Home » Misc » Www learning tools for kids

Www learning tools for kids


Educational Toys & Learning Tools

During early childhood, from preschool to late elementary, children respond to sensory tools, songs, and activities. Toys for children serve as much more than entertainment, as they spur creativity and cognitive development during all learning stages. Educational tools are an easy way to jump-start a child’s problem-solving skills, multisensory abilities, and more.

Shop
  • New
  • Coming Soon
  • Staff Picks
  • Top Sellers
  • Sale
  • Books
  • eBooks
  • Educational Toys & Learning Tools
Age
  • Infant Resources
  • Toddler Resources
  • Preschool Resources
  • Elementary Resources
Child Development
  • Cognitive Development
  • Communication and Language Development
  • Creative Development
  • Physical Development
  • Social-Emotional Development
Content Areas
  • Science
  • Math
  • Literacy
  • Art
  • Music
  • Movement & Play
  • Technology & Engineering
Professional Resources
  • Classroom Management
  • Challenging Behaviors
  • Health and Safety
  • DLL/ELL/Diversity
  • Supporting Families
  • Observation and Assessment
  • Special Needs and Inclusion
  • Program Administration Resources
  • Mentoring and Coaching
  • Lesson Planning Guides & Resources
  • Classroom Environments
  • After School
Series
  • All Series
  • The Business of Child Care Series
  • Preparing for the Unexpected Series
  • Creative Investigations Series
Featured Collections
  • For Program Administrators
  • For Early Educators
  • For Parents
  • For Homeschool Families

Our educational toys and tools offer play for cognitive, creative, physical, and social-emotional development for kids of all ages. By offering these developmental materials, educators and teachers can foster a welcoming environment where children can learn and build confidence. 

Featured Educational Toys & Tools

Shop by Age

Gryphon House adds the convenience of sorting our resources by child stages, so shopping for the right toy, tool, or book is quick and easy. From infanthood to elementary school, we offer educational toys and tools, health guides, helpful resources, and free activity ideas.

Infant

Toddler

Preschooler

Elementary

Shop by Content Area

  • Science
  • Math
  • Literacy
  • Social-Emotional Development
  • Movement & Play
  • Art
  • Music
  • Technology & Engineering

Beyond educational toys and tools for children, our selection of books and other resources for educators continues to grow. Written by award-winning authors that specialize in early childhood development, our books span areas from healthy and safety to behavior management. Discover ways in which you can teach literacy, inspire creativity, and encourage diversity in your classroom by browsing our educational resources.

Best Online Learning Tools

Back to TopA white circle with a black border surrounding a chevron pointing up. It indicates 'click here to go back to the top of the page.' Back to Top

Parenting

Save Article IconA bookmarkShare iconAn curved arrow pointing right.

Download the app

Makey Makey, our top pick for the best online learning tool to teach engineering, was developed my MIT Media Lab. Makey Makey

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.

  • Learning apps and hardware for kids K-12 are easier to find, assemble and afford than parents think.
  • Parents should look for age-appropriate tools that ensure their child's safety and privacy.
  • The best online learning tools should engage kids creatively, not passively.
LoadingSomething is loading.

Thanks for signing up!

Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.

With a new school year and a new viral variant on the horizon, it's unclear how many students will be learning virtually in the coming months. Luckily, tech companies are responding to new education demands by churning out interactive tools at a breakneck pace. 

"Immersive tech in general is becoming more of a norm," said Jaime Donally, interactive education consultant and author of "The Immersive Classroom: Create Customized Learning Experiences." "What we're seeing is a massive investment by large companies that have only grown … We're going to equip the general public and give people more access."

Business Insider received recommendations from Donally as well as Nicholas Provenzano, an education consultant and founder of The Nerdy Teacher LLC. Both of them have years of classroom teaching experience in addition to their advisory work.

These experts provided product ideas as well as helpful parameters for parents seeking online educational tools in 2021.

At a baseline, all tools should abide by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), said Provenzano. Most learning tools will require some level of parental supervision, especially younger children in chat environments, but it's important that all activities are age-appropriate according to the products' terms of service.

Importantly, tools should offer opportunities for creativity and interaction, not just passive learning, such as watching videos. 

"Kids don't want to sit and just stare at a computer," Provenzano says. "We don't solve problems by just watching things. We want to create an environment where kids are using tools that allow for creation."

