My iPad for Kids Paperback – June 11, 2012

I ordered the wrong item. so this is my fault

This is an excellent book with great explanations about hoe the iPad works. It also has great age level appropriate suggestions for apps for kids. There were tips and tricks in this book that are helpful to teachers also.

Thanks

Thank you

I got this book because it was curious about what it would offer for my son's use of my iPad. He'll be grand fourth grade in the fall, and both my wife and I have an iPad. Having had the first one for well over a year, we are pretty familiar with what the iPad can do. As such, there wasn't a lot of value to this book for me as a very experienced user, but for people who are new to the system it could be very, very helpful.The book basically outlines all of the functions of the Apple iPad, as well as reviewing multiple applications in their use. There are specific sections aimed at specific grades - fourth through seventh. Each grade has specific, grade level appropriate apps that could support education. Fourth grade for example has cursive writing, interesting suggestions for math games, and even some related to foreign languages. Later grades involve astronomy specifically higher math programs and also things that will help with the study of history as well as Latin.The most important value for me in this book comes from its grade level appropriate suggestions. There are recommendations given to student age users, specifically about ways to use the iPad in class as well as simple tips and tricks. It teaches about several kinds of e-readers, as well as different types of ways one can use, manipulate and download media. This book fairly reviews wordprocessing programs, and other tools that are used by students to complete homework. It discusses security, how to set up passcodes, as well as understanding some of the pitfalls that the Internet can offer when doing research. Although these warnings are kind of set off in a very very obvious red background, there should be perhaps even greater attention given my parents to things like YouTube and other sites that can have some harmful intent. The book is not blind to these concerns, and as a result is a balanced, effective and overall useful book for both students as well as their parents as they learn about using an iPad.

This book is written for kids for an iPad 4th generation and iPad mini. It does still address 3rd gen iPads too.Since Chapter 10-13 are titled "Using the iPad in 4th grade" through "Using the iPad in 7th grade," I will assume that that is the target audience. My son is now finishing the 8th grade and he has had his iPad for a year, so I think I am a good person to review this book.The first chapters walk a new buyer through the set up process. Syncing, setting up accounts and so on. This is all stuff that the adult buyer has already done, but if not, this book walks an adult through the entire process. Step by step. It's very easy to follow.I think the writing/reading level of these chapters is well above a 4th grader though (I didn't do a readability test on it, but I assume that it is above 7th grade reading level). There were several warnings meant for kids, you know, "ask your parents permission" before you do this, etc.The book is perfect for a parent who is going to walk through the setup and use of a new iPad with their kid. The chapters are short and easy to read, and each one offers some new hint or fun thing to work with.The book did offer some new information to me, so I did like that, and I will keep it as a reference for the future. I liked reading about possible applications at school, word processing apps, and how to print off the thing (although we need a new printer it seems).The book has a nice index at the end, so for further reference I don't have to read the whole thing again, I just highlighted the important pages that may be handy in the future.Overall, it is a good intro companion book for someone new to iPads.

The iPad is a wonderful tool for upper elementary students and this book gives many educational uses for the iPad. Unfortunately, the pre-teen group is so supremely happy just to look at videos that this book is probably less useful to them: it spends so much time on steps to naming a document that most pre-teens have long since lost interest.This is a reference book and it does an elementary age appropriate job of explaining all of the steps to doing things, even answering email, breaking all of the steps down to their smallest part and putting pictures next to the directions (for those of use who can't read directions). I would bet that most 4th graders know these things, certainly higher grades would.I like that this book breaks down different apps for different grade levels.I felt like it spent an inordinate amount of time on how to buy things and apps that are for sale rather than the rich world of very cheap and free educational apps. It seemed like My iPad for Kids sends children to many commercial sites to download purchased apps and books, they also mention Gutenberg (last). They do intermingle free and a variety of priced apps. It does seem inappropriate to put prices on them but that should probably be taken with a grain of salt as app prices fluctuate so rapidly.The most supreme flaw in this book is that it should be an ebook. There are so many links to sites that it becomes ridiculous to type them in and check them.As an educator, I'm not sure how I feel about the explosion of very small children and even infants becoming hooked to iPads. It really reminds me of a variety of dystopian novels, none of which I will debate here.For all of these reasons, I found this book deeply flawed.--Gertrude of the Amazon