VTech InnoTab 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet #spon

After an awesome week of Disney filled fun, it’s time for a full week of sponsored posts. Don’t worry we’ve got some fabulous giveaways, a little humor, insider info, and terrific tips…stay tuned! Next week we’ll be back to our regular summer (non)schedule.
With the end of the school year comes the many woes of summer brain drain (as I like to call it). “According to research from the Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, students typically lose one to two months of reading and math skills during the summer break. But there are many things parents can do to help keep children’s minds active during the summer months and avoid these setbacks.” We keep really busy with activities throughout the summer months, however these activities don’t always offer opportunities for all those amazing things they learned in school to stay fresh in their minds. The VTech InnoTab 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet helps with that very thing, and it won’t break your bank!

Pros-

• I love the built-in “address book” where you can enter all your friends names, emails, phone numbers, etc with their photos. This is a fantastic idea and one we utilized right away. As soon as my eldest realized he had this option he got busy at work entering all his friend’s information and snapping photos of them.
• The camera takes pretty decent photos and you have lots of fun options for making your snapshots unique (lots of “stickers” to add to the photos, funny effects, etc).
• The InnoTab is incredibly durable and comes with the ability to take photos, from a 180° rotating camera and video recorder
• There is the option to use the MP3 music player and microphone too!
•  I love that this tablet talks you through every step of each app. If you are ever confused about what you are supposed to be doing you can simply push the ? button and it will tell you again.
• There is a built-in clock, date keeper and stopwatch which  is really fun for kids. My boys used this in one of their many competitions.
• The calendar is awesome because your kids can enter in their birthdays, along with family members and friends and special days and add stickers to it too! How fun!
• There is an option for Wi-Fi! How awesome is that? The folks at VTech were one of the first to add this feature to children’s tablets. The best part is that there is no way for the kids to “accidentally download” apps leaving you with a huge bill at the end of the month unlike other tablets I have seen.
• The cartridges come in an amazing amount of varieties but that won’t limit you to just the ones you can find in the store because you can also download many additional apps right off their site.
• “The InnoTab wirelessly connects to VTech’s comprehensive app store, the Learning Lodge™, where parents and children can easily browse a variety of content, and children can create a wish list and send to their parents’ e-mail.”

The eReader is my FAVORITE part of this whole tablet! It has many AMAZING features! When reading a story you can listen to the tablet read it to you while it highlights the words along with you. There even are words on each page that will appear in a different color, when you click on them it will show and tell you a definition of that word. For example, in the Toy Story cartridge the words “attic” and “daycare” were highlighted in a different color. When we clicked on them the word came up with a fun photo of an attic and then defined the word. That is an incredibly ingenious feature! Why I like that feature the most is because the reading levels vary greatly in my home and these different features offered each one of my kids something to learn at their own levels.

My oldest is a beginning reader…he really followed along with the words and sounds as they were being said and even knew a handful on each page as it read it to him.

• My twins both know their alphabet and the sounds really well and this reader offered them the opportunity to sound out each and every letter sound.
• My youngest, who is not reading in any way, liked the definition feature because he didn’t really understand all of the words yet and this helped him.

Cons-

• One thing I did notice right away was that the packaging was HUGE, I feel like the packaging could have been made much smaller to create less waste.
• The first initial download took almost an hour at cable modem speed, it would have been nice to have that already uploaded on the InnoTab when it came. My suggestion would be to do the initial download before you let your child know they’re getting one to prevent antsy waiting.
• I really wish the stylus had a cord to attach it to the device (my kids will lose it, even though it comes with a second one). I’ve kept the additional stylus in a safe place so that when the need arises I know we have another.
• I did notice that there really isn’t a “back button” (unless I simply couldn’t find it) in order to go back you have to click on the home button and reload the app you are trying to use.

Additional information about the Learning Lodge™

• The Learning Lodge features more than 350 educational games, e-books, music and videos developed specifically for each child’s unique stage of development, as well as with their age and interests.
• The broad library of subjects includes reading, math, social studies, science, creativity, problem solving and so much more!
• Starting with activities suitable for toddlers and expanding to grade schoolers, the Learning Lodge gives every child an opportunity to expand their learning potential while keeping them entertained.
• Featured throughout the downloads and software cartridges are popular characters such as Mike the Knight™, Angelina Ballerina®, Team Umizoomi™, Dora the Explorer™, Thomas & Friends®, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles®, Jake & the Neverland Pirates, Sesame Street and more. New titles coming out on the Learning Lodge beginning in June include: Monsters University®, Turbo®, Planes®, and more.
• Parents can track their child’s progress through the Learning Lodge™ Progress Log, offer encouragement and share in their pride when kids reach new learning milestones.

We were contacted by the lovely folks at Vtech to review the VTech InnoTab 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet. The VTech product, information, and additional gift pack have been provided by VTech. The views expressed below are of my own opinions and experiences. VTech has offered one of our lucky readers a VTech InnoTab 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet too!!!