The computer has become a permanent fixture in households everywhere. With the school aged kids competing with their parents for computer time, many families have resorted to multiple computers in their homes. But now there is a new kid on the block that has Toddlers wanting their share of computer time!
The
Easy PC by
Comfy, Inc is a computer designed with toddlers in mind. It's it's like a
Playstation for a pre-school child! It allows very young children to enjoy and learn from various activities, without requiring reading skills or the ability to use a computer mouse. The Easy PC System includes a Keyboard Unit that connects to your computer via a USB plug. Then you just pop the Easy PC Software into your computer and set your keyboard aside. The
Easy PC enables children to use a computer, safely and easily, with a special keyboard that is designed for their small hands, and special software programs that have phenomenal educational and play value.
Four of our 'Mommies' had the exciting opportunity of testing the Easy PC with their children. Since the Easy PC does not work on a MAC, two of our reviews are from Alternate Guest Reviewers who help us out sometimes.
I will get right to the reviews, in no certain order...here is what our 'Mommies' thought of the Easy PC by Comfy, Inc.
BloggerMommy Jennifer, mother of 3:
My Family and I were recently given a chance to review The
Comfy Easy PC and after just one hour, we were addicted!
The Easy PC is a keyboard system that easily hooks onto your computer with a USB cable. The set up is super easy and is ready to go in just minutes. The keyboard has 20 very colorful buttons, a rolling bar and a telephone receiver. The buttons consist of of a sun, moon, cloud, animals, music instruments and colors.
My four year old daughter 'G' was very excited to see what each button would do. The Easy PC comes with a CD called "First Step" which teaches children the basics like, shapes, colors, etc. It also has additional software that can be purchased. We have tried "Animal World", "Joy of Music", "Adventure in Numberland" and many more which were all FANTASTIC!! The additional games come with a plastic layover that goes over the middle and is compatible with activities of that game. The games come in two different groups. Beginner for ages 1-3 and Advanced for ages 4-6. Each group has three levels of difficulty. I feel that they are very age appropriate. You can also choose from several languages on each game which is great for bilingual children or those who just want to learn a new language.
Since the Easy PC has been in my home, MY computer time has been pretty much non-existent. My daughter 'G', age 5, is the one who plays with it the most but her eight year old brother 'M' enjoys watching and helping her when she needs it. We also introduced it to our 8 month old daughter 'B'. She mostly banged on the keyboard but was very interested in watching the screen and listening to the music. I am sure that in a few months, she with be fighting over the Easy PC with her sister and we will have to purchase an additional one.
My daughter 'G' especially loves the Comfy characters. Her favorite is "Buddy" the bear. She talks about him all of the time, even in preschool.
I highly recommend the Easy PC to parents or caregivers of older babies and toddlers!
This is a GREAT learning tool. There are so many activities to choose from and each one helps with the child's motor and cognitive skills. They also reinforce music, shapes and colors. Not only are the children playing and having fun but they are learning while they do so and I absolutely love that! I also love that by using the Easy PC, my computer stays safe from being ruined.
I do think that there should be more software titles to choose from especially if you have a child like mine who is constantly playing it. I also think that they should come out with a system that is also compatible with MAC. The system itself is priced just right but I would like to see the additional software priced slightly lower.
I definitely think that is a must have and give it a BIG thumbs up!
Guest Reviewer Shannon, mother of two:
Let’s face it; very young kids and computers do not mix. Mine, ages 18 months and 3 years, just get near the computer and bad things happen. Food particles have been wedged into my keyboard, jelly fingerprints mysteriously appear on my monitor and once I saw Gavin, age 3, try to use the CD drive as a chocolate milk holder. After Gavin got old enough to figure out how to use the computer, more troubling things happened: my quote key occasionally sticks ‘’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ – see, and the toolbar in Microsoft Word just disappeared, arghhh. The point is…computers and kids don’t mix. And of course, because I am always using mine, my kids can’t stand not being able to use one too.
But the people at Comfy were brilliant enough to figure out how to make my home computer available to my kids. The Comfy Easy PC was exactly what its name implies – easy. It is a colorful keyboard that plugs into the USB port on your home computer. After just a few minutes of installation the Easy PC was up and running and my kids were happily watching as each button they pushed changed to different characters, colorful scenarios and silly songs. The Easy PC also has a phone and a roller toy that is fun for them to play with.
