I know I can't be the only parent out there who's tired of forking over her iPad to any number of children. Etsy shop Twig Creative might have solved my problem: an analog version of the iPad that (hopefully?) can entertain the kids without electronics.
Twig Creative's clever design is also, frankly, much more beautiful than an actual iPad. The frame is made from light wood, and inside you'll find a magnetic whiteboard. The set comes with several "app" icon magnets and a dry erase marker, but you could add any number of inexpensive accessories to the mix. Try sets of different colored magnets for Tic Tac Toe (draw the board with your marker); letter magnets for forming words; or dry erase crayons for drawing.
The anaPad is in high demand, so lead times are currently averaging a week.
Available on Etsy for $35.
Via Design Milk.


Shaw's Original Fir...
Ha ha, cute, but I'm pretty sure my kids would throw it at my head if I tried that with them.
I don't know what age this is meant for, but my 2-yo would in no way be fooled or entertained by this. Without digital pictures or moving images that you can manipulate, I think tots will totally know the difference!
haha to my son, if it doesn't play "Cars" it's junk!
Ha ha. Yeah, nice idea, but if it doesn't play Diego, it's not going to do the job for long.
hmmm parents will love this - all natural and lovely look but my one year old would know straight away that his bedtime story is out of order!!! And as for page turning and goodies that talk to you - well he knows they are there and would die of frustration trying to get this one to work!!!
that would not work for my toddler. she is ipad savvy.
I doubt the purpose is to fool your child into thinking it's an iPad, it's for pretend play. I could see a child really loving this, how could you go wrong with a white board?
More beautiful than an iPad?!
Anyway, my almost 3-year old would figure out right away that he can't play Angry Birds on this! Then he'd be an Angry Boy.
All of these tech savvy toddlers frighten me, hahaha.
The iPad is just intuitive enough for little fingers; it's not that these toddlers are tech-savvy. The day my kid can reprogram our Logitech remote is the day I say he's tech-savvy.
I actually think my kids would love this for pretend play...my concern though is that since it's a dry erase board, they'll start to think they can draw on Daddy's iPad too!
We are just not rich enough to have an i-anything so my child knows how to use a normal computer and nothing else. As a result, she claimed an card i-phone ad shaped to look like a full size i-phone from when my phone account was sent to us and made herself a "pen" out of polymer clay (which we baked in the oven to go hard) to use with it. She added this to her pretend play stuff and adores using it when she is in pretend-play mode.
I still can't believe parents let their children play with their expensive electronics. I don't let my kids even look at my phone! My 9 year can text and play some games but its off limits to the rest of them! Guess that's because I can't afford to just fork over the mulah to get a new one if they destroy it!
I just read your comment lillabilly. I love it! I love that kids can still use their imagination instead of needing electronics. Especially to play games on what is intended for use as a phone.
Deprive your kid of electronics, deprive them of future valuable job skills.
I'm quite happy to shell out for an Otterbox that allows my toddler to use our iPad to learn her alphabet, numbers, and phonics without fear of breaking it.
I'm also quite happy that she doesn't know how to use a mouse, and therefore won't screw up my work computer. When she's old enough to not click on stupid stuff for fun, then we'll start. You know they start keyboarding in kindergarten now...
I saw these/them at a local craft fair! Way to represent UT! My husband and I thought these were super cleaver and very well made. Good to see that Ohdeedoh has shared this good 'redesign'.
P.S. I don't think these were made for children necessarily. I'd just use it as a whiteboard.
Clever and lovely looking. I think it would be a great activity board for road trips.
When it comes to real ipads, let's remember that Steve Jobs and Bill Gates didn't have one when they were 2 and they did just fine. Ingenuity and creativity is the job skill of the future. When our kids are all 18 they will all know how to use an ipad and computer whether they had one at their house or not.
Pretty... My son plays with my iPad and it's not because I'm so wealthy I treat it as disposable... He's careful with it. And it's pretty sturdy. Yes, he plays on it from - did for quite a while today - but he might go weeks without bothering and still happily plays pretend with clay and other things. It's not an either/or.