We organized some of the expert product recommendations into top categories. We focused exclusively on interactive apps and hardware to the exclusion of online tutoring, virtual classes, or camps. We only included products that are available for individual family use. All of the products below require screen time on desktops or mobile devices.

The best interactive learning tool overall

Adventure Academy/Facebook

ABC Mouse Early Learning Academy (ages 2-8) and Adventure Academy (ages 8-13) offer comprehensive, fun learning worlds in math, science, language arts, reading, and more.

Pros: All subjects, lots of variety, no in-game purchases, compatible with everything, social element in Adventure Academy, no hardware needed

Cons: No high school offering yet

Recommended by experts and parents (including me — my four-year-old adores ABC Mouse), ABC Mouse and its older-kid version Adventure Academy can keep kids engrossed in educational play for years.  

In addition to offering an endless array of age-appropriate educational games and activities in math, science, reading, and more, ABC Mouse plays a bit like an open world game. Kids can choose and adjust their avatar, pick a spot on a map, earn tickets, and buy items with them to enhance their own worlds. By playing different games, for example, they'll have enough tickets to buy a cool costume for their avatars, furniture for their rooms, or fish for their aquarium.

Adventure Academy takes the open world one step further by offering optional ways for kids to chat and play with their friends, MMO-style (think World of Warcraft). This means that Adventure Academy, like most learning tools for children, requires safety monitoring. 

A board of teachers oversees all of the material on ABC Mouse and Adventure Academy. Progress is tracked and saved, and the apps are frequently updated. Children will never run out of material. ABC Mouse has earned educational awards from Parents' Choice Foundation and Learning Magazine under the Teachers' Choice category. Adventure Academy, however, is newer and not as established yet among educational experts.

After a free month-trial, ABC Mouse costs $12.99 per month, $29.95 for a six-month subscription, or $59.95 for a whole year. Adventure Academy has a similar fee structure. Look out for offers. The subscription model ensures that there are no sneaky in-app purchases - except for the ones that cost imaginary money.

Available on iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire (second generation and above), and most Android phones and tablets.

ABC Mouse (Monthly Subscription)

Adventure Academy (Monthly Subscription)

The best Interactive learning tool for reading

disruptED

disruptED is an augmented and virtual reality literacy experience for visual learners from ages 3 and up.  

Pros: No in-game purchases, flexible purchasing options, no subscription needed, affordable, easy to use

Cons: For younger kids only

disruptED, an award-winning Austin-based company, has released a series of children's books that come to life through AR and VR. The tool is excellent for visual learners and also any child who wants to have fun and interact more deeply with their books, according to Donally.

A disruptED starter kit comes with three AR/VR books, three activity books, sticker sheets, a VR headset that your phone will sit inside, and an app download. The headset is cardboard and has adjustable lenses for larger phones.  

Readers point their Android or iOs devices (phone or tablet) at the interactive books, then watch the characters and environments interact in 3D. The VR sessions are fully immersive and require supervision.

disruptED's original AR books explore the ABCs, opposites, and shapes. Their latest digital activity book "Bee Safe" covers COVID-19 safety and viral science.  

A starter kit costs $49.95, though parents and teachers can explore many purchasing options. For example, those who don't want the VR experience can buy just the book bundle for $30. 

Available on Android and Apple phones and tablets.

$49.95 from disruptED

The best interactive learning tool for engineering

Makey Makey

Makey Makey offers thousands of possibilities to invent, engineer, draw, and code. Kids ages 8 and up can enjoy the kit, and so can adults of any age.

Pros: Affordable, no subscription needed, versatile, for almost all ages

Cons: Small parts

Imagine sticking some playdough onto a notebook pad, putting a few alligator clips into the playdough, connecting it to the Mario Bros. game on your computer, and then being able to control Mario just by pushing on the playdough.

That's just one of the thousands of possibilities through Makey Makey, an award-winning invention and coding kit invented by students at MIT Media Lab. The site also demonstrates hacking a stuffed animal so that it speaks, typing with a banana, and making music with cups of water.

"Makey Makey is phenomenal," said Provenzano. "You're essentially giving students a tech blank canvas where you can make just about whatever you want. I had a student make a game of Operation with it."