At first, I was hesitant to like this product, mostly because the characters on the software seemed a little strange and Ava, age 18 months, was constantly throwing the phone on the floor. But eventually Ava learned not the throw the phone and the characters no longer seemed strange because I realized just how much my children loved, loved, loved playing with the Easy PC. It is the first thing they want to do when they wake up and I have to drag them away from it when computer time is over.
The Easy PC is designed for kids between 1 and 5 and my two just love it. Ava wakes up in the morning and walks right to the computer, hoping to get a few moments of alone time with the Easy PC before her brother wakes up.
There are a few things, however, that are bothersome from my standpoint. The first thing is the phone. It isn’t attached and it took about a week of me picking it up and putting it back on the keyboard before Ava and Gavin would actually use the phone and put it back instead of throwing it on the floor. Also, some of the software comes with plastic keyboard overlays to change the pictures on the buttons. Well the overlays don’t stick and my little ones like to throw that on the floor too. I even tried to tape the overlays on, but that didn’t seem to work either. After playing with it for a week, Gavin leaves the overlay on, but Ava still occasionally throws it on the floor.
The characters have strange voices and some of the songs were annoying, but I kept telling myself, if my children don’t notice, then I shouldn’t worry about it.
The Easy PC sells for around $70 and comes with First Steps software, a beginner program that Gavin and Ava quickly mastered. Additional software is sold separately. We were fortunate enough to preview six software titles. By far, the kids’ favorite was Let’s Imagine and Baby TV, both were very interactive, very imaginative and the kids loved them. Gavin didn’t seem to like Joy of Music, but really seemed to enjoy World of Colors as he tries to help a dog named Jumpy find his bone. Adventure in Numberland was another one of Gavin’s favorites. Sadly, Birthday Party didn’t seem to work right. The music was too loud and too annoying for me to stand and we couldn’t hear what the characters were saying over the music no matter how loud we turned it up.
Overall, the Easy PC is something that will let your children into the world of computers and they will love it. And it will give your keyboard a break. I will leave with a quote from my son, “This is fun.’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’ “””””””””””
BloggerMommy Whitney, mother of 2:
My 2 ½ year old daughter 'S' loves the computer. Any chance she gets she is hitting keys and trying to play games with her daddy. We were so ecstatic to receive the
Comfy Easy PC. Once we got it home we read through the instructions and tried out the very colorful informative and super cute keyboard with phone. 'S' was so excited to have her own game and we even let her play it on daddy’s computer (she loves that).
At first we thought it may be a little hard for her so we started with level one. She got it right away with hardly any instruction. One of her favorite things was pushing the color buttons and repeating the names of the colors as they popped up on the screen. There is also a part on the
keyboard that shows different instruments and the sounds that each of them make as well as their names. I love that part because she dances and I feel like she is learning a greater appreciation for music as a whole. She loves the music because she loves dancing.
Another portion of the keyboard is the telephone. The telephone is unique because she really feels like she is interacting with the characters, although she gets shy when they say hello to her and she hands the phone off to us.
We are slowly advancing her to other levels and games as we would really like her to fully understand all she is learning before increasing the level. She has yet to get tired of playing. We now have to take turns using the computer and she is not happy about that. Now that she plays with the Comfy Easy PC system she has began to point out colors, asking us for yellow juice or pointing out green grass and even looking for the moon at night. Not only is this game fun for 'S', she is learning so much.
This game is also great for family time too as my ten month old son 'R' loves to watch as much as we do. I would defiantly recommend the Comfy Easy PC to others with young knowledge-seeking children as this game is not only fun but educational.
Guest Reviewer Terese, mother of 3:
From taking it out of the package, to play time the Easy PC is easy as pie! The ability to stick a disc into your computer, plug in a cord and a few clicks of the mouse are the ONLY skills required for the adult to set up this fun and exciting game for kids!
My 3 children ages 2, 4 & 7 all found hours of entertainment with the Easy PC. Vincent, my 2 year old was easily entertained by the sounds and colors and buttons, but also was learning to recognize what a color looks like and associate that to what saying the color sounded like and what an instrument looks like and associate that to what it sounds like and as most children he loved the phone! He also learned to follow directions which is a challenge in itself for a 2 year old! He also really enjoyed the stories that are played out by the characters.
