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Parenting Resources. Expert articles. Activities and games. Developmental benefits.
  • My daughter loves playing with her friends InnoTab 2. I am considering getting her one but I'm worried about her spending too much time in front of a screen?

    Julie Coultas
    Unlike, passively, watching a TV programme or a DVD, children can interact with the Learning Games on VTech's InnoTab 2; children can learn at their own pace in a fun and engaging way. InnoTab 2 can be utilised as a learning system tool to make the learning experience more engaging.

    A question that parents may ask in relation to tablets for children is do we need to monitor the time that our children play on InnoTab 2? This type of question is related to the debate around how much TV a child should watch per day. Some reports e.g. Institute of Education advise that 3-7 years watch up to an hour of TV a day whereas a researcher quoted in the Psychologist (2007) states 'There certainly are benefits for children interacting with TV... They learn stuff — it's as simple as that'. The key here is that interaction takes place the child is not passive.

    A recent article in the Psychologist (March 2013) on Children and Technology shows that technology can be both inspiring and encourages creativity. New technology for children, such as InnoTab 2, allows them to engage in experts and can also encourage cooperative behaviour; children can work together on a task or game. For the young child, the ideal situation is where the parent sits down with their child and engages with InnoTab 2, discussing what they are doing and learning as they play with the interactive development programmes. Infants enter the world ready to copy and interact with the people around them. Children also learn through interacting with the environment; the colourful illustrations and music on InnoTab 2 can engage children's attention. The experts on InnoTab 2 encourage children to explore and involve both gross and fine motor actions when buttons are pressed and little fingers need to, delicately, make a choice on the screen. Nowadays a large part of our interaction and learning comes from our electronic devices; these are our cultural tools. These tools not only change the way we interact and learn, they also facilitate learning.

Meet VTech's Expert Panel

Julie Coultas
Dr. Julie Coultas is an evolutionary social psychologist with a particular interest in education. She is a visiting research fellow in the Department. Dr Julie Coultas of Psychology at the University of Sussex as well as a research fellow at Stockholm University.

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