A classic kit costs $49.95 and comes with a circuit board, alligator clips, and wires. For inventors on the go, a Makey Makey GO is a smaller, cheaper circuit board with a USB connector for $19.95.

Makey Makey works on Windows 10, macOS, iPadOS, and on Chromebooks.

$49.95 from Makey Makey

Originally $59.95Save 17%

The best interactive learning tool for music and podcast creation

Soundtrap/Facebook

Soundtrap is an intuitive and fun place for kids — and adults — to explore music and podcast production.

Pros: Affordable, easy to use, compatible with most devices

Cons: Requires gear for quality recordings, some features are for desktop only (uploading to Spotify, collaboration)

Soundtrap by Spotify doesn't look like an app for kids. That's because everyone can enjoy its easy-to-use sound production features and collaboration tools. Soundtrap comes highly recommended by Provenzano as a tool that engages children in their own imaginative, creative projects. Children who don't typically like writing, for example, may embrace the opportunity to write a podcast script about, say, Minecraft.

Through Soundtrap, kids can record, use app-based instruments, edit and even collaborate remotely with friends via chat. The music interface looks like many media sequencing programs, which might make it more appealing for older children. However, with parental guidance, younger kids can at least bang around and hear their voices played back. Fun music features include autotune, a patterns beatmaker, and 4,000 pre-made beats. 

The "storytelling" (podcast) program offers transcription, which is helpful for children who have difficulty writing or typing. The app complies with children's privacy laws, but older kids have the opportunity to upload their podcasts directly to Spotify. Kids can export their files into any format, and even send their files via link without forcing the recipient parties to sign up. 

Parents can opt for different price points. The lowest music option on Soundtrap is $7.99/month, and the lowest podcasting option is $11.99/month. Prices go up if you want more features. Quality recordings will require some additional gear, like a microphone.

Halley Bondy

Freelance Writer

Halley Bondy a professional freelance writer, journalist, editor, producer, and mom based in Brooklyn. You can find her articles in NBC News, Daily Beast, DAME Magazine, Eater NY, Bustle, Romper, The Outline, Oxygen, CMT, Scary Mommy, Vice, New York Daily News, MTV, and more. She writes scripts for the "Masters of Scale" podcast, and has written for "You Must Remember This." Bondy has written five books for young girls including "Speak Up," a how-to on day-to-day confidence.  Her work has won a Shorty Award for digital content, as well as the Outstanding Playwright award at the Fringe NYC Festival, and a GEM Award at NBC. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter, Robin. Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here.

Read moreRead less

Sign up for Insider Reviews' weekly newsletter for more buying advice and great deals.

You can purchase logo and accolade licensing to this story here.

Disclosure: Written and researched by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our partners. We may receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at [email protected].

Features Parenting E-Learning

More...

The best online learning tools for kids

The COVID 19 pandemic has affected us in ways we never imagined. The most affected students were forced to remain in isolation and a new teaching methodology was introduced. As they say, the play must go on; we worked at home and studied at home. With this move away from physical classrooms and schools, some people are wondering if the online learning paradigm will survive post-pandemic. Well, according to statistics, the global e-learning market is predicted to be worth $325 billion in 2025.

It turned out that e-learning solutions can be much more effective than conservative teaching methods. They use innovative learning methods such as flashcards, quizzes, interactive practice lessons to improve academic performance. Some of the e-learning apps use games and stories to keep students engaged and focused while making the learning process quite interesting at the same time.

In this article we have curated a list of tools that will help you make online learning easy and simple. Without much ado, let's get started. nine0003

Google classroom

Google classroom is an online learning platform where students and teachers can easily connect virtually for online lessons. This class offers and promotes paperless assignments and curriculum for students. It is supported and powered by G Suite services such as Google Slides, Google Docs, and Google Sheets.

Google Classroom offers accounts for personal accounts, school accounts, and Google workspace accounts. Students can register for free with their school account. Teachers and parents won't be able to access their assignments unless shared. They may also receive email updates. nine0003

Trello

If you're a college or high school student who wants to be better prepared for the future, Trello is for you. As a matter of fact, Trello is a collaboration tool that is useful in an agile methodology. This is a great e-learning tool.

This tool offers many ways to manage your product. Subsequent members of this team can easily be added to cards and only those associated with a particular project will receive notifications. This is especially handy when working with Java or React Native projects with multiple modules. nine0003

Momentum

We can agree that the to-do list never works the way we imagine. But it has its own charm, right? Momentum is an extension that can be added to the Google Chrome browser for a to-do list. The best thing about this learning tool is its ease of use.