Tatum, my 4 year old daughter love talking back
and forth with the characters on Easy PC, and was constantly amazed that when she was told to color the flowers red, she knew what to do! What made the program so easy for her was the reading was not required to play this game, that is designed for kids ages 1-7! So as I got my 2 and 4 year old to play and see their reactions how easy it was for them, it made me even more anxious to see how well my 7 year old son Chris would do with it, thinking that it may be too easy for him.
As I did with my two younger children, I sat Chris down with the Easy PC and started to explain the games, and before I was even done talking, he was flying his way through the programs without my help, and although he did know exactly what to do when he was told to do it, HE LOVED IT! It was not too easy for him because it helped with increasing his listening skills and doing as he was told to do, as well as kept him thrilled knowing that he knew all the colors, numbers, instruments, etc. and did not have to ask for help!
I have one and only one thing I would recommend for the Easy PC, and that is that the phone should be corded! My kids kept running off with it! I would overall give Easy PC an A+ rating. It is definitely a game that children ages 1-7 can all take interest in and be entertained by. Easy PC only requires your computer monitor and speakers so your keyboard and mouse are safe, and adults can have peace of mind knowing that the children are learning useful things!
Well, there you have it...the honest opinions of 4 moms using the Comfy Easy PC with their children ages 8 months to 8 years old. They all highly recommend it, with their only real complaint being that they thought the phone should be corded. I spoke with RonCantor, President of Comfy, Inc, about the telephone and his explanation for not making the phone corded made total sense to me. He said that a corded phone in a household these days is pretty rare and they wanted the phone to look most like the one mom & dad use, but more importantly, having a cord would present a safety concern and Comfy is more concerned about your child's safety then a misplaced phone. As our mommies noted, the kids learned pretty quickly to put the phone back on the unit.
The
Easy PC comes complete with the
“First Steps” software title, so you can use it right out of the box without any additional purchases. A whole line of software is then available, each designed for a certain age and level, and based on a different topic, allowing you to choose software according to your child's level and interests.
Comfy, Inc has generously offered to give One of Our Lucky Readers an Easy PC unit plus one additional Software title of their choice! That is a $90.00 Value!!
If you would like to Enter to Win an Easy PC unit & 1 Additional Software Title for your child, then here is what you need to do...
If you would like to Enter to WIN an Easy PC unit & 1 Additional Software Title for your child, then here's what you need to do:
Entries in this particular giveaway are open to the US & Canada only!
FIRST, you must complete the Mandatory Entry by visiting the Comfy PC website to Find the Easy PC Software stage & title that you think would be best for your child. Then comment below to tell us which one Software title you would like included with your Easy PC if you win. Be sure to include your email address in the comment so I can contact you if you win. To prevent bots from picking up your email address and sending you spam, please enter your email address as: "BloggerMommies at gmail dot com"
After completing the mandatory entry above, you can get additional entries by doing any or all of these tasks: (you must leave each entry in a separate comment in order for them to each count.)
~ Follow @BloggerMommies on Twitter (then tell us that you follow on twitter & include Your Twitter Name in the comment box)
~ Tweet about this Review & Giveaway on Twitter, you must include at least the following in your tweet: WIN an Easy PC Unit by Comfy -Designed for Toddlers! @BloggerMommies http://bit.ly/4edx3D Retail Value $90 (Copy & Paste as it is, to prevent errors in your tweet. If you get a 'Duplicate Post' notice from Twitter just add the RT to the beginning.) You may tweet this up to 3 times per day, no more often than every 4 hours. Be sure to post a comment here immediately after each time you tweet and include your Twitter ID & link to your status in the comment box (I will reject any comments that say "tweeted yesterday, or earlier this morning", comments must be submitted within an hour of when tweet posted).
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*NOTE: Your comments will not immediately appear because they have to be verified & approved first.
This Giveaway will end on Monday, November 9, 2009 at 5:00pm (Mountain Time). One random comment will be chosen at that time. The winning comment will be verified at that time so if you said you follow the blog in your comment and we don't find you in the follow list, we will choose another winner. The winner will be contacted by email and will have 48 hours to reply with their name and shipping address. If a response is not received within 48 hours that winner will forfeit the prize and a new winner will be selected. Sorry, no exceptions. [19842-29108]
We have chosen the Winner!
Softbums Cloth Diapers with PerfectFit Sizing Technology - Win an Organic Bamboo Velour All-In-Two Basic Pack & a Bamboo Doubler! Open to Entries Worldwide!
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