SmithsonianKids Space Tablet

It’s a cute educational toy but I wish it did more for the price of it

I purchased this laptop-style toy after giving my grandson the dinosaur version for Christmas. (He loves it!) This Space and Solar System unit is a 5th birthday gift. It will be accompanied by a National Geograpic book introducing the Solar System.

First, the machine has three modes: Discovery, Exploration, and Quiz. When you use Discovery mode, the tablet tells you the name of that picture along with one of many bizarre sounds. When you use the Exploration mode, it gives you some brief statements for each item. The Quiz mode is a quiz. I didn't do much with the Quiz mode because I think the Exploration mode is too disappointing to care what it quizzes on.I understand that this toy couldn't contain all the information about the planets but some very basic information I would expect to be there is lacking. I was looking for more of the standard information by which most of us identify the planets: Mercury, smallest, closest, fastest. Mars, Red Planet. Saturn, rings. Uranus, outermost planet. Just a few words inserted into the sentences they use would have helped (see my example number 2 below). Also, if you look closely at the picture of the tablet, you will note also that the position of the planets in the solar system is very poorly depicted and incomprehensible to a young child. A picture CAN be worth 1000 words, but not this one...Some buttons have one statement for that picture, some have two. Here are some examples.1.The stars button says only that "Stars are very far from the Earth and are very hot." Why didn't they mention that stars are made of gases, example: "...are very hot because they are made of gases".2. "Mercury looks like the moon because it has craters and basins." I would have used two lines, such as: "Mercury, the smallest planet, looks like the moon because it has craters and basins." "Mercury, the closest planet to the sun, has the fastest orbit.3. Saturn's two lines don't mention its rings.4. Mars says only "Mars has similar seasons to the Earth." Now, how hard would it have been to at least insert after "Mars" the phrase "the red planet"? This is something a child could relate to when looking at the night sky.5. The statement that Jupiter is the largest planet and has no solid surface" should have added an explanatory phrase, such as 'because it is made of gases'.Here is a transcript of what is on the tablet under the Exploration mode:Sun is a star at the center of the solar system.Our system of planets is called the solar system.Mercury looks like the moon because it has craters and basins.Venus is the hottest planet and the closest planet to the Earth.The Earth is the biggest of all the rocky planets.The Earth is the only planet where life has been found.The moon is a satellite of the Earth. It orbits around it.Mars has similar seasons to the Earth.On the 6th of August 2012 the robotic vehicle Curiosity landed on Mars to see if it once had the right conditions for life.Jupiter is the largest planet and has no solid surface.In many ways Saturn is similar to Jupiter but smaller. (I DON'T THINK THIS STATEMENT IS USEFUL TO SMALL CHILDREN AT ALL.)Saturn is the second largest planet.Neptune has six thin, dark rings which circle the planet.Uranus has 21 moons.Pluto is the most famous member of a group of icy worlds on the outer edge of the solar system.Space shuttles were used to transport people and other things into space.The Space Shuttle Discovery launched the Hubble Space TelescopeThe longest-serving space shuttle Discovery flew 39 times from 1984 through 2011.In 1961 the Russian Yuri Gagarin became the first man to trave into space.In 1969 the American Neal Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.In an observatory, astronomers use giant telescopes to observe distant galaxies.Space telescopes orbit the Earth and send astronomers images of space that can't be seen in telescopes on the Earth's surface.Meteorites are rocks from space that strike the Earth.Shooting stars are fast moving pieces of dust and rock that catch on fire when they enter the Earth's atmosphere.Stars are very far from the Earth and are very hot.A constellation is a group of stars forming a shape in the sky.

I am so glad to have found this educational device! I used it to make a "Control Panel" for " Cardboard Spaceship #17". I am a STEM teacher at Meadow Oaks Academy Preschool, teaching a summer "Space Camp". I am using this "Control Panel" inside the "Cardboard Spaceship #17". The MOA Preschool students LOVE learning, "hands on" with the "Kids Delight Smithsonian Kids Space Tablet"!

Product was use during for a Birthday gift.

Kids loved it

Teaching my grandson about the universe

Bought this for my 5 year old nephew who recently expressed a lot of interest in space stuff. It is a very light plastic and I am concerned it might not last a beating from a 5 yo, but so far so good. It has some great informative information about space, planets, and astronauts. He liked it immediately and so did I!