BookmarkKids Electronic Learning Toys
Modern electronic ways to teach your child old-fashioned skills.
If Hamlet were alive today, he might alter his philosophy to say that there is nothing either good or bad but marketing makes it so. That's certainly the case with electronic learning toys. Though toy companies have found electronic learning toys to be a profitable product niche, some observers aren't sold on their educational value.
Baby geniuses or baby consumers?
Baby genius brands have been a significant part of the economic success of electronic learning toys. In 2004, for example, total toy sales dropped by 3% to $20.1 billion, but sales of learning and exploration toys climbed 19% to over $510 million, the largest increase of any toy category.
Brainy Baby, Baby Genius, and in particular, Baby Einstein, are some of the leading brands behind electronic learning toys. Since the mid-1990s, videos and DVDs used as electronic learning toys have sold in excess of $1 billion in the U.S. alone.
But what are these electronic learning toys really teaching your children? Not much, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser released a study in December of 2005 in which they found no evidence that such products helped babies learn.
Baby Einstein, the market leader of the U.S. electronic learning toy industry, was bought out by Disney in November, 2001, and some critics contend that Disney's Baby Einstein videos and DVDs are as much about advertising as they are education.
The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has filed a complaint with the federal trade commission claiming that the companies behind electronic learning toys are engaging in false advertising. CCFC claims that there not only isn't evidence of educational effectiveness, but also that many educational videos and DVDs primarily promote other electronic learning toys and products.
Electronic learning toys that work
If sitting your child down in front of the television isn't the education you thought it was, electronic learning toys that teach reading and writing skills are great substitute teachers.
Electronic books may not be as dazzling as other electronic learning toys, but they can help your child to acquire reading skills that will be invaluable for their future education.
The Story Reader product line from Publications International Ltd. has been a great success. These electronic learning toys feature a cartridge with an electronic voice that encourages children to read along, and features familiar storylines from movies such as The Incredibles and The Lion King.
Writing skills can also be developed through the use of electronic learning toys. VTech features a line of write and learn products for children 3 and 4 years old and up. VTech's Write & Learn Smartboard allows children to draw numbers and letters in a writing area, and an electronic voice reads what your child has written and encourages them to further practice.
For development of drawing and art skills, VTech's Write & Learn Artboard teaches children to draw and name familiar objects.
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