A computer filled with fun & learning games can be a fantastic educational tool for toddlers & preschoolers, but many parents are overwhelmed with when and where to begin.  Below you will find some guidelines on how to introduce your child to the world of the computer and you can begin before you purchase educational software programs for your PC.

Your computer has many programs that can be used as introductory activities with children as young as two-years-old!

Teach your child that computers can talk! 

• For XP users, go to control panel and click the Speech icon. Click the tab “Speech to Text”.  You can type in any sentence and click “preview voice”.  The computer will talk to your child.  You can even change the voice speed-kids love that!

Set up a slide show! 

• Do you store family photos on your computer?  Go to control panel, click on “display”, open the tab “screensaver”, and choose “My Pictures Screensaver” from the drop-down menu and share some great memories with your child.

Fonts are Fun & Educational too!

• Open your word processing program, and let the fun begin.  Type your child’s name, or have him do it if he knows the letters. Highlight the name with your mouse.  Choose different fonts from the drop down menu and your child can see all the different ways the letters in his name can appear.  Don’t forget to change the font size too!
• Going a step further, you can highlight and change the color, and this can be a great way to teach the different colors to your child.
• If your child has letter recognitions skills, have him type letters of simple sight words (am, I, it, is) and change the font and color of those too!

Teach with pictures!

• Children love to see pictures of their favorite characters like Dora the Explorer or Elmo. Search online for pictures of things that interest your child. When you find one he likes, right click the mouse and choose "set as background." When you exit, close your browser and see what has happened to your desktop. You can always go back to your control panel to reset your display when you are finished.