kids

Microsoft has always positioned its Surface products, especially the Surface Pros and Surface Laptops, as a great mobile computer for students. Now, however, it seems to be aiming its smallest Surface to the smallest computer users. Microsoft is offering a Surface Go Kids Bundle that may, on the surface, looks like a pretty ordinary marketing strategy. If you think about it, however, it might not be that effective one either.

Continue Reading

Amazon has introduced its first Kindle ereader designed specifically for kids. Called the Kindle Kids Edition, this model is a book reader that features an e-ink display and ultra-long battery life; it's not to be confused with the company's Kindle Fire tablets, which have already been released with Kids Edition options. Among other things, the new Kindle includes Amazon's FreeTime Unlimited.

Continue Reading

Most of the technologies, be it hardware or software, that gets mainstream media attention are often targeted at adults, sometimes teens, that are, admittedly, the biggest market for such products. But just as technology should be accessible to everyone, including those with physical handicaps, it should also be usable for people of all ages, especially the children that will become the adults of the future. There is no shortage of educational apps for smartphones and tablets but their actual beneficial effects are still hotly debated. That's why Osmo is taking a different approach that brings AI, augmented reality, mobile and physical activity to promise a more holistic approach to learning for kids.

Continue Reading

Disney has brought back its Bedtime Hotline for a limited time, adding new iconic voices to the service: Yoda and Spider-man. The company first introduced the hotline last year with the arrival of its Sleep Shop line of bedtime clothing, offering the hotline as a nice little hook to help parents get their kids into bed (and maybe into a pair of Disney pajamas).

Continue Reading

Children are notoriously picky eaters and parents may struggle to get them to eat the daily recommended amount of vegetables. This problem is compounded by readily available high-fat, salty, and sweet food products often lacking adequate nutrition, resulting in parents who give up on trying to get their kids to turn to healthier alternatives. Scientists have revealed a method that may change that, however, and it involves exposure to a large variety of vegetables.

Continue Reading

There's a little bit of an issue with the latest Facebook app aimed at children: It lets your kids talk to strangers. For the surprisingly massive number of parents who've let their children use this app expecting it to come to no shocking end: This is real. The Facebook Messenger Kids app had a flaw in it that allowed unapproved strangers to enter group chats with your children.

Continue Reading

Experts and parents are still debating the long term effects of exposing young ones to screens and mobile devices. It is, however, a fact of life that kids will eventually get their hands on a phone or tablet. Rather than banning them outright, some parents may prefer to train children in the proper use of modern technologies by allowing their limited and supervised use. To that end, Wondershare's FamiSafe parental control app promises peace of mind for parents while delivering the wonders of the mobile age to children at the same time.

Continue Reading

Given the growing number of young users on the Internet, that has also been a rise in apps that cater specifically to this young audience. Those range from educational or entertainment apps to parental control apps. Those, of course, have to take great care in making sure the young ones don't get exposed to harmful content. Unfortunately, just like in any other piece of software, those apps can have bugs and one found in Facebook's Messenger Kids app practically bypassed all the protection that the app promised.

Continue Reading

Netflix has revealed a huge batch of original shows for preschoolers from a number of children's programming creators. The company plans to release another seven original shows aimed at kids ages 2 to 6, including a new series based on DreamWorks' Dragons property and another DreamWorks series called Go, Dog. Go!

Continue Reading

At less than a third of the size of previously standard Toys 'R' Us store, the new locations might feel unfamiliar. It won't feel particularly familiar to the original customers of the mega-massive toy store chain, anyway. But what the new, more compact locations lack in size will be more than made up for with a modern retail cool factor. That's the aim, now that Tru Kids Brands (owners of Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands) are partnered up with the group called b8ta.

Continue Reading

A mysterious illness with no known cause or cure has resulted in a number of otherwise healthy children becoming paralyzed, the CDC reports, and it expects another record outbreak to happen in 2020. Called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), this condition is described as rare but very serious by the CDC; it causes weak muscles and reflexes in the body, lesions in the spinal cord, and primarily appears in otherwise healthy kids. Officials are pleading for more information from doctors about the condition ahead of the next anticipated wave.

Continue Reading

Grandparents may be fueling excessive device usage among kids, a new study has found. Screen time among youth is a growing public health concern, but reducing the number of time kids spend on gadgets is tricky. According to research from Rutgers University, kids may be getting far too much screen time while in the care of grandparents who want to spoil their grandchildren.

Continue Reading