When you install the Momentum plugin for the first time, you will be asked several questions that the tool will use to personalize your to-do list. The simplicity of Momentum makes it our favorite! This tool ensures that you never miss out on assignments and updates. nine0003

Tomato Timer

We all want to be punctual and do our jobs well, but there are always delays in our path. We know this feeling, and for this reason we have placed Tomato Timer here.

This tool (app and website) helps us fight procrastination and encourages better time management. The Tomato Timer follows the Pomodoro Technique.

This strategy uses a timer. This timer breaks work into small intervals, typically 25 minutes, separated by small breaks. This tool is easy to use and allows you to change the timer. Because study, break and return to repetition is considered an effective method for those who soon forget what they are learning. For this, Tomato Timer receives additional credits. nine0003

Canva

Designing has never been easier! For beginners and those looking for a quick way to create professional and beautiful presentation slides and posters for their assignments, Canva is the perfect tool for you. The upside is that it is constantly updated and adds new features for professional members.

It is easy to use and unusual for making quick designs. Canva has a variety of ready-made themes for you to choose from and create unique slides that are attractive enough to make your point clear. It is one of the best tools for completing assignments. You can access everything with a free account. nine0003

Grammar

Writing articles and assignments has never been easier. If you are one of those who strive for perfection, this tool can be your lifesaver. It's perfect for you! It's a tool that makes sure your grammar and tone of content is top notch, paying attention to the little details, whether you used "your" instead of "you" or if you didn't remember the comma. Poor sentence structure and bad spelling seem amateurish, so proper grammar and all of that in your assignments is essential. Grammarly ensures that your student can submit the perfect work/assignment effortlessly! nine0003

Hemingway's editor

No, you won't become Ernest Hemingway overnight! Hemingway Editor is a free web editor. Checks text for readability. Readability refers to how easy or difficult a spelling is to understand. The foundation of good writing is good readability. The Hemingway Editor tool focuses on things that affect the vocabulary and readability of your work. The Hemingway editor can make your assignments more readable and persuasive. The Hemingway editor helps you edit your project so your suggestions are clear and to the point. nine0003

Quora

If you are a curious learner and have a lot of questions, Quora is the platform for you. When writing any tasks, we need the opinions and points of view of some experts on the topic. Quora will allow you to ask questions, get answers, and build a community of discussion in a healthy environment.

Quora has over 300,000 subscribers ready to cater to your every need, from subject matter experts to newbies. It's a great learning platform where you can be as candid as you want. nine0003

Slack

Slack has become a fan favorite lately. Slack sends messages in real time between teams, which is often seen as an alternative to long email chains. Slack is great for candid communication within your project team. Slack allows you to group teams into the channels you need. You can also use Slack to share recordings and make free VoIP calls. Slack is our #1 method of keeping in touch with the entire team. It has funny emoticons that make communication even easier. nine0003

Conclusion

These tools will make your virtual learning journey pretty straightforward. You don't need to stress over the changes around you; just keep learning; the rest of the things will fall in place sooner or later. We hope this list introduces you to some of the tools that become a constant in your life. And don’t forget to check out our list of educational games.

Why Learning HTML Can Be Good For Your Child's Future nine0083

December 15, 2022

HTML is one of the most fundamental skills to learn in web design and development. Learning HTML can be one of the

What Are the Basic Digital Literacy Skills for Children?

December 14, 2022

Digital literacy is a hot topic of recent. Why? The digital age that we live in today means that our children are

Admin Dashboard Statistics

December 13, 2022

View your subscription usage statistics. Now with a quick glance from your Admin Dashboard, you can get important statistics about your school's

Equipment for inclusive education

Content:

  • Legal basis for inclusive education
  • Equipment for inclusive education
    • Equipment for inclusive education (resource center)
    • Equipment for inclusive education (library)
    • Equipment for inclusive education (preschool educational institutions)
  • List of our products for the implementation of inclusive education in institutions

Legal foundations of inclusive education

The foundations for the implementation of inclusive education in Russia are enshrined in the following official documents:

