About Children's Technology Review

Children’s Technology Review (CTR) is an independent, subscriber-supported review and curation service designed to help parents, teachers, researchers, publishers, and librarians find children's interactive media products. The core of CTR is the online database of 13,000 product reviews. CTR is sold as a subscription service ($30/year for full database access.

Started in 1993 based on doctoral research, CTR is designed to bring an impartial voice to the review process. Ratings are given by people with a background in education and child development who have no commercial connections to the products being reviewed.

The work is supported by “clean” money, namely subscriber fees, publication sales, and Dust or Magic conference registrations. No income is derived from sponsorships, selling award seals, or affiliate sales programs.

Originally a Master’s project (Survey of Early Childhood Software, Buckleitner, 1984), the underlying theoretical framework behind the ratings has remained unchanged over the years. Ratings can be summarized by the guiding questions that a reviewer takes into the evaluation process:

“What does the child walk away from the experience(s) with that they didn’t have when they first came to the experience(s)?”
“How does the experience empower (or dis-empower) a child?”
“Does this experience leverage the potential of technology in a way that traditional, non-digital or non-linear experiences cannot?”
“How does this product compare with similar products?”

Submit a message using our online contact form

Product Submission, Circulation: info@childrenstech.com
Owner, Editor in Chief: Warren Buckleitner, warren@childrenstech.com
Phone: 908-284-0404
By Mail:
Children's Technology Review
126 Main Street
Flemington, NJ 08822

CTR contains proprietary research, copyrighted and trademarked materials belonging to Active Learning Associates, Inc.

Accordingly, international and domestic laws and penalties guaranteeing patent, copyright, trademark or trade secret protection safeguard the ideas, concepts and recommendations related within our work.

Any reference whatsoever to CTR-related work, in whole or in part, on any Web page, must provide a link back to the original document in its entirety.

Software information changes frequently. If you notice errors or inaccurate information, please contact us. It is always best to check with the company directly before buying to get the latest price and platform information.

This site is supported by subscribers and qualified editorial partners. Click here for more information, including our editorial guidelines.

The information presented here may not under any circumstances be resold or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from Children’s Technology Review.

The reviews and articles on this web site come from current and back issues of Children’s Technology Review (CTR), a print and online publication. Some information is reserved solely for paid subscribers.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

We want our visitors to have absolutely no concerns about the privacy of the information they share with us, both as subscribers and as participants on this site.

Active Learning Associates (who publishes Children’s Technology Review and manages this site) does not, and will not, sell or otherwise transfer any personal information about its subscribers to other companies or individuals.

OWNERSHIP OF SUBMITTED INFORMATION, AND IDENTIFICATION OF AUTHORS

Public feedback on children’s interactive media (software, smart toys, video games and children’s Internet sites) helps other parents, educators and children’s librarians better use technology with children.

Other than a standard spell checking, we do not edit user submitted comments, and everyone is welcome to participate. Because this is a public forum, each author is asked to properly identify themself. We ask that publishers and friends of publishers use this feature appropriately and professionally, and we reserve the right to investigate suspicious commenting activity, which could result in the removal of a posted comment. All submitted information becomes property of Children’s Technology Review.

TERMS OF USE

The following terms of use apply to all visitors to or users of the Children’s Technology Review (CTR) web site “www.childrenstech.com” (the “Site”). By accessing the Site, you acknowledge acceptance of these terms of use. In the case of any violation of these terms of use, CTR reserves the right to seek all remedies available at law and in equity for such violations.
Except as specified in these terms of use, nothing contained in the Site shall be construed as conferring any license or right under any patent, trademark or copyright of CTR or any third party. Any product, process, service, invention or technology published on this Site may be the subject of intellectual property rights preserved by CTR, its subsidiaries or licensors and are not licensed hereunder. No permission is granted to use CTR’s name, logo, trademarks, trade names or trade dress for any reason.
None of the content on The Site, including but not limited to, the reviews, ratings, the central conclusions of the reviews, the graphics, or the Children’s Technology Review Evaluation system, may be used or adapted in any form without express, written permission from CTR. Content, both articles and reviews, may not be used to generate written works or articles for other publications, magazines, web sites, or any other forms of communication without express, written permission from CTR. One example of inappropriate use is using the search criteria to generate a list for a written work for a professional article. Another example of inappropriate use is to reword or rework the text of a review or reviews, or use key conclusions or ratings for use in other publications, newspaper columns, ezines or web sites. We ask that other professional reviewers do their own research and testing and make their own conclusions.
Appropriate uses are as follows: parents, teachers, technology coordinators or librarians determining if a product is appropriate for their child or children; software, video game and toy publishers reading reviews or articles pertaining to their industry; retailers determining if they wish to carry products, researchers or students using the database to create lists for academic or non-profit use, providing references are cited.
The extended use of this site by any person who writes professionally for print or online purposes, must have prior, express, written consent from CTR.
All information provided on this Site is intended for informational purposes only and is subject to change or withdrawal by CTR at any time without notice. CTR assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information on this Site. THE INFORMATION ON THIS SITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. CTR FURTHER DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY IN CONNECTION WITH THE SITE OR THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THE SITE. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you. IN NO EVENT WILL CTR, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES OR AGENTS BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR OTHER CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES FOR ANY USE OF THE SITE, THE INFORMATION PRESENTED ON THE SITE, OR ANY OTHER HYPERLINKED WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, LOSS OF DATA OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF CTR IS EXPRESSLY ADVISED OF POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
The Children’s Technology Review logo, Children’s Technology Revue, CTREX and Children’s Software Review/Revue (both spellings), the Children’s Software Evaluation Instrument, the Star Kid, LittleClickers (TM) brand and selected product and service names referenced in the site are registered trademarks, registered service marks, or trademarks or service marks of Active Learning Associates, Inc. All other logos, brand names, product names and service names mentioned in the site are trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Any information or material sent to the Site will be deemed to be non-confidential. By submitting information, you represent and agree that CTR may publish such information and/or material and incorporate it or any concepts described in it in CTR products or services without liability.
Access to and use of password protected and/or secure areas of the Site is restricted to authorized users only. CTR reserves the right to restrict access to any individual for reasons such as nonpayment and inappropriate uses as described in paragraphs 3 and 4. Unauthorized individuals attempting to access these areas of the Site will be subject to prosecution.
The Site may contain links to other Sites controlled by parties other than CTR. CTR is not responsible for and does not endorse the contents or use of these Sites.
CTR reserves the right to revise the content, products, services and pricing described in this Site at any time. Subscribers will be notified in advance of any changes.
Your access to the Site is governed by all applicable federal, state and local laws. All information available on the Site may be subject to the laws of the country where you reside. You agree that any legal action, proceeding or other matters relating to your access to, or use of, the Site or the information contained on the Site shall be governed by U.S. federal law or the laws of the State of New Jersey.
CTR Editorial Staff moderates all reviews and comments. We reserve the right to remove or edit comments for length or clarity.

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