Kindle for Kids!

[wdeen]

I'm curious about feedback from Kindle owners whose children also have their own Kindle. I'm considering a grant request for my Special Education class of 3rd graders. Most are reluctant readers and many have reading difficulties. I have a few questions.

1) Do your children enjoy the reading experience?

2) Do they prefer it over regular books?

3) Are a sufficient number of titles available for this age group (must be appropriate for school)?

Any other thoughts would be welcomed. 

[BTackitt]

searching Amazon puts 5,736 books in the 9-12 year old range
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_2?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A!133141011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cn%3A155009011%2Cn%3A681309011&bbn=155009011&ie=UTF8&qid=1326730990&rnid=155009011,

 and 4,326 books in the 4-8 year old range
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_1?rh=n%3A133140011%2Cn%3A!133141011%2Cn%3A154606011%2Cn%3A155009011%2Cn%3A681308011&bbn=155009011&ie=UTF8&qid=1326731059&rnid=155009011.

My kids are late teens-off in college, but they LOVE their kindles, and (especially the oldest on this) wish the current era of ebooks & Kindles had been around LONG LONG ago when he was scrounging for things to read while in grade school.

[jbcohen]

Might not be a bad idea to get my son a kindle.  He unfortunately likes to tear up his books into tiny pieces and spread those pieces around the house.  This way there is nothing to tear up.

[kindlegrl81]

My daughter is fighting me on reading all of a sudden and I bought her a Kindle in hopes it would make her want to read more. Unfortunately it doesn't seemed to have helped; I am still fighting her on reading 

With my brother on the other hand (who is no longer a kid but still acts like one  ) the Kindle has done wonders for his reading.

He never read books unless they were required by school (and even then I doubt he read an entire book) because he said the words would move around the page and give him a headache.  A little over a year ago he picked up the Kindle I had purchased for my mom and discovered the words do not move around on the Kindle screen.  He went from not reading at all to reading a five book series in about 2 months.

[ProfCrash]

I have read reports from folks that kids with Learning Disabilities find reading on e-readers easier. it might be because you can bump up the font size or that the background color is just different enough to make reading easier. Whatever it is, there are anecdotal stories pointing to success with e-readers.

[tamaraheiner]

I intend to buy my son a Kindle in the next few years. When he turns either seven or eight. I expect him to be a voracious reader and I do think an electronic gadget will help!

[wdeen]

Thanks for the comments and feedback. Definitely food for thought. I'm leaning toward making application for the grant. Might try to get one purchased and let some kids try it out. Thanks to all of you!

[TraceyC/FL]

Thanks for the comments and feedback. Definitely food for thought. I'm leaning toward making application for the grant. Might try to get one purchased and let some kids try it out. Thanks to all of you!

My DD is in the Self contained classroom and uses her kindle at home. She has extreme processing, struggled with phonological awareness, has double vision and tracking issues. The kindle has been AMAZING for her for reading. I bumped up the font and she is no longer intimidated by the mere size of a book. She actually LIKES to read now!!!

I've bought her some books and I've used her bookshare account to convert them to kindle format (not kosher and I doubt a school would do it, but hey, they wouldn't help with the endeavor at all, so I have no guilt!) and that is nice.

It would be nice if the school would get behind the effort - but until then I will just keep doing what I can to help her out.

Best of luck - I think it will be awesome if you get the grant!!

[shk246]

My 13yo daughter got the Kindle Fire and loves it.  She does not have special needs though.
My 21 yo son has Autism.  He loves to read Fan Fiction on his laptop.  He has never really liked to read books.  He withdrew from English 9.  He does like to keep up on current events to.  That is all he likes to read, besides cheatcodes.  I would love to hear how your students do with there Kindles.  Good luck

[BTackitt]

SHK, you can load Fanfiction onto a Kindle.
http://www.fanfictiondownloader.net/

[Hadou]

Good luck on the grant, should you go forward with it.  I would like to see ereaders used for kids as it may be a way to get them to read more.

[tubemonkey]

Any other thoughts would be welcomed.

