apps & babies: keeping our heads (and our ipads)

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Emily Lloyd

Post on 17-Oct-2014

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Page 1: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Emily Lloyd

Page 2: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Hi. I’m Emily. I work in a library with kids.

Maybe you’ve noticed the web buzzing this week with the news that The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhoodis urging the Federal Exchange Commission

to look into the marketing practices of two companies that make apps targeted to babies, Fisher-Price and Open Solutions.

They’re also arguing that apps can’t be effective educational tools for babies.

Are they right?

Research is scant (apps simply haven’t been around very long). Opinions and alarmist headlines aren’t…

Page 3: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

headlines from web 8/13-3/14

Page 4: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

1. Marketing anything, any thing— app, video, book, toy, miracle elixir— with the claim that it alone will “make babies smart[er]” is irresponsible and unfounded.

My feeling? The CCFC is right on two counts:

2. (Less importantly), Fisher Price’s “Laugh & Learn” apps aren’t good apps for babies (or anyone).*

*I haven’t yet explored any apps by Open Solutions. Try some of Fisher-Price’s, free: Let's Count Animals, Shapes & Colors

Page 5: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

An important and useful conversation about early literacy and exploring apps with babies is shut down, though,when media outlets (and some librarians) leap from here…

Page 6: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

…to the ideathat apps are inherently “bad for babies”and can never beeffective toolsfor reading, writing,playing, singing,and talking together*with them.

*the five practices of early literacy: more here (and lots of other places))

Page 7: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

It’s true:

Babies, left alone with tablets or phones loaded with apps, will not magically learn the alphabet…

…any more than they will magically learn the alphabet if left alone with

a basket of board books.

Page 8: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

What babies needin order to learn (most things)

is (in-person) people.

On their own, babies can learn about taste and texture from books (or iPads) by mouthing and touching them.

Beyond that, the value for babies in books (or apps) arrives when babies explore them together with another person.

They’ll especially benefit if this person points to the images, asks questions, and talks and gestures animatedly while exploring.

Page 9: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

No one* is suggesting that babies be left alone with machines to be “educated”—not even Open Solutions:

*other than Teddy Ruxpin

"We agree that screen models do not replace live models as social partners.

We also don't say ‘get this game and let it teach your child to read, write and talk in five languages.’

"We assume children (especially the youngest) are playing the game with a parent/babysitter,etc.” 

--statement to Mashable, 8/9/13

Page 10: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

“Educational apps…however well-meaning, do not take into account how babies learn. Babies learn through interaction, touching, feeling, grabbing, moving, and doing the same thing over and over again.”

--Rachel G. Payne, SLJ.com, 8/9/2013

As a librarian, reading over the various articles covering the CCFC story, I think the statement that frustrates me the most is the below, from another librarian writing an article (not a comment, an article) on School Library Journal’s website—

Page 11: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Back up…“Babies learn through interaction, touching…and doing the same thing over and over again”?

There’s an app (even several developmentally-appropriate good ones)

for that.

Page 12: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

What follows is a selection of free apps that—like age-appropriate board books—do take into account how babies learn.

They’re all free, so please explore them to get a feel for what age-appropriate apps for babies look like.

(One or two do have ads. If you like them, you should buy them—the CCFC is also right that ads aren’t appropriate for babies).

These apps

• are simple, not busy or intricate• do only one or two things• don’t contain passive animated or video segments• often focus on contrasts

As with age-appropriate board books, these apps should always ideally (and certainly initially) be explored together with babies.

Page 13: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

My First App by INBAL Tal

Babies are fascinated by photos of other babies. The first screen-grab above is the main “page” of this app. If you tap on the smiling face, you see one of a number of photos of happy babies and hear them make happy sounds. If you tap on the unhappy face, you get the opposite. That’s it.

Page 14: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Peekaboo HD

You see hay baleswith tiny glimpses of an animal peeking out from behind them.

You hear the hidden animal make a noise.

You tap the hay bales, and the animal is revealed.

Choose English or Spanish in the settings.

Page 15: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

ClickLights123

You tap a “button” (you can, or baby can) and hear a sound like a light switch flicking on or off. The button changes color. Sometimes there are fewer buttons. Sometimes there are more buttons.

Page 16: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Finger Paint with Sounds

You tap a color and scribble with your finger. Each color makes a different sound--or you can choose “music” so each plays a different musical phrase.

Baby might not be able to make many marks yet, but baby’s caregiver can draw shapes and talk about colors and sounds with him.

Page 17: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

Barnyard Friends Free

There are two keyboards. One makes piano sounds and makes the animaljust above the pressed key jump.

The other makes animal sounds.

You can also tap animals in scenes. They move gently. Be sure to mute the distracting background music when not playing the keyboards.

Page 18: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

TinyTap

This app is as fantasticas the grown-up inbaby’s life makes it.

It helps said grown-up quickly and easily make simple tap “games” with his or her own photos and voice.

[For example, the grown-up in thisphoto might record herself asking,“Where is Auntie’s mouth? Where is Baby’s mouth? Where is Auntie’snose? Where is BABY’S nose?”]

Page 19: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

My A-Z

Like TinyTap, this app needs to be prepared for baby by her parents or caregivers. My A-Z is really “just” a photo app (and simply exploring a photo roll with baby should not be overlooked—that’s the best “app” there is!).

Page 20: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

More on My A-Z : use this app to easily make alphabet cards with your own images. You can record up to 30 seconds of audio to go with each letter.

Babies love the sight of their loved ones’ faces and the sound of their loved ones’ voices. You can make several alphabet sets, and a great first one will include faces and familiar friends like “loveys” and pets. As baby grows and explores more of his world, add “Around the Neighborhood” and “At the Store” decks, and so on.

The publisher, Night & Day Studios, was thoughtful to give 30 seconds’ worth of recording time per image. Don’t waste it by simply repeating the word you’ve typed. Make sounds; invent phrases! For example, for the above O card, you might say,

“Oooh, Oooh, Oooh! Oh, Oh, Oh! Kellan got an OWIE and said Ouch, Ouch, Ouch!”

Page 21: Apps & Babies: Keeping Our Heads (and our iPads)

This is happening. So when caregivers ask us, as librarians and early educators, for app recommendations for the under-2 set, let’s work towards something more practical (and caregiver-friendly) than condemning all explorations of apps with babies—

—let’s educate ourselves and caregivers around how to identify thoughtfully-designed, age-appropriate apps and focus our energies on the message that, like books, apps should be explored by caregivers and little ones together.

In October 2013, Common Sense Media posted their finding that “38% of children under 2 have used a mobile device for media (compared to 10% two years ago).”*

--Emily Lloyd