What Do Kids Want For Christmas? Tech!

It’s difficult to keep up with all the tech innovations and gadgets, but when British children ages 5 -16 were asked what they wanted for Christmas, even the younger ones seemed to know what they could do with tech devices they wanted.—And it was digital gadgets, not toys that were tops on the lists. Of the 2,138 children in the survey, 39% wanted Apple gadgets with iPhone 4 leading the survey with 14%, iPod Touch, 13%; and iPad, 12%. These selections were followed by Kinect for Xbox, 6%, Zhu, Zhu Pet Hamsters/Kung Zhu Hampsters, 5%; Flip Video Camera, 4%, Toy Story 3 Jet Pack Buzz Lightyear, 4%; PlayStation Move, 4%, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 Game, 3%; and Barbie Video Girls, 3%. Seventeen percent of the 5-8 year-olds preferred Apple gadgets, as did 50% of the 9-12-year olds, and 66% of the 13-16 year-olds. What’s happened to dolls and footballs and books? When considering this trend in what children want and may receive as presents, we should be thinking about how we can put the devices the children already have to work for learning in classrooms and at home, and we should be focusing upon helping our children learn to use these technologies appropriately.