Now, I should say that Scrabble and I go way back, having played it years ago with my parents and aunts and grandmother and later, my siblings. We even have a manic backpackers’ variant called “Go” (played only using the tiles) that my aunts learned and brought back one year from a trip to New Zealand. Having always enjoyed both games, I was surprised in the past that neither boy had expressed interest in playing the full board game version of Scrabble. We’d only played “Go.”

After last night’s oh-so-sucessful introduction to the full game, I’m confident that they will be more interested in sitting down to a real round-the-table game of true Scrabble in the future. (“The iPad needs recharging, let’s use the real game.”)

Chalk one up for technology!

And like you, I was very curious to see what Aiden would think about it, to see the perspective of a 3 year old. And I have to tell you, watching him interact with it was… disappointing it. It wasn’t magical to him it all. It was familiar, comfortable, just another touch screen. He knew exactly what to do with it from the second he grabbed it. He found games that were familiar, he played a few songs (random choices), and he watched the free Disney Toy Story book. There was no lightbulbs or rays of sunshine beaming down on him. It was just another device.

Now, he has already shown that he prefers it to the iPhone, and to be honest so do I. I look at the iPhone and wonder how I got by for so long on such a minuscule screen. But overall, that’s the thing that has struck me more than anything about this. It feels natural, it feels comfortable, and it’s convenient. Is that enough? I’ll get back to you on this one.

But I can tell you that just before his nap today, we loaded up the Toy Story book again. And this time, he asked me to read it (instead of the canned voices). So I did. And as I did, I recorded my own voice (a feature of the book). And now when we go back to that page, it plays my voice with the content. And he loves it.

Innovation? Maybe not. Certainly evolution.

My children are not quite as old as yours I’m imagining from the photo (I have a 4 year old and a 4 month old), but since the iPad announcement I’ve been toying with the idea of getting my 4 year old at least an iPod Touch, for her to begin her own personal exploration. Which is funny, because I’m with you; I’m cheap! Give me a computer and a decent internet connection and I’m happy as a clam. I even returned a 37 inch LCD last year after owning it for just one week, realizing I had bought it in a rare fit of Christmas-fueled spending. I still use a 5 year old cellphone, and have yet to justify purchasing an iPhone due to the required data plan.

Yet the article you mentioned had wonderful examples of how making the technology personal and intimate can greatly enhance learning. I don’t think that just owning such technology will make our children smarter, but like you said, after witnessing your daughter’s face, they have the potential for opening up new avenues of learning that we never had access to when we were young.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by budtheteacher: New blog post: Ani & the iPad or “Much Madness is the Father’s Curse” http://bit.ly/bfSLnO…

Kevin