Selena’s Top Christmas Present

We were looking for a toy laptop for Selena. We didn’t want one that would need endless cartridges, that seem to become obsolete or disappear and can’t be found. We were not looking for one that she would use for learning, but more for reinforcing her skills. We wanted it to have enough games and educational areas to keep her attention, while having different skill levels that would grow with her.

We settled on the Oregon Scientific Barbie B – Smart Laptop. Selena really enjoys her little laptop We are not disappointed one bit with it ourselves. It isn’t loud enough to be a nuisance like some toy computers are. It has so many different games, from reading, math, spelling, fun, and introduction to keyboarding. Selena does very well with the reading section, most of the spelling section, and is working with Papa and I in the evenings in the math areas. We also work with her in many of the fun games which require critical thinking.

One thing I like about it is that it truly reinforces what she already knows while pushing the edge to new materials. For example in the reading area, there is one game where they give a clue, such as what animal likes hay? It then shows three animals, squirrel, hamster, horse. It just shows the words, it does not read them to her, she has to read the words herself and choose the correct answer. To accent this it goes into another game of guess what animal I am thinking of. It describes a feature or two about the particular animal. It again lists three animals that Selena has to read and choose the right one.

The math section has from basic skills of smaller and larger, to actual math facts. As I said we work together in this area, so while some of it Selena does understand, it requires different computer skills which she is still learning. There are also mazes, matching games, and an area of sequencing numbers and events.

In this picture Selena is working in the spelling area. The computer shows the word, tells the child what the word is, then scrambles the letters and Selena has to use the keyboard to correctly put the letters in the correct order. It starts with three letter words, and advances on from there. She does really pretty well in the spelling area, other then for hunting to find the letters on the keyboard, since the keyboard is exactly the same as a real keyboard on a computer.

Over all we are happy we purchased this little laptop for her. We can purchase an adapter for it so we do not have to go through batteries, though so far it seems the battery life is very good compared to what it could be. Considering she plays it every day and sometimes multiple times a day she has yet to go through the first set of batteries we put in it. I would definitely have to say that this has met with all of our expectations and even more.