Let your toddler loose on the computer (ELC Baby Keyboard)

Member Name: silla

Product:	ELC Baby Keyboard
Date:	08/11/02 (3823 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Children love it , It protects your own keyboard, completly portable

Disadvantages: Characters on cd sometimes talk in a different language, pricey

Whilst walking around the ELC looking for something for my young son I came across this The Baby Keyboard. He had messed around with the computer a few times rich tea biscuits in the floppy drive etc so I wanted to get him something that would occupy his mind and teach him to use the computer properly. At £50 it seemed a bit steep but it came with three cds of which you can also buy more and I was feeling a bit flush that day, so what the heck!

The baby keyboard is an ideal introduction to the computer for pre- school children. There natural curiosity makes them want to copy you and with this keyboard they too can play on the computer.

The keyboard is very child friendly and attaches to the computer by means of 2 blue velcro straps. There is no installation needed and it is very portable ( we frequently take it to Grandmas to play with there). It just covers your own keyboard and the chunky keys coerrespond to a key underneath. (Easy)

It has ten large colourful buttons.
5 are coloured shapes with cheerful faces on them, eg blue square, green star , red triangle
2 are backwards and forwards buttons in the shape of arrows,
2 feature the characters of the games, Nax and Oyo( a frog and a bear) when pressing either of these keys the characters appear on the screen and either tell you what to do next or perform a little routine for you
The last one is a parental button which can be used to learn about the activity and also to set a time limit for the games. such as end in 10 mins, 20 mins or Now. This comes in handy when you can't get them off the computer and you are waiting to go on

The keyboard and the buttons are colourful, chunky and robust and able to withstand the vigorous handling of toddlers.

It also comes complete with three cds. the first two are used only with the keyboard whilst the third is also used with the mouse, giving the child a further dimension of using the computer.


All three cds feature the characters Nax and Oyo and start off in a familiar setting such as the nusery or park. By choosing a coloured shape button the child is taken to an activity and by using the arrows he can move to the next activity or back to the last. There are 5 educational games on each cd such as playing musical instruments, fitting shapes in holes and blowing up and catching different coloured balloons.

My son, aged 2, has had many hours of enjoyment out of the keyboard and I have watched his progress with interest. Children soon learn about the different colours and shapes and he know uses a mouse with great skill. He has progressed along through the cds put still goes back to the first one now and again because he still enjoys it. He has plenty of confidence with the computer and I am sure the keyboard has helped this.

My only dissappointment is not in the keyboard but in the cds.The main character Oyo (the bear) seems to be talking in a different language at times ( I think it could be French) and I feel this lets the cds down. Other than that I would highly recommend it.

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