  • The Constitution of the Russian Federation
  • Law on Education of the Russian Federation last edition. Federal Law 273 as amended in 2017-2016
  • UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
  • Law on Social Protection of the Disabled in the Russian Federation N 181-FZ

Article 43 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation states: "Everyone has the right to education." In addition, the Constitution guarantees the general availability and free of charge of pre-school, basic general and secondary vocational education and the possibility of obtaining free higher education (the latter on a competitive basis).
In 2008, Russia signed and in 2012 ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Article 24 of the Convention states: "In order to realize the right to education, States Parties must ensure inclusive education at all levels and lifelong learning." nine0135 The same article states that the state should promote the teaching of children with visual impairments in Braille, and children with hearing impairments in sign language. The convention spells out the right of children with disabilities to access, on an equal basis with others, to quality free primary and secondary education in their places of residence. Since support for the educational process must be available throughout life, reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities must be organized at all educational levels. nine0135 Article 19 is devoted to education in the law on the social protection of persons with disabilities in the Russian Federation. In particular, it notes who should provide it: conditions for obtaining education by students with disabilities, as well as in individual organizations carrying out educational activities according to adapted basic general educational programs. nine0135 According to the law on education of the Russian Federation, in all universities a 10% quota is formed for the admission of citizens with disabilities. In addition, free education is being introduced at preparatory departments for a wide audience of beneficiaries.
Article 2 of this law defines the basic concepts related to inclusive education. Here are just two of them:
inclusive education - ensuring equal access to education for all students, taking into account the diversity of special educational needs and individual opportunities. nine0135 student with disabilities - an individual who has deficiencies in physical and (or) psychological development, confirmed by the psychological-medical-pedagogical commission and preventing education without creating special conditions.

Equipment for inclusive education

One of the important components of ensuring equal access to education is modern technical means of rehabilitation. These include both hardware and software solutions. nine0135 For more than 10 years, Elita Group has been involved in equipping a variety of educational institutions with hardware and software systems and workstations to create conditions for inclusive education in them.
Some universities are establishing resource centers to support inclusive education. They can be designed only for students of their own university, or they can serve students with disabilities who study at other universities in the city.
Every year there are more and more such centers. Here are examples of just a few universities where resource centers have existed for many years. nine0135 The very first was Nizhny Novgorod State University. N.I. Lobachevsky. In 1999, a tiflo-information center was established there - the first specialized university computer center in Russia for the visually impaired.
Since 2000, the educational process for students with disabilities has been supported by Novosibirsk State University.
The Moscow State University of Psychology and Education also has many years of experience in teaching students with various types of physical and sensory disabilities. nine0135 In this article, you will find a sample set of equipment for a resource center for those who are just thinking about supporting inclusive education in their institution and for those who plan to equip their existing center with more modern TSR.
During our work, we participated in equipping special, university, school and public libraries with technical means. If you cannot decide what exactly your library needs, refer to the appropriate section of this article. nine0135 We will also talk about the equipment of computer classes, about individual workstations, and about what equipment preschools may need.

Equipment for inclusive education (resource center)

