Reading with Young Children: iPads vs Print books

Illustration by Baiba Baiba for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center

A new study from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center of 500 iPad users shows that parents have mixed feelings about using  e-devices for reading to their children in the two to six year-old age group.

Even though e-devices are preferable and convenient for families on the go, most of the parents surveyed preferred the use of print books and believe that their children would agree.  Although parents liked some of the interactive features of the digital books, such as audio cues for sounding out words, many felt that the games and videos often packaged with the e-books were distracting to the reading experience.  A third of the parents surveyed felt that reading with young children was too difficult on digital devices.

The full report is available on the Center’s site.

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