When I attended Toy Fair I took a look at the Little Scholar tablet from School Zone. I was immediately taken with this device and knew that I wanted one to review with Andrew. We received one to review and our opinions are 100% our own.
Here is a device for $150 that is already pre-loaded with a ton of educational apps for kids from Pre-K to First Grade. In addition to that the tablet has front and rear cameras, a mini HDMI port, a Micro SD slot, a Micro USB port, headphone jack and speaker. It is a solid little tablet and the perfect size for a pre-schooler at 10.5” x 7.25” x 3.75”. Included with the tablet is a protective silicone cover, too.
Read on to see why I think this is an excellent tablet.
I’ve tried out a ton of tablets. We’ve owned iPads and now own the iPad Air. I have a Samsung Tab and Eva has an Asus MeMo. The one thing in common with those tablets that we own is that we have to buy more apps for them in order to have educational apps for Andrew or Eva. While you do have the option to purchase additional apps you won’t need to do that right out of the box. There are a ton of apps for your child to play with and each one has multiple stages for challenges. We have gone through many of them and they are bright colorful and reinforce several learning initiatives.
Here is a listing of features (per the School zone website) of the device as well as skills that children will learn from using the tablet.
Features
• Over 150 preloaded apps, videos, books, songs, and games.
• Exclusive, interactive, educational video series: Charlie & Company.
• Original content, in a kid-safe environment, with no additional costs.
• A+ Report Card app for viewing dynamic graphs and reports of children’s activity with each Little Scholar program.
• Audio praise and feedback.
• Rear- and front-facing camera.
• Durable construction designed for little hands and rigorous use.
• 100% money-back guarantee!
• FREE protective bumper included.
Skills: colors, shapes; patterns; counting; numbers; addition; subtraction; letters; ABCs; uppercase letters; lowercase letters; multiplication; telling time; counting coins; phonics; rhyming; beginning letters; letter sounds; short and long vowel sounds; letter blends; spelling; matching; same and different; vocabulary; critical thinking; memorization; problem-solving; fine motor skills; observation; eye-hand coordination; focus
(U.S. English language & math conventions)
In addition to all those great apps there are also some fun videos of Charlie and Company.
From the School zone Site: Charlie & Company, a new, interactive, educational video series with live action and animation. It stars Charlie the Golden Retriever and his best friend, Miss Ellie, who embark on educational adventures. The show also features performances and original music by Brian Vander Ark of The Verve Pipe.
Overall this is a very impressive tablet. Battery life is fantastic. There is so much included in it that it will take a long while for your child to become bored. There are multiple difficulty levels so they will remain challenged and there is plenty of great entertainment included as well. I even went so far as to completely extricate the previous tablet that Andrew had been using in hopes that he forgets about it and I can give that to someone else. This Little Scholar Tablet is perfect for our family.