Talk to me about innotabs?

[OctoberMoon]

Hi guys,

DD is 4 this month. Not going overboard on presents as my beloved Christmas is just round the corner.

Anyway, we have a family ipad that DD uses. She is not as interested in it as most kids I know. She'd prefer to watch a dvd really. We've been thinking about an innotab and a couple of games as her main Christmas present, but not sure if it'll be worth it?

Do your kids enjoy their innotabs? Is 4 a good age for one? She loves Spongebob and I know you can get Spongebob games for the innotab and i'm sure there'll be other games that will interest her.

[CircassianLeyla]

We got one for DS2 who was 5 last year. Tbh he hardly ever uses it, but we haven't downloaded any new games/apps. We are planning on being better a out this though.

I guess I am not a good judge but the iPad in my opinion with age appropriate apps and games is more than sufficient.

Currently they are more interested in the laptop???

[jamtoast12]

Tbh if not interested I wouldn't get anything technology wise as they'll b plenty of years were normal toys won't be enough to entertain. Dd was 7 before she got anything tech wise and everyone comments how well she plays with her toys etc compared to her friends who got them younger. Dd can play with her dolls etc for hours and she's 8 now.

You can get spongebob games for the iPad (dd has them) and an IPad is loads better in terms of games available for kids etc so the innotab would be a backstep I think.

[everydayaschoolday]

DD1 has just turned 5 and she got the innotab2 last christmas. It's gone down really well, she uses the camera function and video a lot and I think it was a perfect age for her to get one (at 4). BUT to keep her interested, we do buy extra game cartridges/downloads for it fairly frequently. These are quite expensive at £20 (£14 on offer in Toysrus/Argos quite frequently) per cartridge, for a couple of simple games, story and a couple of extra functions. So it has been a success (she plays with it most days) BUT at an additional cost.

However, she is just, if not more, entertained by cheep/freebie apps that I download on my phone for her. Or playing on the CBEEBIES website. So I'm thinking of getting her a tablet or iPod when we move on from the innotab perhaps next year.

Knowing what entertaining apps there are out there for little cost, if I were to do it all again, I'd be tempted just go tablet and bypass innotab. But since she has the console now, she'll likely get a couple of games cartridges this christmas from relies (they always ask what to get) to keep getting the most out of the console.

Oh, and beware the innotab absolutely devours batteries. We use a separately bought (Argos I think) innotab mains adaptor. Really worth the extra cost (I think £10?). Its not a charger, just plugs console into the mains to use. Batteries alone would last about 4 days with DD1 use.

[everydayaschoolday]

cheep??! cheap

[bulletwithbutterflywings]

We bought one for DS (just turned 4) last year, he loves it but its very expensive to buy the games and movies for it. We wish we had bought him a cheap tablet tbh. He gets frustrated with it not being as responsive as an iPad