Brendan and I played his computer game today- Reader Rabbit Toddler. I highly, HIGHLY recommend it for 18+ months toddlers. Not only does it score high on quality/quantity of entertainment & learning, but it is absolutely the easiest to use too. All Brendan has to do is hit random keys on the keyboard OR move the mouse around (no clicking necessary).
In times past, Brendan played almost exclusively by the hitting keys method. Occassionally he’d give the mouse a try because he sees us use it all the time but then would go back to hitting the keys. Today, Brendan made the connection of “when I move this around on the desk, it moves the star on the screen”. Brain-fireworks flew as he looked at the screen instead of the mouse under his hand. Brendan thus completed Mouse Basics 101.
He also surprised me with a new word. We were playing a game where a girl mouse was on the screen. When he moved the star-cursor over her she let out a big squeak. He LOLed. I LOLed. He pointed at her and said “silly!” 🙂