The American Association of Pediatrics says Television and other entertainment media should be avoided for infants and children under age 2. With one of their products, Shapes, Tiggly flies in the face of this, branding their hybrid toy/screen apps for kids as young as 18 months.
In that app you get four shapes (star, ciricle square and triangle) made out of a rubberized plastic on top, and a harder plastic with small rubberized cushions on the bottom.
After you download the apps, the shapes can be placed on the screen to activate or respond to various activities. I think a shape sorter toy, many of which use no electronics or batteries, would be a better option. They give your child a chance to build motor skills and physically "learn" how the shapes interact. You know the saying, "you can't put a round peg in a square hole"! In contrast, the apps seemed rudimentary, and the shapes seemed to take second string to the cartoon animations. Moreover, beyond the AAP's warning about providing screens to kids under two, I am concerned that the "safety" pads could be gnawed out and ultimately, and ironically, swallowed. I would not recommend this product.
Tiggly Counting, on the other hand, might be useful to parents looking to help their child with math through the use of manipulatives. You get a set of rectangles of various lengths divided into equal units. (Since this is a toy more likely used by older children I have less concern about the sensor pads being chewed on, however, they do use the same technology so "know your child" is the key to deciding whether they have outgrown the danger.)
The manipulatives can be used to show how addition works. When the baker asks you to put in four eggs, you can tap the screen with the single four unit block or twice with the two unit block. There are many ways to get to the same total.
However, a tastier way to learn through manipulatives is to use candy as counting pieces. Less money, less technology, more joy might be had with a spoonful of sugar.
