Help - ICT for 2-3 year olds

[thumperrabbit]

I'm Looking at my ICT provision at Pre-School and feeling it needs at bit of inspiration, can you help?

 

What ICT games do you have for your 2-3yr olds?

 

we do have a computer but find they really struggle with mouse control and end up keep crashing it (which makes the older children very cross)

we have a Leap pad but with all the noise in the room you can't hear it

we have a bee-bot, but somehow if we don't adult lead it, we end up with a very confused bee that stops working and my hubby has to do something to it to re-set it!

we have had CD players which they have loved in the past but this current academic year 2 have already been broken by over enthusiastic 2yr olds and we can't afford to just keep replacing

 

we have the usual hoovers, beeping microwave etc

 

We do have a couple of games but as you have to listen closely we are struggling because of noise levels in the hall.

[Cait]

Remote control cars, anything that has a switch to get it going, like torches, walkie talkies etc. even noisy baby dolls!

[Guest]

we have wind up torches, walkie talkies, basic remote control toys (eg we have an old tomy dog with just a forward and backward button), small keyboard, CD player, working camera, a laptop (old second hand one which was donated), microphone, little cheap mp3 players, but the favourite at the moment is the ipad which our 2year old love and find much easier than a mouse to control

[finleysmaid]

personally i'm not much of a fan of ict with this age group, i don't think it teaches them a lot and i would rather work on other skills, we do have lots of non working models of stuff though like old mobile phones./ laptops/cd players /kettles etc which will show you whether a child understands the technology, that they know how to turn it on and off and the rudiments of how it works. i am getting a bit fed up with children who know how to use an ipad but are completely incapeable of forming a short sentence!!

[sunnyday]

Hi thumper - glad you raised this.......we have all of the above mentioned items.......

 

I have been wondering if our lap-top with the use of a mouse is now hopelessly 'out-dated' - would love to know what others think.......

[finleysmaid]

Hi thumper - glad you raised this.......we have all of the above mentioned items.......

 

I have been wondering if our lap-top with the use of a mouse is now hopelessly 'out-dated' - would love to know what others think.......

ha have had exactly the same conversation recently....the issue is that all my local schools still use mouse control.

[sunnyday]

ha have had exactly the same conversation recently....the issue is that all my local schools still use mouse control.

 

Yes, I had wondered whether that was the case.......

[Gezabel]

I'm wondering too! I had a just 3yr old who fully understood the audio instructions on the computer but had difficulty controlling the mouse. He completed the game with support just for the mouse use. Mums answer was 'oh never thought of that he uses a tablet at home'- maybe we are rapidly heading into a touch screen world!

[thumperrabbit]

I'm wondering too! I had a just 3yr old who fully understood the audio instructions on the computer but had difficulty controlling the mouse. He completed the game with support just for the mouse use. Mums answer was 'oh never thought of that he uses a tablet at home'- maybe we are rapidly heading into a touch screen world!

 

Touch Screens!! - and we only fund-raised enough to afford a laptop late last year, it's still rather precious to us

[finleysmaid]

the problem with the mouse of course is that it is a cause and effect toy....you need to understand the connection between what you are doing with your hand and what is happening on the screen, this is a much more sophisticated combination than a touch screen application. If you add to this the click/drag and drop programmes you are expecting quite a lot from a young brain!!! (or even an old one at that!! )

[Guest]

have you spoken to parents and found out what they do at home? We do this for our littlies and take it toward their assessments <and then focus on teaching them to speak, share take turns, listen and follow instructions>

 

We've found that in todays technological world they do so much on ICT at home we don't need to really cover it to this extent which frees us up for teaching the other stuff

[DavidW]

Really interesting thread. I worked in IT for 25 years before moving to the real World of early years, 9 years ago! I think there are some fundamental questions about the role of ICT here. Is it about familiarisation? ICT as an enabler? ICT as a teaching resource? learning how to use technology? ICT as a starting point? I agree that we need to be focusing on the core areas as a priority - PD, CL & PSED but as has been said above, we live in a World of technology and our children are already acquainted with much of it. They do not have the fear that some of us have - they are quite happy to wreck laptops, CDS, cameras etc. So what do we spend precious funds on and how do we use it?

 

We have desktop computers (or laptops) with a mouse. These break all the time, children find it difficult to use the mouse, insert CDs etc. They are limited to a single user + spectator(s) and take up room. I don't see much valuable learning taking place - certainly not at the development level of our children.

 

We bought a tablet (£70). Touch screen is a much more intuitive interface. A child dropped it and cracked the screen last week - even though she was sitting with an adult.

 

We are replacing CD players with IPODS but this is mainly for staff to use to play music for the children. At least it eliminates CDs - which are often scratched or lost.

 

I like the idea of technology resources as part of role play - kettles, microwaves, cash tills etc.

