New report on educational media for babies, toddlers and preschoolers

In recent years, there has been a big increase in new electronic media products for very young children, including those as young as one month old. A driving force behind this new market is the advertising and package labeling that makes claims about the educational benefits of specific products.

“A Teacher in the Living Room? Educational Media for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers”, a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, examines the educational claims about commercially available educational media products (videos and DVDs, computer software, and video games) for very young children and what kind of research has been conducted to substantiate the educational claims.

The report indicates there is little understanding of how the new media affect young children – and almost no research to support the idea that they are educational.

Download report (pdf, 1.33 mb, 56 pages)
New York Times article on the issue