Ask HN: Setting up a tablet for a baby/kids?
We’re just about to take him on his first big adventure and travel for a few months – and wanted to take an old iPad Mini and set it up for him to bring along. He’s still very young so currently this is mostly a preemptive measure to combat occasional tantrums/boredom in the car (just to have Youtube or a few of his favorite videos with us) but as he gets older I’m sure there are plenty of interesting apps that help with cognitive development (even if they’re just interactive stories that we can work through together) – but I’m not an expert in this (yet) so I’d be thankful for any recommendations!
* any special setup you’d recommend for young kids/babies like this? like an OS version/mod? (using an iPad Mini so a bit more difficult)
* what apps/games/stories would you recommend? very open to different categories of usefulness here – educational/cognitive games, interactive stories, better video players, general interesting stuff (ideally mostly things that are offline first)
I realize screens and babies are sometimes a sensitive topic for some – and of course this will be enjoyed in small doses (we’re going on a multi-month vacation to spend time as a family after all) – but I’m also very open towards technology as I believe most people on HN are. I grew up with C62/Atari and all that stuff and I turned out (mostly) ok :) My son is still tiny but it’s amazing to watch him make connections between remotes and TV channels, using Alexa to control things or keyboards to make stuff happen on screens or smartphones. So I want to see how far these aha-moments will take him.