Oh!Why? Kids’ Communication Device

No, that’s not the Limited Edition St. Patrick’s Day-themed Wii.

That is an Oh!Why? Communication Device.

Potentially, this product is way cool. We’ve all suffered through long afternoons or car rides where our kid has repeatedly asked “Why is McDonald’s named McDonald’s?” or   “Why is lava hot?” or  ”Why do birds eat worms?”

Oh!Why? takes that phenomenon and catapults it into the 21st century.

This device is both a camera and a digital book. Kiddos take the camera into their environment and record stuff.

So while you’re away at the office or on Twitter, your child can be capturing all of their WHY questions on film for you to review as a family later.  The camera syncs up with the digital book for later use. The book allows parents to leave kids instant messages and is also a great night light.

I only received limited details on what else the digital book does or includes, but from this close-up photo, it appears to have quite a bit of functionality in it.

Kids love cameras – no doubt about that – so I really like the idea of having a tool for kids to be able to capture snippets of their environments, from their perspective – for family sharing later. I can’t help but wonder, though, whether the camera just turns into a novelty, and children just end up using it as any other camera to capture themselves sucking helium out of a balloon and talking like a chipmunk.

How the camera really integrates with the digital book remains to be seen, but if the digital book has enough features to make this a learning and communication tool, it has great promise.

I couldn’t find much information about the price, or where to buy this product, but you can get the details about the Oh!Why? Communication Device at Yanko Design.