I have a daughter, aged 1.5 years. I guess watching me play with my phone, on my desktop clicking and tapping, on my laptop doing the same, all resulting in beeps and screen flashes captures a child’s interests and imaginations. So what can you do when they are this young but insist they need to use the PC. Lots, actually. And none of the solutions damage your settings or files. After all you want to encourage them as much as possible.

First up, BabySmash!

This is a program that gives them instant gratification for all their random and wild clicks on the mouse and taps on the keyboard. It takes up the full screen and locks them out of any of the desktop items.

Features Smash on any keys Draws letters, shapes, numbers Keeps babies happy Won’t harm your computer New features added often

It offers a settings dialog so you can tune the “experience”. You may need to buy a new keyboard after a while though if your child is like mine. Or dig out an old one for them.

Its really good for hand-eye coordination. She is learning to control the mouse movement better and realize each key is different for a reason.

Soon she will be writing on the blog.

Its a free download and you can get it here – Baby Smash!

Secondly, Animal Sounds for Android

The desktop is only one part. So you need something for your phone too. I use Animal sounds to teach her the spellings, sounds and images of a particular animal. It doesn’t lock out the screen but has taught her what a touch screen is and how to use it with swipes.

Its an effective way of keeping her entertained and learning at the same time.

There is of course an options screen, again where you can fine tune things a little. Especially the sound control.

To get it, search for Animal Sounds on the market place and its free.

Here is their website – Linkedin Profile

Thirdly, Baby Go for Android and Blackberry

This one is good because it locks out your mobile screen so they can only learn and play. The creators website is fantastically designed. Below are the feature differences between the paid and free version. For me the free version is enough for now. I am sure she will grow out of it though and I will have to get the super version.

The site doesn’t indicate that its available for Android but a market search will show it up.

I hope these have been useful and if there are some better ones out there, let me know in the comments.