As the father of three and the grand father of seven, I buy many toys for children of all ages. My wife and I are pretty much on the same wavelength when it comes to buying presents for the grand kids in the sense that we both agree that toys should not only entertain the child, they should be educational as well. Back in the days when I was just knee high to a grasshopper growing up down on the farm educational toys were quite simple and low tech, like alphabet blocks and erector sets. Today educational toys have gone high-tech and they carry a hefty price tag but they are worth every penny you pay for them.
Vtech is a company that has been meeting the need for high-tech educational toys since their beginning in 1976. Many people have come to think of any toy with that “made in….” tag on it as being cheap and not worth what they cost but that is definitely not the case with Vtech toys. Their educational toys are one of the best on the market today. Repeatedly they have produced toys that entertain and educate young minds-from the minds of preschoolers to the minds of elementary school students. Now, they’ve done it again with their KidiZoom digital camera.
The KidiZoom digital camera is more than just a toy; it’s a decent entry-level point and shoot digital camera that takes pictures worthy of putting in the family album. I gave my oldest grand daughter a Kodak East Share 5MP camera three years ago and the next oldest, followed that Christmas with a Canon point and shoot camera. They were old enough to know how to use and care for a relatively expensive camera, cameras that wouldn’t be appropriate for their younger siblings. That’s where the KidiZoom Vtech camera comes in, it’s an appropriate camera for budding photographers that are 3 years of age or older.
The Vtech KidiZoom is built tough to take the rough handling any 3 year old will most certainly give it. Like a Timex watch, the KidiZoom will take a beating and keep on ticking, or I should say it will take a beating and will keep right on taking great pictures and video clips. It’s a great camera but it does have one major short coming, with a resolution of 2MP (Megapixels) you wouldn’t want to try for anything bigger than a 4”X6” print. The Vtech KidiZoom has 16MB of built in memory so your young photographer can shoot up to 200 pictures or up to 5 minutes of video before exhausting the built in memory.
The KidiZoom has a built in editing program that gives the young photographer a taste of the digital darkroom. They can enlarge photos, add frames, create special effects, and produce slide shows. The pictures, slide shows, and video clips can be viewed on the camera’s large LCD viewing screen or they can be uploaded to your desktop PC.
The KidiZoom comes with two interchangeable faceplates, a detailed instruction manual and a CD ROM containing additional editing software that you can load on your PC so you young photographer can create even more unique pictures. My youngest grand son, who just turned six, will be getting one of these beauties for Christmas.
Being a photographer, I know quality when I see it but you don’t have to take my word for it. Go to the VTech site, watch it in action, and then download the instruction manual in pdf format.
