It’s important to give growing kids a well-balanced upbringing and foster their imagination by sending them outside to explore and exercise their bodies and minds. But when they’re inside the house and you don’t want their inquiring minds “playing” with your laptop and its valuable content, maybe it’s time they had their own specially-built kids computer. Little Tikes has combined its plastic furniture prowess and computer knowledge to create the Young Explore - a combination desk and desktop computer, complete with mini mouse and keyboard to help get kids ready for the world ahead of them while at the same time having fun.
Little Tikes says that in this age of technology it is essential that children learn about computers as early as possible because it enhances critical and cognitive thinking skills, problem-solving abilities and analytical thinking. So the company created age-appropriate computers and software and encased them in a child-friendly setting.
The Young Explorer has a flat desk area with left and right built-in mouse pads. It can seat two children and the bench also doubles as a storage container. The cabinet doors covering the 19” LCD monitor lock for safety and all computer wiring is stored inside a ventilated cabinet which houses the Think Center PC running Windows.
The PC has an internal DVD-ROM, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 10/100 Ethernet, a sound card, two external speakers and a surge protector built in. It comes preloaded with software such as: Millie's Math House; Sammy's Science House; Bailey's Book House; Trudy's Time and Place; and Thinkin' Things.
It costs US$2599.99 plus delivery and the desk requires assembly. It’s way more expensive than the PeeWee Kit, but it is a purpose-built solution.