The resource center should have the widest possible range of technical means so that you can provide your schoolchildren or students with all the services necessary for a successful educational process. At the same time, students should have the opportunity both to come directly to the center and work with the equipment, and to receive it for temporary use (for example, during an exam, independent work, etc.). nine0135 The list of services provided may include educational materials in alternative formats: large print for visually impaired students, printed Braille for visually impaired students, in audio format (including recorded using synthesized speech), or in electronic form. It all depends on the needs of each individual user.
You can also help students and schoolchildren with visual impairments with the visual design of various written works, including semester, term papers, diplomas, etc. nine0135 The services of such a resource center can be used not only by direct consumers, but also by teachers of an educational institution who can apply to the center with a request to prepare an upcoming control or test in an accessible format, as well as handouts for classroom activities.
For the quality provision of such services, the center must have appropriate equipment and software.
It can be either a professional hardware and software complex, which includes all the necessary components for preparing materials in alternative formats, or separate devices. Such a complex must necessarily include a Braille printer. If you have a large resource center serving several educational institutions, then a production printer will suit you. If the print volumes are not very large, then you can choose a smaller printer. If you need to print both braille and regular print, you will need a printer that supports color printing. nine0135 It should also be borne in mind that these printers have a special purpose, so there is specially designed software for them: for printing relief graphics and for converting electronic text into Braille text.
The Alternative Content Creator allows you to convert printed and electronic texts into large print or audio versions.
Since part of providing materials in accessible formats is the scanning of printed texts, you will need a scanner or camera, as well as a regular laser printer to print texts in large print and print students' work to hand it to teachers in the usual form. nine0135 For visually impaired users, a stationary video magnifier will be very useful. Depending on the needs of your students, you can choose from C-design magnifiers or more traditional stationary video magnifiers. Devices allow you to get good image quality even at high magnification. It is convenient to read large books, magazines, newspapers and other printed materials with it. They have easily adjustable contrast and brightness of the image. With such devices, visually impaired students can read for long periods of time without eye strain. nine0135 If we talk about magnifiers that you can take with you and use in a classroom or classroom, then portable magnifiers with a long-range camera will help the learning process, which allow you not only to work with teaching aids on the student’s desk, but also point the camera at the board and see what the teacher writes or demonstrates. If only work is required directly at the training site, then folding portable magnifiers can be used.
Of course, in such a resource and methodological center there should be both stationary and mobile workstations. The first ones are needed for use in the center itself, and the second ones - in order to be able to take them to a class or audience for the duration of control and examination work, presentations, etc. nine0135 Let's first look at an example of a workplace for visually impaired users.
What should be included in such a hardware and software complex in addition to the components familiar to any user of a Personal Computer?
Firstly, this is a screen magnification program that is installed on a computer or laptop. There are two modifications of such programs: zoom only and zoom with speech support. The software allows not only to enlarge elements on the computer screen, change the color and size of the mouse pointer and cursor, set the desired contrast, but also combine these features with speech, when a synthesized voice can voice information at the user's request. The program also supports working with two monitors at the same time, which can be very relevant for a visually impaired student. nine0135 Secondly, an electronic video enlarger can be connected to the computer, which allows, for example, viewing information on the board or participating in seminars.
Another important component of a successful workplace for a visually impaired schoolchild or student is good lighting. If it is chosen correctly, it will be more comfortable to work and the level of necessary magnification may decrease.
Printed and handouts for visually impaired people should be provided in large print. This increases the efficiency of learning and assimilation of information. The font size is selected individually. nine0135 Workstation configurations can be very different. The main thing is to take into account the presence of basic components and the needs of specific users.
Continuing the conversation about workplaces, let's consider an example of such an educational complex for a blind student.
Firstly, a screen reader program must be installed on a computer or laptop, which voices everything that the user does on the computer using synthesized speech. The program reads information from the screen aloud, thus providing access to the operating system interface. nine0135 Without such a program, the Braille display will not work. Without it, a student or visually impaired student will not be able to use a computer. The program provides a wide variety of resources to support the learning process. It, for example, already has a built-in function for recognizing PDF documents. There is a “text analyzer” function that allows a blind user to correct errors that can be easily missed by ear (extra spaces, open or unclosed quotes and brackets, etc.). nine0135 Secondly, a Braille display must be connected to the computer or laptop. Information from the screen is displayed on the device in the form of relief dots (Braille). A blind user reads information with their fingers. Braille displays are especially important for those who study foreign languages, programming, mathematics, often edit texts or read complexly structured materials that are poorly absorbed by ear (for example, philosophy). With a Braille display, it is also very convenient to make presentations when the user controls the process from the display without being distracted by synthesized speech. For visually impaired students, a Braille display is practically a must! In addition to helping to receive information, it also improves literacy, because for a blind user, the perception of information with the fingers is equivalent to the visual perception of a sighted user, i. e. Thanks to the Braille display, a blind student will “see” the writing of the text with his fingers and memorize it. Tests, control and handouts for blind people who know Braille are recommended to be provided printed in Braille - we have already talked about special printers above). nine0135 A portable visual computer can be used as a mobile workplace for blind schoolchildren and students. This is a special device that allows a blind user to read and write Braille, edit texts, read books, work with a calendar, notes and many other standard applications. The computer is running Windows 10 and Microsoft Office. The interface is fully voiced.

