Laptop or IPAD for small children

[Eesha]

Hi,

Possibly a very basic question here but i have two 5 year olds and we are looking at Christmas presents and debating an ipad each or a laptop each. I have gotten away with the cheapest of presents (think second hand Mcdonalds happy meal toys!) each year now however now i am working from home, they have adored my old ipad with a passion and are always wanting to be first to play on it.

Their dad is saying a laptop might be better as they can then do school work later on but im wondering if this will be years away!

Any thoughts?

Depends.

Why not just have a family laptop and/or iPad
. Then they're not "theirs" and you don't have to manage access/possession etc quite as much.

At 5yonid be getting them Lego, bikes, Magna tiles, scooters etc
...not expensive electronics

They do have lego but not tons of toys however the IPADs keep them entertained for a few hours when im working. At the moment, my ipad is the family one but both just always want it.

So, do you not think that the demands for the iPad would get worse,if they had one each of their own?

There are iPad like electronics aimed at younger kids. They can play games and watch movies - like the Fire HD kids Pro? A lot cheaper than an iPad.

My thoughts are that I wouldn't let 5 year olds sit with iPads for hours at a time.

All of ours have (and use) Amazon Fire HD 10s.

They'll be on offer on black friday for around £100, we've even done a bit of google classrooms on them.

I wouldn't buy the kids version unless you really want the kids subscription that comes with it, much cheaper to get the adult one and buy a similar rubber case with a handle afterward.

Ignore the laptop, anything you buy now will be well out of date by the time they come to seriously use it.

Buy them toys. They are 5.

We're getting our 2.5yr old an iPad for Christmas.

She currently shares an iPad with her older sister (3.5yrs), but they fight over watch the watch on YouTube kids.

We have a Children’s cover on the iPad with the handles on the side, also helps that it won't break when they drop it on a hard surface.

I would get a iPad over a laptop. They aren't going to need a computer for school for years by which time the laptop would be out of date.

That said I wouldn't get either for five year olds. Especially not one each!

So it won't be hours, it will be 1hr max each day after school whilst working. I'm definitely taking on board the idea about not getting a laptop as yet.

Definitely look at the Kindle Fires they are great and much cheaper than an Ipad. Plus they can have books etc on them too

But as a PP said wait untill black friday their deals are normally great

If you are going for a tablet, an iPad, perhaps the mini with the highest ram spec. would be my recommendation.

Far and away the best range of really useful applications. The value of playing on an IPad very much depends on what application is being used.

A compromise would be a laptop with a touch sensitive screen but really , iPads all the way.

I would go against the grain and say get a laptop, they can have games on it, like minecraft and learn to use a mouse and keyboard, school may use apps like reading eggs etc and its easy to have 2 browsers eg chrome and firefox with different users logged in to the different websites, they can still use kids youtube etc, and they will be becoming computer literate. I personally think ipads and tablets are limited, we are quite a techy family and I have made sure my kids can use actual computers from a young age- my 4.5 year old can now use mouse and keyboard with seperate hands at the same time for example

@DinosaurOfFire I think the only concern I have is with a laptop, I would obviously want it on a desk somewhere whereas with the ipad, they can just use it on the sofa. We don't really have the space for another desk set up

Kids kindles are really good if you've got prime

@Eesha My kids use my laptop on the coffee table, sometimes they sit on the sofa and sometimes on the floor depending on how they feel most comfortable, they also sometimes use the dining table. Its also easier in a way to share a laptop, we have a family tablet which they share too and they get a lot more use out of the laptop. Another option could be to get a desktop base unit that connects to your tv and a wireless keyboard and mouse, which would be able to be used from anywhere around the room.

@DinosaurOfFire

I would go against the grain and say get a laptop, they can have games on it, like minecraft and learn to use a mouse and keyboard, school may use apps like reading eggs etc and its easy to have 2 browsers eg chrome and firefox with different users logged in to the different websites, they can still use kids youtube etc, and they will be becoming computer literate. I personally think ipads and tablets are limited, we are quite a techy family and I have made sure my kids can use actual computers from a young age- my 4.5 year old can now use mouse and keyboard with seperate hands at the same time for example

We use a keyboard and mouse with our fire HDs

And chrome

And office..

For their ages I would get an ipad, you can get robust cases designed for children. Even better is they usually have handles! Laptops I'd say would be quite likely to be broken. Laptops are better for IT skills, but you can get scratch junior etc on ipads, Laptops I'd save until a little older.
I wouldn't bother with a kids kindle fire, everyone I know says they're good for preschool children but seem to upgrade shortly after starting school. Although my 5 year old just occasionally uses the family tablet and happy with that.

Neither!!

Is this a joke post?!

@FixTheBone I didn't realise that was possible with the Fire tablets, our (cheap, small) samsung tablet wouldn't be able to handle that I dont think.

...jeepers, whatever happened to sharing/taking turns?

We grew up in a family of 5 - we had a N64 connected to the living room TV. No other TVs. We managed to share/take turns etc..

I wouldn't bother with a laptop til they are a few years older.

Mine have a kindle fire kids edition each, and they are brilliant. Really sturdy and come with access to games, ebooks and TV shows.

I'm looking at an android tablet for my 5 year old, i can't decide what size.
I definitely think tablet rather than laptop. He's come home from school with about 4 different log ins for different apps, and first reading books will be ebooks. The world has changed in the last 2 years!

I imagine it will be a long while before they expect typed replys, and it can be easier to photograph an send on tablet rather than scan from the printer to the laptop.

I'd only buy ipad if you are an apple family, ie you both have apple phones.