[Anonymous Coward]

My toddler is very interested in my car keys, but I'm reluctant to let him drive my BMW. The iDrive system is somewhat complicated, and I think a RWD performance car might not be appropriate for a first-time driver - especially since here's snow on the ground and he can't reach the pedals. Can anyone recommend a FWD or AWD car with a simpler interface and adjustble pedals which would be appropriate for a sub-2 year old child?

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.

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

I'm glad Slashdot is here!

[DJCouchyCouch]

If there's one thing I can rely on Slashdot about, especially when no one here has ever met a woman, it's reliable parenting advice.

Re:Let me tell you how to raise your kid!

[Myopic]

Your kid is slow. When my son surfed out of my wife's vagina I handed the little guy a piece of chalk and he proved Fermat's Last Theorem. I scolded him and told him that was proven 17 years ago! Get working on P != NP, son!