I need examples of "educational toys", especially electronic ones

[LynnS6]

In my language acquisition class that I teach, I have students examine the assumptions about learning and the theoretical assumptions makers of "educational" baby and toddler toys have. (We then compare them to what we know about how infants/children learn language.)

I'm tired of reading essays on the same 2 products. Can you help me find examples of toys that aim to teach a very young child language? (I currently use Muzzy, which purports to teach foreign language, and Baby Bumblebee, which aims to teach vocabulary.) There was a 'great' product called The Babbler which is no longer made, which was supposed to teach your child foreign language sounds so their ability to learn foreign languages would be enhanced. This is the sort of thing that makes for interesting discussion.

(FWIW, I'm NOT interested in things like books, letter puzzles, or blocks. Nor am I interested in therapeutic materials, since those are a special case.)

Help?

Thanks!

[dairy2dogs]

Vtech is a whole line of "educational toys".  If you google it their website will come up that will show all their toys.

[Aeress]

LeapFrog had a Little Leap and Lily, which were language building toys. We had both, Lily sang songs about colors, numbers etc- which is a way of learning language, threw repitition. The baby or little leap sang songs about day/night.

And shows like Dora, ask children questions that they can answer, repeat things in sets of three or do things in threes, which research has shown helps children retain information.

I called these products, "smart toys" because they were marketed as such- they would make your baby smarter (implied through the deceptive way they showed the research).

Baby einstein? How about the tv networks geared towards children?

I attended a conference last year, and boy were the infant/toddler teachers eating up some of the new tv programs geared towards infant/toddlers. (can't rememeber the name of it, I was so mad about such a thing existing).

Oh, and I am not at all agreeing with said things, just giving examples of things that are supposed to teach language.

[sapphire_chan]

The Baby Einstein videos have vocabulary flash cards options

Some language teaching videos out there:

Signing Time

Little Pim (which comes in a dozen languages)

The VTech stuff will be a goldmine for material for your students. For instance: http://www.amazon.com/Vtech-Crazy-Legs-Learning-Bugs/dp/B0007WX0QC is horrible from a learning perspective

Isn't the Spin and Say toy a language teaching toy? "The Cow says Mooo, the Cow says Mooo"

[tiggernorton04]

There's that ridiculous video series, "Your baby can read."  That's the first thing that came into my mind!

[Marissamom]

v-tech and leapfrog make bunches of talking/singing toys. there's also that talking dog that's really popular right now

[flightgoddess]

My lil guy LOVES the DVD series So Smart! "Baby's First Word Stories"

I think it is leap frog too, but he has fridge toys, you put in a magnetic letter into the spot on the front of the toy and it sings for example "Every letter has a sound, A says 'ah'" and he'll sometimes repeat sounds.

[LynnS6]

Thanks everyone, these are great! The more the merrier, so if you have others, please post.

[Abraisme]

My 18mo DD can fully use an iPad.  We have all sorts of toddler games that she plays, all of which have some sort of educational value.  Most are phonics or alphabet, but some are simply teaching a child how to use a touch screen computer.  It's amazing how much a young toddler can do on a touch screen.   My DD can turn on the iPad, go to YouTube, open the 'history' and scroll through her favorite abc videos..  While some parents are against technology for young children, I think it's a good opportunity to learn some important life skills.  Computers skills are going to be very important.

[EviesMom]

Leapfrog Fridge Phonics, which is supposed to teach babies and toddlers the alphabet by singing very annoyingly "____ says ____. Every letter makes a sound and ____ says _____." I don't even have one of the darn things, just been to playdates where they were prominently featured and I have the song  stuck in my head! It's catchy!

[JBaxter]

Leap frog is a big one.   But Jack did kind of teach himself to identify both upper and lower case letters with the text & learn boy by 2.   Preschool Disney website also comes to mind

[Comtessa]

I remember my SIL going to a lot of trouble to buy a toy for her 6-month-old that Baby Einstein makes. 

It's called "Press and Play Duck" and here's the link: 

http://www.babyeinstein.com/en/products/product_explorer/age/mos3/63022/Press___Play_Pals__Duck.html

I remember saying something when I saw it, like, "why do toys have to blink and play music and run on batteries in order to be valuable?"  SIL is a speech-language pathologist and insisted that she, as the expert on early childhood language development, can cite plenty of research that shows that these are important toys for language development. 

I'm still dubious, frankly.  And heaven knows I can't afford toys like that, nor can I  tolerate the noises they make.  But I've left off harassing my SIL about them.