Computing for techno tots

Give your child a head start in life by helping them get to grips with computing

Happiness is a habit best learned young they say, and in today's techno-happy world, the same can be said for computing. There's much to gain by introducing kids to technology because like reading, writing and speaking, if started early enough, it guarantees a degree of proficiency to last a lifetime.

However, as more technology manufacturers release products specifically made for kids, it can be difficult to know when you're investing in a product that will serve your child well or simply falling for a marketing ploy.

Then there are health and safety issues. Should a five-year-old be allowed to sit before a computer for hours on end? We decided to get some expert advice and helpful guidelines for parents to consider, to help their children make the most of today's technology.

Motor on
It's now a matter of government policy, through the national curriculum, to expose children to computer technology from a young age. As well as guidance on language, maths and social skills, there are also objectives set for the use of technological equipment.

The Direct Gov website states two key goals of the policy. First that "your child will know about everyday technology and what it is used for". And second, that "your child will learn to move confidently, controlling their body and handling equipment".

The second goal is certainly important, as it builds the foundations upon which children develop their motor skills, particularly when exposed to something as complex as moving a mouse around and relating it to actions on a computer screen.

"It is critical for children at this age to develop mouse proficiency. That is what they have trouble with," says Janet Read, a leading researcher with the University of Lancashire's Child Computer Interaction group (CHICI), which evaluates computing technology aimed at children.

Mouse proficiency is important because a few years down the line, the national curriculum demands a higher standard of its students. At Key Stage 1, children are required to be able to type familiar words on a PC's keyboard. A year later at Key Stage 2, they must type error-free text.

It all begins with familiarity, according to Ms Read's research, and by helping preschoolers develop mouse skills as simple as drag and drop and point and click at home, parents can go a long way towards fostering PC proficiency.

Safety first
Before letting your child run headlong into the information age, there is the issue of health to consider. Pauline Eccles, an ex-preschool teacher, ICT advisory teacher and now a developer of software for children, points out that sitting a child at a desk set up for an adult is not clever.

"Sitting a small child in a big chair with an adult mouse and a screen set so high they are craning their necks is not a good idea," she says. "The same health and safety techniques adults apply to their own computer use should be extended to the child."

The other problem is screen size. We adults like big screens; not so little kids. A child of three's natural viewing distance is about 7in. "Because of that closeness the child's field of vision can be compromised. The other danger is that their proximity to flashing lights can trigger epilepsy in extreme cases," says Ms Read.

Parents need to limit computer time to 15 minutes at a stretch and remember that young eyes need uncomplicated images to settle upon - think Teletubbies rather than games such as Half-Life 2.

The right stuff
The range of child-based computer hardware is growing and there is something to suit every budget. At the expensive end, Medion has designed the Disney Dream Desk PC, a small but sweetly designed computer.

The monitor has Mickey Mouse ears while under the case you'll find a reasonably powerful computer that comes complete with a 40Gb hard disk, 256Mb of memory and an Intel Celeron 330 processor. The PC comes with a kid-size mouse as well as a chubby optical pen for digital drawings.

The latter can be used on the table or on the mouse pad and is an interesting addition, as ChiCI's research has shown that mice may not be the right navigational device for preschoolers. If the optical pen can help ease a child into computer use then so much the better.

The Disney PC also comes with a plethora of peripherals, including a digital camera, a video camera, a games controller and corresponding software. It also comes loaded with a pop-up blocker and internet filtering software to block access to unsavoury websites. The Disney system costs £550.

You don't need to buy a fancy kid's PC to get your child's computer interest going as you can use the one you have at home, but it is worth buying a few peripherals that will make their PC use easier.

Our experts all agreed that a notebook mouse is a must for toddlers. Smaller than a normal-sized mouse, little hands can feel comfortable using it, and wireless options are better as they prevent children from getting tied into knots.

Trackball devices can really prove useful, too. Logitech, Microsoft and Trust all have mini notebook mice and several models are wireless. Prices range between £18 and £50.

We also looked at the Saitek Notebook Optical mouse and although it is a corded model, at £10 it's a well-priced option.

