I love any company that puts techonolgy into children's hands early and especially if they do it by providing under-resourced classrooms with much needed equipment, so I'm really loving Vtech right now. They've launched a great contest surrounding their new product – the Whiz Kid Learning System.
The new Whiz Kid Learning System is packed with over 120 interactive reading and learning activities which uses a portable Whiz Pad and touch-sensitive stylus. Whiz Kid grows with young readers through a series of learning curricula that meet the user’s skill level; for example, older kids can transform the Whiz Pad into a piano keyboard or typing keyboard. Kids choose from 40 activity pages, slide the page into the Whiz Pad, and it comes to life. My favorite is the Story Bytes activity for beginning readers, which encourages them to read along with the story and sound out words.
To extend the fun, kids can connect the Whiz Pad to their computer to play activities, track their progress or replace lost or damaged activity pages by printing out new ones. (You know they are going to lose and tear the sheets.) Everything for connectivity is included in the package and any 4 or 5 year old can easily hook it up to their computer, probably in less time than it took me.
But you want to hear about the contest of course:
VTech will award three classrooms nationwide with Whiz Kid Learning Centers that will include several of VTech’s new Whiz Kid Learning Systems, a multidimensional learning product for children ages 3 to 6. In addition, winning classrooms will receive brand new computers and printers, as well as a $500 savings bond for each student to jump-start their college savings.
From July 30, 2007 through September 7, 2007, kindergarten teachers and parents of kindergarten students in the 2007-2008 school year, can enter VTech’s “Whiz Kid Class of 2020” contest by submitting a classroom photo and writing a short essay describing the class’ need for additional technology in the classroom and how the kindergarteners would benefit from a Whiz Kid Learning Center. The winners will be posted on www.vtechwhizkid.com after October 22, 2007.
For more info on how to nominate a classroom and a complete set of rules and regulations, visit vtechwhizkid.
But if you want to get one of these fun learning learning systems for your prodigy, we're giving away TEN of these in the next few weeks, so make sure you're signed up for our newsletter!
Also available for $49.99 at Amazon