Keep in mind that eInk ereaders are not as durable as LCD tablets. eInk devices have a thin glass substrate beneath the glass screen that is easily broken. A dropped Kindle that lands "wrong" will be toast and there's no way to fix it. Many times, Amazon will replace these Kindles for free; but there's no guarantee that they will. A broken substrate is considered user abuse and is not covered by the warranty. Accidental damage insurance is available to cover these mishaps, but will be an added expense.

To see some examples of this, type "kindle broken screen" in Google Images.

Not trying to scare you, but you need to be aware of this major weak point; especially in the hands of 3rd graders.

[wdeen]

Great feedback. Thanks!

[Cyanide5000]

M 10 year old cousin has one, and as far as im aware quite enjoys reading on it! Deffinatly worth a shot to try get them reading!

[PurpleShell]

My 6 year old niece got a Kindle for Christmas.  Before the Kindle she was not wanting to read her homework assignments.  Now she is actually asking my sister to download books to read.  I think she has read 8 children’s books since she got it for Christmas. 

My sister said the only problem is that the books do not show reading levels.  They may have ages or grade level, but this does not coincide with my niece’s reading level.   She said the books are sometime easier or harder for my niece to read even if they show they are for a 6 year old first grader.

[history_lover]

I'm curious about feedback from Kindle owners whose children also have their own Kindle. I'm considering a grant request for my Special Education class of 3rd graders. Most are reluctant readers and many have reading difficulties. I have a few questions.

I don't have kids but I had reading difficulties as a kid and it didn't stop me from enjoying reading. I think I would have loved a Kindle when I was a kid and it probably would have got me reading more. I always thought the built in dictionary would be especially useful for kids and help expand their vocabulary.

[KTaylor-Green]

We bought a KK for one of our grandsons for his 12th birthday. He went from a boy who read once in a while to a boy who is an avid reader! So we just bought one for another grandson for his 10th birthday. Ethan already likes to read so I can see him reading everyday on his k4.

The screen is a valid point to consider when buying for the younger kids. I had to replace the oldest grandson's twice before it was brought home to him that he had to be careful with it. He just wasn't being careful enough. The younger  one takes better care of his things, but I still told him how delicate the screen can be and to be careful.

I don't think any of the 6 yr olds in our family are up for a kindle yet!

[Jan Strnad]

Might not be a bad idea to get my son a kindle.  He unfortunately likes to tear up his books into tiny pieces and spread those pieces around the house.  This way there is nothing to tear up.

I fear you may be underestimating him.

I'm constantly amazed when I see kids holding expensive electronic devices. The other day, in line at the warehouse store, a young father and his 4-year-old daughter were ahead of us. She sat in the cart, holding a broken cell phone in one hand and an Apple iPhone in the other. Given that the replacement value of an iPhone is around $700, there's no way I'd let a 4-year-old hold mine over a concrete floor!

I visit elementary schools in my job, and every playground looks like the aftermath of the Rapture, with jackets, packs, etc. left lying about. You could start a thrift shop with any elementary school's lost-and-found.

Before I got my kid a Kindle, he'd have to be displaying some pretty incredible responsibility skills!

[Brownskins]

Re: Original questions:

1) Do your children enjoy the reading experience? Both my 7 yo and 5 yo enjoy reading from the Kindle and a Kindle app on a tablet, but in the next question I will explain their preferences better.

2) Do they prefer it over regular books? My son prefers regular books since he likes flipping back and forth especially when reading chapter books or the Bible or science books.  It is easier for him to flip manually than use the "go to" function.  However, he still likes using the Kindle especially if we are outside of the house.  He likes the convenience of a electronic gadget.  My daughter, who reads books from front to back, prefers the Kindle.  They both hate reading on an iphone since it is too small.

3) Are a sufficient number of titles available for this age group (must be appropriate for school)?  Yes, there are sufficient number of titles.  Our public library has all of the Magic Tree House books in e-book format which is currently the "in-thing" for my kids.  They also enjoy the box-car series as well as Ripley's Bureau of Investigation. 

[4eyesbooks]

I have two children aged 8 and 5 and they love any sort of electronic gadget.  They also thankfully both love to read.  I haven't gotten them an ereader yet, but I think I will pretty soon.  I think they are great for kids!

[wdeen]

Thanks for all the great feedback and comments. Lots to consider. Much appreciated.