Big Keys has a range of larger keyboards with keys marked by pictures, as well as upper and lower-case letters. The device has proved useful in nurseries to help kids get to that Key Stage 1 level where they feel confident typing familiar words. BigKeys start at £130. 

French company Generation5 has produced the Baby Keyboard and mouse along with software suitable for kids aged one and above. The cable-free Baby Keyboard fits over an existing, regular keyboard and features a number of coloured shapes that babies can use to explore noises and colours with the three accompanying CD-ROMs. It costs €50 (about £34).

The mouse is a perfect size for children three and above and costs €25 (about £17). It includes five mouse-based games to increase proficiency and a matching mini mouse pad.

But it's not all about hardware. Onscreen changes a parent can make include customising the Windows Desktop to make icons bigger, creating shortcuts to favourite programs and setting up user accounts to ensure that your files are not moved or deleted.

Our feature on user accounts should stand you in good stead for this. User accounts can also be set up so that a youngster's login includes high-level internet security features, while an adult user's preferences can be set more liberally.

Fun and games
As we mentioned earlier, early years computer learning is based around allowing children to work out the relationship between the mouse, keyboard and screen.

"Children cannot get their heads around mice," says Pauline Eccles. "They find it difficult to comprehend that moving the mouse on a horizontal plane (the table) in turn moves a pointer along a vertical plane (the screen). It needs to be taught and that is why learning games allow children to explore rather than do."

Luckily there are loads of free and fun ways to help your child gain such confidence. We asked Vanessa Gilson, a trained nursery teacher and now an ICT advisory teacher and software developer for Durham's Information and Technical Support Service, to pick out her favourite free resources for three to six year-olds.

First was The Mouse Club. We were impressed with the colourful graphics, silly noises and range of activities. While some are as simple as moving a mouse across a grid and watching each square light up as the cursor passes across it, others involve using the arrow keys to navigate a maze.

Poisson Rouge was her next choice and it's impressive. An interactive environment accessible in French or English, the site's intricate graphics encourage a child to explore each area of a baby's nursery.

The best thing about the site is that instruction is absent: it's left up to the child to mix paint colours and paint a rainbow, or match bees to their shadows. The site's youngest user is 14 months old, but we're sure older children will enjoy it too.

Froggy phonemes is a site best suited for children who are learning to read, but it still exercises their mouse skills. Select consonant and vowel frogs and then arrange them on rocks to form simple three-letter words.

Furbles is a good site to use with toddlers and children in their first few years of school. You can sort the randomly generated populations of two-dimensional Furbles by colour, number of eyes or number of sides. Older children can learn about statistical relationships by sorting and then creating pie charts and graphs from their Furble populations.

We also found some wonderful drag and drop mouse-based activities for very young children on the BBC site. Got to and select Learning, and then Childrens' Learning where you will find age-based menus with activities.

For those parents who want to purchase software, the national curriculum website is the place to start your search. Recommended software is listed alongside the age range it is related to with links to manufacturer's websites.

Having checked out the free resources, though, we think it is better and cheaper to explore the large number of free sites and create shortcut links to them in your browser's Favorites menu.

The right path
The role parents can play in their child's computing education is quite simple; so much of it is about familiarising and helping a child to interact with computers that it is well within the grasp of most of us.

And knowing that a tiny bit of parental input in a child's early years can mean they are ready to take on the challenges of the future should be more than enough inspiration.

Safety online
With so much great free software available online there is little need to make expensive purchases, especially at the exploratory stage of preschool learning. However, there is a need to protect your child from unwanted interference while they are online.

Of course, preschoolers must always be supervised while they are online but to keep your older kids safe, it is a good idea to use some parental control software, which you can configure to block access to unsavoury sites.

Child-friendly ISPs like AOL, MSN and BT will offer protection that is updated automatically and can be configured. Another option is to check whether your internet security suite has in-built child protection features.

Norton Internet Security is one that does. We have featured many such products but among them we rate Net Nanny and Cyber Patrol, both of which allow multiple user accounts to be configured at different levels of security.