Some early results of a two year old with a computer

I know when I first posted that we were giving our grandson, Travis, a computer for his 2nd birthday many of you silently chuckled. Especially when I said it was a big Windows 8 HP Touch Screen computer.  Well it's been three months now and here are some early results.  This is a 40 second clip with a great deal of cuteness packed in.  Here is the link:

Travis Age 2 years 3 months

Windows 8.1 Install

The Windows 8.1 install went very smoothly.  I went to the store, saw it was available, click on it to install and less than an hour later it was up and running.
My first reaction was that nothing really changed.  The tiles were a little more crisp and there was this annoying "Start Button" at the bottom left of the desktop screen.  When you don't have a touch screen and you navigate using a mouse this thing gets in the way of left and right scrolling while you are in a app.  Personally, I like the way it popped up before.  For you who expected the start button to bring back Windows 7, you will be very disappointed.  When you click on the "Start Button" it takes you to the start screen.  For all you techies who couldn't find anything when Vista took away the word "My" from Documents. Pictures, Videos and Music - get over it.  Things are going to change.
Windows 8.1 is a lot more responsive.  There are changes in the way you get to All Apps and the various size tiles are very nice.  The search has changed.  In 8.0, people missed the fact that you could search for anything other than apps.  I wasn't intuitive that you could search files. And, for me sometimes my searches just didn't work.  That problem is gone now.  Access to the store is different now there is a not so obvious right click (swipe for the top) to get categories.
The search is the first thing I tried. It didn't seem to get the things I was looking for.  That was just me being a little too excited to try it.  It took 8.1 a bit of time to index all the data.  After a few minutes it was terrific it found things
I didn't even know were in my data files.
I had one little problem - My HP Control Center lost my printers.  Windows 8.1 knew they where there but HP seemed to have lost them.  Not a big problem - I just had to run HP's "Add a Device" and it re-discovered them.
Overall, Windows 8.1 - Terrific.  Nice job Microsoft!

Windows 8.1

I am downloading Windows 8.1 as I write this and am excited about the some of the new changes.  Unlike most people, when it comes to technology, I like change.  I am one of the only people who will admit that I liked Vista.
First, I am looking forward to the multi-sized tiles and am hoping for some enhancements to the search functions.  I actually don't care that they are bringing back the start menu it was always in the bottom left corner.
I also wanted to purchase a Surface tablet but didn't because I needed more than the 128GBs available one the first version.  Instead, I purchased a 256GB drive and installed it in my laptop and ran Windows 8, non-touch, with a real keyboard and a large screen.  I no longer feel the need to rush in to BestBuy to purchase a new Surface with the larger hard drives.

Training the parents on Windows 8

Well the computer is ready.  I have installed the apps, set up his start screen and even set up an account for Travis's older brother Jaret.  Now for the real challenge - training the parents.
Well that's not really fair, my daughter Mireille (or Mimi as everyone calls her because no one can pronounce Mireille), like all of our children are pretty good with computers.  They were brought up that way.
Mimi is a manager for a technology company and is very skilled with Windows 7 but like everyone else who hasn't used it, is a little apprehensive when it comes to Windows 8.  As a result, I will have to spend a hour with her going though Windows 8.  The challenge is to find an hour where she doesn't have here two boys demanding her attention.
She will be the administrator on the system and as a result will have to approve everything the boys do on the system.  Windows 8 Family Safety is excellent she can easily control what they do, where they can go on the internet and when.  Travis' birthday is fast approaching so we will have to arrange the training session soon.

Windows 8 for Toddlers

Well, I finally chose a few apps for Travis.  The things I wanted for a 2 year old are apps to do the very basics.  Color recognition, shapes, numbers  and the alphabet.  Also you've gotta have some fun on the way so I got a touch screen piano app and some children's songs.  Since it is a touch screen, drawing apps are important too.
My other grand kids grew up on Reader Rabbit and learned to read well before entering kindergarten.  That is important because dyslexia runs in the family.  I personally had a tough time with reading while I was growing up but we were able to recognize the problem and got our own children help early and were able to correct the problem.  Reader Rabbit is available on the iPad but not yet as a Windows 8 app although, I will purchase it if and when it become available.
So,  here are the apps I did choose to purchase:

Travis' Home Screen

1. Math and Number for Kids
2. GuruCool PlaySchool
3. Kids Learn to Read (Pre-school)
4. My Baby Piano
5. Best Kids Songs
Total Cost $13.95

Kids Video HD was free and Fresh Paint came with the computer.  There were of couple of other free apps that I added as well.  There are a lot of education apps available for Windows 8 and as Travis grows he will have to have lots to access.
I also put his favourite movies on the computer as well but I really didn't like the way the windows video app wanted to download and play movies from XBox.  So what I did was to create a shortcut to the Windows 8 Video folder on the start menu.  This worked very well.  It lists and allows him to play only the movies on the computer.
Windows 8 make it easy to protect children with "Family Safety."  So, the administrator can limit access to only safe and age appropriate items. Travis's Mom is the system administrator but not yet familiar with Windows 8 so the plan is to give her about an hour or so training and then remove the items on the right of the screen so Travis' experience will be limited only to the things he needs.

Travis' Computer

Selecting the right computer for our two year old grandson was not easy.  We had to get something that he could operate and yet not break easily.  Two year old boys tend to be a little rambunctious.  We thought of a laptop computer but I am not sure how long it would be operating before it landed on the floor - and not in a good way.  Wait, but before you say that a two year old can't operate a computer, I have 7 other grand kids one of which has graduated from university last year, two more about to graduate, two in high school and two in elementary, all very brilliant, that can prove you wrong.
We purchased desktop computers for our other grand kids and they worked out pretty well although the keyboards had to have things dug out from time to time.  Today's technology allows kids to operate a computer without a keyboard and we like that.  Travis already can operate his Mom's Playbook.  He loves to watch movies on it.
After 6 months or so of pondering we decided to purchase a Windows 8, HP Envy at Costco.  It has a 23" touch screen and has a very heavy base that should protect it from being tipped over.  Travis' parents will probably have to put it on a sturdy coffee table up against a solid wall though.  And, yes I know that the 12GBs of Memory and the 2TB hard drive might be a little over kill.
Given the fact that there are great learning apps that are touch only available for Windows 8, the touch screen should give him the ability to operate the computer without a keyboard or mouse for a few years.  Well, that's the theory anyway.
Now, comes the job of making it usable.  We have to customize it and select the right educational apps.

Setting up a computer for a toddler

I'm not sure how many people do this or will actually be interested in setting up a Windows 8 computer for children, but, I will document the process as we go.  It has been our tradition that, for our grand kids 2nd birthday, we get them each a computer.  On October 6th, our 8th grand child. Travis, will celebrate his 2nd birthday.  So, computer or tablet?
We have decided on a Windows 8 touch screen desktop computer.  We'll need one that is pretty sturdy because Travis is a pretty active child.
He will need to have an internet presence and because he is so young, he will need to be well protected.
Follow the Blog over the next couple of weeks to see what we choose, how we set it up and the applications we choose.