T’s new toy
“Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.”
-Doug Larson
When it was discovered that Aunt Heather’s cousin Tina’s computer was too outdated to do what she wanted with it and broken to boot, we decided to give it a new home. Now it belongs to Teaball, and is newly equipped with a Hello Kitty screen-saver, a My Little Pony desktop, a great kiddy drawing program, and bookmarks to all of T’s favorite places online.
She loves it
This was a daddy project, and it was so cute watching him scour the internet in search of desktop backgrounds and screen-savers that would be adored by his little girl (“… found some Blue’s Clue’s wallpaper, but I can’t find anything of the Care Bears!!!”). He also was the one to sit patiently by and teach her all she needed to know about her mouse and touchpad – and get her to the sites and programs that she wanted to visit (over and over and over again).
I’m astounded by how quickly she’s learned how to use both the mouse and the touch-pad, and fully expect that she’ll be typing at 3000 words per minute and making repairs to my computer when needed by the time she turns 4 – and I’m fine with that (hopefully its easier to convince her to fix things than it is her father!). Her time on her computer is very limited, of course – she doesn’t even use it every day (yet) and she is always supervised…
I never thought that my kid would have a laptop at the age of two, but there it is, and it works well for us! I do have to admit to a moment of panic when I looked up to realize that all three of us were quietly playing on our respective laptops while sitting no more then 3 feet from each other – talk about spending quality family time. . .
Some of her favorite places to visit online are:
Kneebouncers.com is a great site to find super-simple toddler games. I think that T is starting to get a bit too old for some of these, but she still loves playing her favorites. We discovered this site over a year ago, and T’s been hooked ever since. . .
Chapi Chapo is an old French stop-motion animation series from the mid-70’s. We big kids remember it from the 80’s, when it ran as a segment on the Nickelodeon show, Pinwheel. Each episode is about 5 minutes long, and T will tell you – she’s a “huge fan!” The cool thing is that since the episodes are so short, she can watch 6 of them in the half-hour that one cartoon normally runs. She’s happy cuz’ she feels like she’s watching more shows then we usually allow her, I’m happy because she isn’t! Her dad has taught her how to select the next episode from the menu – oh how empowered our little girl has become!
The Elephant song, a super silly tune by Eric Herman, is one that we adapt constantly for just about anything we can think of. She can’t get to YouTube herself, but she does know how to replay a song once we’ve taken her there. That is quite enough navigation for her for now, I think!
SesameStreet.org is another awesome place to go for all kinds of kiddy fun!
Oh! And we mustn’t forget Chiyo-chans cooking song. . . Teaball LOVES this one, and will even sing along with it, though she couldn’t possibly know the meaning of the words. From the anime Azumanga Daioh, which T has never seen.
In terms of sheer adorableness, it’d be pretty tough to rival the Snuffle Bunny Song. I have no idea what this is actually from, but T’s been hooked from the moment she laid eyes on this too cute little rabbit singing a love song to. . . her carrot!? Thanks to my sissa for sending this our way 😉
Witch Doctor, that old nursery rhyme/song put to a symphony of silly characters and flashing bright insanity has been a favorite of T’s since it was put up on Albino Black Sheep by ZekeySpaceyLizard. . .
. . . as has The Birds and the Bees. And I have to admit – I love, love, LOVE this song by Patrick & Eugene. Again, the animation on this one was done by ZekeySpaceyLizard. T’s been watching this one practically since she was born. We used to use it to distract her from herself when she lost her mind for no reason as a baby. . . yeah, good parenting skills!
There are more, loads more, but these are a few of the faves we’ve collected over the past almost 3 years. We’re always looking for more great sites for the little one, so feel free to send a link over if you’ve got a good one. I’m happy that she can visit them on her OWN computer now, because it kind of makes me nervous to turn my precious over to my toddler!
Huginn, Muninn, and me 