Mobile phone dupe for 5 year old

[YouAfterMe]

My 5 year old is obsessed with getting a mobile phone - has been doing chores around the house in a cute way to try to ‘save’ for it etc.

She is too young for a phone!

Complication: my Dad is dying - and she was sad about it - and he wanted to get her her ‘bestest thing’ for a gift - being a phone. He respects that I don’t want a 5 year old with a freaking iPhone - and asked me for suggestion of something that would scratch the itch but be age appropriate.

I thought there would definitely be ‘phone shaped fun electronic toys’ on the market - but the market seems to top out with Leapfrog products that seem to be aimed at 3 year olds...

Can anyone point me to something suitable...? I think the shape and size is important - I think she wants to be like the teenagers she knows fiddling with their phones in their glitzy cases. But policy in this house is that real phones only come at secondary school.

Could you give her an old non working phone she can play pretend with? She could push the buttons and pretend to chat to people. Or a toy fake one. Dd had a plastic fake one. She's a teenager now so can't recommend a specific one but is there nothing on Amazon?

I know it’s not very different to a mobile phone, and would need a screen proctor and case, but what about an iPod touch?

I’m sure you could put parental controls on there, and make sure she can’t make purchases.

I know it’s very expensive, and not a kids toy, but I bet she’d love it.

Walkie Talkies or Vtech kidicom

A kids kindle, with all the kids games, apps and videos is good if you want functionality.

Aside from a kindle, my 5yo DD has an old broken smartphone that she pretends with, puts in her "handbag".

This sort of thing

ipod touch? Mine have them, hey are linked to my apple account, I control everything although admittedly they are a bit older.

Could you give her an old phone to play with in he house and he gifts you the money to buy the phone when she is older?

@Julmust - that’s the kind of thing - but they all scanned ‘young’ for me - like she can count & read & stuff... and with the emotion tied into it I don’t want to end up with something aimed at preschoolers ...

The Vtech kidi one, I got my five year old one for Christmas she loves it. She can text family members on it which is enough for her, she just sends drawings that she does on there.

How about an old fashioned non-smartphone? She can message numbers you programme on her phone and call them but nobody else can get in touch.

You're in a very difficult situation and I have every sympathy but I would distract her with something else, it will be the thin end of the wedge.

[quote YouAfterMe]@Julmust - that’s the kind of thing - but they all scanned ‘young’ for me - like she can count & read & stuff... and with the emotion tied into it I don’t want to end up with something aimed at preschoolers ...[/quote]
I agree. I think at 5 she’s not going to be happy with “like a phone but not a phone” so I’d swerve that kind of thing.

Tbh I’d put aside the phone thing completely and just think about a gift she’d like from your dad. Whether that’s a toy she’d enjoy right now as a 5 year old or something you’d like her to have to remember him by is worth thinking about.

If he wants to get her something for now then there are loads of things aimed at that age to choose from but as a keepsake maybe you could suggest some things he may not have thought of such as a locket, an engraved jewellery box?

A kids kindle fire, specifically the kids one as they then replace it if it gets broken.

You can add extra memory SD cards and download kids apps, plus you can add parental controls and screen limits.

What does she want the phone for? Is it to play games or call and text people?

We gave ds2 an old android smartphone when he was not much older. It's not got a sim in it so it's literally a small tablet function wise.

iPod touch is perfect for her age. It's essentially a phone without the ability to put a sim card in so can't be used as a phone. Can do apps, camera, internet (via wifi) etc - you can disable the inrernet browser using parental controls.

Or just do the same thing with an actual phone, ie, don't put a sim card in it.

I agree I’d swerve this completely as either you’ll buy ‘not a phone’ and it might not be right or you’ll buy a phone and once it’s bought it bought and you’ll have to keep it going forever.

I have a 5 year old. I’d explain that phones are for x age and older so it’s a toy phone or no phone. And then I’d talk to everyone in the house, including her, about house rules for phone use which she can help enforce.

I think “I want a phone” is over shadowing that her grandad is dying and a phone is not going to be something to remember him by.

My five year old has my old iphone, it doesn’t have a sim card but it is connected to our home wifi. If you set them up properly, remove safari etc they can be suitable for young children.

If it was me I think I'd rather she had something special to remember her Granddad by and even a current phone is going to be obsolete in a couple of years. Echo other posters with a piece of jewelry or something else more "keepsakey".

Sorry about your Dad