A handheld camera that connects to a computer via USB with text recognition software can also be added to the workplace of both the blind and visually impaired users. nine0135 The device allows you to take a photo of the printed material and starts reading it aloud after a few seconds. The recognized text can be edited and saved on a computer. It is very convenient for working in the reading room, for example, with newspapers and magazines. Such a camera is compact and can be easily moved, giving visually impaired users access to printed information.
In addition, it is desirable to provide students with visual impairments with access to audio materials and the ability to read electronic texts without using a computer. nine0135 This task is perfectly handled by portable flash players. The devices support Daisy and LKF formats specially designed for blind and visually impaired readers. All functions and settings of the player are voiced, the built-in synthesizer allows you to read electronic texts in various formats. A high-quality built-in voice recorder allows you to record lectures and seminars and set recording markup to ensure quick subsequent navigation. The player also supports access to online libraries directly from the device itself. Pupils and students will also be able to read articles from Wikipedia and Wiktionary. nine0135 So, if your institution is setting up a resource or resource center for the implementation of inclusive education, you will need equipment to provide educational materials in alternative formats, as well as workstations for students with different physical and sensory disabilities. The availability of such software and hardware adaptive technologies will provide students with disabilities with equal access to information and educational resources.

Equipment for inclusive education (library)

In the library Students with special educational needs should have access to both printed and electronic information. There are several technical means for this.
In order for a visually impaired schoolchild or student to read a printed textbook, he needs a stationary video magnifier. Depending on the needs of your students, you can choose from C-design magnifiers or more traditional stationary video magnifiers. Devices allow you to get good image quality even at high magnification. It is convenient to read large books, magazines, newspapers and other printed materials with it. They have easily adjustable contrast and brightness of the image. With such devices, visually impaired students can read for long periods of time without eye strain. nine0135 Another important device for the library is the reading machine. It is a device with a built-in camera that takes a photograph of printed material, recognizes it and reads it aloud in a synthesized voice. Various languages ​​are supported. Computer knowledge is not required to work with the reading machine. It is enough to place a book or newspaper under the camera and press one button. Some of these types of devices have a built-in screen so that visually impaired readers can magnify recognized text or images. nine0135 Access to electronic information requires an automated workplace. To do this, a screen reader and magnification program must be installed on a computer or laptop. This software combines functionality for both blind and visually impaired users. For blind readers, the program voices everything that the user does on the computer using synthesized speech. Information is read aloud from the screen, thus providing access to the operating system interface and its applications. For Visually Impaired Readers The software allows not only to enlarge the elements on the computer screen, change the color and size of the mouse pointer and cursor, set the desired contrast, but also combine these features with speech, when a synthesized voice can voice information at the user's request. This solution is also ideal for those users who unfortunately lose their sight and have to switch from magnification to speech. nine0135 In addition, it is desirable that such a workplace be equipped with a flatbed scanner or a portable camera for scanning, recognizing and reading printed textbooks. Thanks to such devices, students will be able to edit and save electronic texts for further study.
So, in order to provide conditions for inclusive education and effective access to information, the library should have a stationary video magnifier, a reading device and a workstation for readers with disabilities. The library should also have a hardware and software complex for preparing and printing texts in Braille. nine0003

Equipment for inclusive education (preschool)

If you are planning to introduce the principles of inclusive education in your institution, but do not know where to start, this section is for you.
Of course, it is still too early for preschoolers to master a whole fleet of equipment, but there are some technologies that even small children will help in understanding the world.
The first thing that can be very useful both for children with visual impairments and for all other pupils of a kindergarten or an early intervention center is a device for creating tactile graphics. With the help of heating, the image on special paper becomes convex. After that, it can be tactilely studied with the help of fingers. The picture can be pre-printed on a laser printer or drawn with a permanent marker. Convex images can be used both in classes with a typhlopedagogue, and in general classes in a group. It is effective to draw a parallel between real objects and their relief pictures. This will improve the figurative and spatial representations of children. nine0135 Another useful device is a marker recorder, which can be used to perform several different tasks. Self-adhesive labels are supplied with the device. You can record voice messages on them. For example, for blind children or for children with very weak eyesight, you can thus write down brief descriptions of pictures in books that children with normal vision constantly look at. This will allow children with visual impairments to participate in the overall learning process. nine0135 With older preschoolers, you can use a stationary or portable video magnifier. This will allow visually impaired children to look at enlarged pictures and, together with everyone, draw, learn to write and read. These magnifiers have easily adjustable contrast and brightness of the image. With such devices, visually impaired children can read or look at pictures for long periods of time without eye strain.

Learn more