Review: Digi-Cool Camera

Review of the new digital children's camera from Early Learning Centre

After our enthusiastic nearly 3 year old broke our family camera by dropping it, we decided that maybe we could still encourage his interest in photography but with a tougher (and less expensive) model. The Early Learning Centre Digi-cool digital camera was, at the time of writing, on offer for £36 but normally retails at £45. This bright, chunky camera is designed to be hard-wearing and easy for little hands to grip. It has a built-in automatic flash, 2x digital zoom and a 64MB internal memory. Extra features include two built-in games and a fun editing function with frames, stamps and kaleidoscope tools. The camera uses two standard AA batteries, though I used rechargeable batteries as I’ve found in the past that digital cameras drain batteries quite quickly.

It is very easy to get started and my son quickly worked out how to take photos and could scroll through those he’d already taken (although the first few were all floor and feet). The two games; Jumping Frog, in which you use the cursor buttons to repeat a sequence of lights and Catch It, in which you press the OK button to catch a specified germ cartoon, are basic but fun and encourage hand to eye co-ordination and familiarise children with the buttons on the camera. The editing tools are also very entertaining with frames and stamps such as a snowman, duck bill, frog eyes and a very fetching moustache which my son loved adding to his snaps of all the family. These functions can be added to existing, saved photos and also applied to photos as they are being taken, which is useful for helping children learn to position the subject of the photo correctly. A USB cable is included to upload photos onto your computer, allowing you to easily back up and print any of your child’s masterpieces.

The two of us had great fun taking the camera on insect hunts around the garden and taking pictures of fish at an aquatic shop and my son has been able to take recognisable pictures of quite small creatures, though a little blurry as he finds it hard to hold it really still. The screen is quite small as it has to be break-resistant and it is difficult see objects on-screen on a bright day, but this is true of all digital cameras. He loves looking through his pictures on the camera and as the camera can hold over 400 photos there is no need to keep deleting to make room for more (we have removed all the floor shots though!).

We would really recommend this camera as a reasonably priced, relatively un-breakable way to enable children to take pictures all by themselves. It is easy to use and also has some lovely functions to encourage more creative play. I can see it being a toy which will hold his interest for a good few years.

How to buy the Digi-Cool Camera

The Digi-Cool Camera can be bought from the Early Learning Centre in Northampton, 14 Peacock Place (off Abington Street), or online at Early Learning Centre website. At the time of writing, this camera is discounted by 20% for a limited period.