The Wikireader

 A 2010 Holiday Gift Guide Pick from "And Twins make 5!" 

Our 5 kids spend a fair amount of time being shuffled about from one activity to another.  It's a usual day for one of them to end up bored in the car, waiting at the dance studio, or even trying to kill time in between events at a siblings track meet.  The desire for something small I can entertain them with is a big one.  Handheld gaming systems sometimes can fit the bill, but they require a fair amount of planning.  Grab the system, make sure it's charged, make sure you have games ... A book can work but they eventually finish it and hit boredom again. 

I found myself instantly in love with a device aimed partly at this crowd.  Meet the WikiReader, it's a palm-size lightweight device with a simple touch screen that is said to run for a year on just two AAA batteries.  What's it do?  It puts 3 million Wikipedia articles in the palm of your hand without any need for an connectivity. 

Turn the WikiReader on, type in a word or phrase, hit search, make your selection from a list of results, and read.  My 9 year old immediately began searching.  She read about our town, our local high school, her own first name, her favorite color, a type of plant, and even about the food I was making for dinner.  Stumped for something to learn about next, she hit the random button and read about an old movie called "Lady in Cement".

The WikiReader's tiny size and minimal battery maintenance make this the perfect entertainment for our outings.  I've been just keeping it in my purse and pulling it out as needed.  This would be great on camping trips, during holiday plane travel, or even at Grandma's remote home in the mountains.  The kids can read about the places they are traveling, holiday tradition origins, or even Reindeer.

I had concerns that the WikiReader I was provided by the company for review would become out dated quickly based on the ever changing current events, however there is a free update application that can performed via your pc or mac.  Note, you will need a micro sd hc card reader which you can pick up from $4-9.

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Visit the complete "And Twins make 5!" 2010 Holiday Gift Guide to find additional gift ideas on top of some exciting giveaways and promotional codes.