K.L.
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I burned a cd for my daughters (age 4 and 5) yesterday, but then realized I left a couple songs off the cd, and was then thinking maybe a mp3 player would be a fun christmas gift. Not an Ipod or anything expensive, but something that would be "user friendly" for young kids. I have a $30 mp3 player of my own, that i rarely use, that I could give them.. but I feel like it might be too difficlut for them to work. Maybe it's not though! Any suggestions?
(i won't be letting them use ear phones... i can't stand when kids are plugged in like that, I just want some portable music without having to worry about scratching/breaking/losing cd's)
I decided to let them play with my mp3 player that i don't use, hooked up to a speaker.. and we will go from there! So far, it seems to be working ok! Thank you for your suggestions!
Our kids were gifted ipods at an older age than that , and they broke and lost them. But if your kids are more careful, it might be ok.
Keep in mind, however that if they use earphones, you must set the volume control to prevent accidental hearing damage!
Look no further...I spent months researching this for my daughter's Christmas present. The Disney Mix Stick is exactly what you are looking for :)
I got one for my 6 year old for Christmas (she turned 6 right before Christmas) and it is perfect! She thinks it is an Ipod & walks around like she is so cool. It is super easy to use...she figured it out in a few minutes. It's easy to load with music, the ear phones have a sound limit on them (we only let her put one ear phone in her ear so she can still hear us :) and it only costs about $10. There are also "mix clips" you can buy for it which are like little memory chips pre-loaded with music, but my daughter has never used the ones I bought with hers. We just loaded it directly with music. Look on Amazon.com...we got her a Tinkerbell one, but it comes in lots of different characters...Hannah Montana, Princess Power...etc. They will LOVE it!
I bought my son a teddy bear MP3 player when he was about 3. As an infant he had a toy, I think it was called the Learning Puppy (Fisher Price or Playskool). You push the ears, paws, belly and it played pre-recorded music. He loved it and carried it everywhere. So when he was older, I thought that the same type of toy but with his music would be great. I can't remember where I found it. The bear had a small box inside that you could hook up a USB cable to. The ears/paws were volume and skip. It was great until my dog got it. Now I have small ($50) ipod shuffles for my 5 and 3 year olds. You can pre-set the max volume on the computer (just be careful if you'll be on a plane, I set the max volume to what made sense in our house, but it was too low once we got on the plane and had all the background noice)
All my kids and friends kids have MP3 and iPod's, they use headphones when they are listening to them because if I want to listen to music or the others are listening to theirs it is really bothersome to everyone because they are ALL playing something different. I just don't allow them to turn them up. It has made road trips much calmer.
An MP3 player is usually easier than an iPod, the iPod has a screen and they need to be able to read to go forward and back It seems to be much better for kids in 1st grade up. the MP3 just turns on and plays, just off and on, with volume control that you can set to a certain level, parental controls.
Our son got an iPod Nano when he was 8 for his birthday. We also got him a shockproof case for it. Honestly, we chose this because of the functionality it has, the durability of the case, and the ability to limit the volume. If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, I would go with Sansa Fuze. It gets consistently high ratings and also has the ability to limit the volume.
You can use standard computer speakers to plug into either player and play the music. With iPod, as I am sure you are aware, there are a variety of players that will charge and play whatever is on the device.
I hesitate getting anything particularly designed for children that is all cutesy because they just don't hold up. When I buy something, i want it to be able to grow with my child and be fully functional. Just my opinion.
my niece can use my ipod better than me and she is 5 years old. lol. I would say the only thing you would have to worry about is that they could loss it.
My kids have Sansa fuzes . They display what is being played and have repeat and can have movies ,and photos on it.
Toys R Us has a good selection of kid friendly MP3 players check the electronics/ video game section.
http://www.toysrus.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=325094...
You can buy kid headphones that regulate the sound so it doesn't get too loud for their ears.