 

We are using digital recorders, talking tin lids etc. and let children take their own pictures on digital cameras and videos, under adult supervision.

 

We only use control resources (Bee Bots) under adult supervision.

 

We have used and had broken or lost - walkie-talkies, metal detectors, timers, torches etc.

 

We use skype with our children to talk remotely - great for PSED, language and Understanding the World.

 

We also make increasing use of the internet for videos, picture etc.

 

I think this is quite a challenging area. Anyway, just some of my thoughts.

[SueFinanceManager]

Thanks for your great post David

[sunnyday]

Thanks for your great post David

 

I'll second that! :1b

[Gezabel]

Great post may I 'third it' ?

[Running Bunny]

What a great thread! I'm jumping on it as I am going to have a fight on my hands at our next committee meeting (for those that don't know me, I'm a playgroup committee member, not staff, but former nursery nurse and early years advisor, so have some experience)

 

Our monitor has broken so we did some fundraising and got the amount we needed to replace the screen. Our treasurer has just sent an email to say that he thinks that the system (old desktop with tower) will sooner or later 'fall over' so we might as well replace the whole thing. Fair comment. HOWEVER, he is proposing an £800 (!) touch screen Google 7 thingummy. After spitting my coffee over my laptop, I'm trying to do some meaningful research on what we really need.

 

I've looked at the Technology requirements in Knowledge of the World and whilst there is mention of computers, it is not the be all and end all, as other options are mentioned above. We are based in an old chapel with no internet access, so are we really going to get benefit from a touch screen expensive computer? I'm worried that breakage/damage is more possible (we have 2-5 year olds in one room) and the reasoning from the treasurer (more interactive books, maths apps, phonics apps...) is replacing what staff can do with other resources and as someone mentioned above, the noise level is too high to hear it anyway!!

 

My internal quandary is also bugging me - what IS our role as Early Years providers with ICT? Can't parents let them play with (break?!) their iPhones/IPads etc... (I would hazard a guess that most of children have access to these at home due to the kind of area we are in) so would the money be better spent on just replacing the old one with a like for like desktop and spending the rest of the money on other ICT resources, of which we have very few, to be honest!

 

Has anyone got any anecdotal stories that will either help me or prove me wrong - happy for both!!

Thanks!

[Cait]

I'm with you on this. I think children of this age should be running about and experiencing sensory play and things like that, not sitting in front of computer screens. As you say, they get a lot of experience with ipads and iphones at home, most likely. There are computers aimed at this age group and for a two year old's short attention span, they might be more relevant.

 

He could spend the money on some communication enhancing spaces - far more important for this age and stage!

 

Ducking below parapet!

[sunnyday]

You can pop your head back out Cait - I am in total agreement :1b

 

Ah - perhaps we should both duck! :blink:

[finleysmaid]

i have two boys at the moment who are holding thier pencils way too far north....couldn't work out why until i realised that they spend all their time using a stylus on a tablet!

[Running Bunny]

If you duck, I'm ducking with you :blink:

The children do use what we have to play some basic platform games, do paint-type pictures and some adult-led activities, but not enough to justify (in my opinion) that kind of money! Plus we are only sessional, so 3 hour stints at a time, not 8-6 where there would be more access to it and more time to really utilise it. The treasurer has sent me a couple of very valid studies about how children learn through iPad use, but in a 3 hour session versus home and what they go on to do in school, there is more important things focus on, surely?

[Cait]

There are some quite interesting studies out there on how ipad use stifles communication skills though. They are going to have YEARS in front of them with computers, but only this tiny window in their lives where their brains are developing at an incredible rate, developing synapses for communication skills which will last for life. If they 'get' this bit of communication, the rest will be easy, if they miss the opportunity now, they will find reading, writing and conversations and other academic life more difficult.

[Inge]

We wouldn't pay out that much for a home pc, but it is definitely over the top for this age group... remembering of course that replacing it with the most up to date pc will mean most of the software may not run on it, so would need another budget to replace it or renew it, particularly with no internet to fall back on for the games etc.

 

Maybe something about the attention span of children at this age.. and the staffing to supervise them so they did not wreck it ..taking away from the interaction with the rest of the children... was always one of our tacks when we were asked about new pc.. and wanted remote control cars , and other stuff.

 

maybe a basic pc to replace it and we had child friendly cameras which while not the best quality pictures were very robust and put up with all sorts of dropping etc and were very popular with all age groups.. something about the immediate effect.. seeing themselves and friends on the little screen...we would download them and print them, they did enjoy them and had the physical picture in the end.

 

I am another one who feels this age is not right for overload of ICT.. if they have it at home and learn from it there cannot see any reason for it to be a big part of the preschool.
they need to be able to verbalise and communicate before the computer will have any real meaning.. otherwise it is a lot of shapes and colours with no real meaning. and physical development is more important at this age.. if they do not develop good coordination and muscle control etc.. no hope with writing..etc..