Wired has reviews of three techie learning toys for kids. Since I have a son, Ian, who is almost three, I was curious to see what kinds of toys are out there that use batteries more than just for the sake of noise :)
My favorite was the Pixter, described by Wired as "a cross between a Palm handheld and an electronic Magna-Doodle." Seems like an insightful description since kids using the Pixter would develop some PDA literacies. Ian already has a Magna-Doodle and loves it, and I could see him graduating to the Pixter, then on to a PDA later on. Makes me wonder if we will be seeing 10 years old with PDA's in the near future?
Re: Toys for Tots on the Techie Side
When I was three, I had this little robotic statue that played word association games. He/the toy was named Alphie. He made noise, but it was mostly to praise or scold you depending on how you answered the questions that were on these little cards you stuck in his chest. It was a pretty hi-tech kid's toy for 1984. It's amazing what they have for kids to play with now.
Re: Toys for Tots on the Techie Side
My 10-year-old son has adopted my original palm pilot. Now he has his eyes on my Handspring Visor. If I thought he'd use it to help organize his life, I'd definitely give it to him--unfortunately I think he'd only use it to download shareware games. Anyone know of any interesting, educational software for the Palm OS?