Sadly, precious few maps have survived the centuries. But one of the most remarkable collections I’ve ever seen came to my attention via the magic of Twitter. The David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has a breathtaking online gallery of 19th Century maps drawn by children, most of whom were young women. The quality is astonishing, making even my best attempts at map-making look rather childish in comparison.

From the site:

In the 18th and 19th centuries, children were taught geography by making their own maps, usually copies of maps available to them in books and atlases at their schools or homes. Below is a group of maps and geographical diagrams made by children in the 19th century; and some of the school atlases, geographies, and wall maps that may have been their sources. These old maps made by children were hand drawn and colored, one-of-a-kind productions, and it is amazing that any have survived down to our time. That they have is due to luck and the efforts of families to preserve the history of their children. These maps have a special poignancy today in the way that they reflect the optimism of youth from another time.

Via @bookn3rd

Image: Southpeak Games

When I first received this unsolicited but free review copy of My Baby: First Steps, I thought, oh great, it’s going to be another cutesy game that even the kids wouldn’t like. I was wrong, for a variety of reasons. This game is pretty authentic. Right down to the dirty diapers, bath time, monotonous feeding regimen, doting grandmother and cute toddler. The only thing that seems to be missing is any kind of misbehavior on the part of the baby (though it’s possible that comes later, since I didn’t make it to the end of the game).

When you start the game, you can choose your baby’s gender, or get a surprise. If you choose boy or girl, you can also choose the ethnicity of the child. I chose to get a surprise and ended up with an Indian girl and named her Nola, after my great great aunt. All of the babies that I’ve seen are adorable. You’re only able to have one baby going at a time, though, which is frustrating when you want to share the game with other family members. But when you’re done raising one baby, you can raise another.

The goal of the game is to raise your baby from 15 months old to 30 months old. It is a sequel to My Baby Girl and My Baby Boy, which deal with younger babies. The game is broken down into months, and each month you are given two teaching goals and some new extra tasks and activities. As time goes on, some of the things that you teach her are walking, talking, running, climbing stairs, jumping and variations on those skills. You also get new challenges with feeding, diaper changing, bath time, outdoor play, bedtime reading and so on. She also has toys to play with. Some of the tasks can be really tricky to get just right. It gets frustrating to not make progress, since you can’t move on to the next month until you’ve taught your baby what she needs to know for the current month.

As your baby gets older, the game expects you to be paying close attention to her noises and gestures, as there are fewer and fewer clues as to what your baby needs. If you’re paying attention, this isn’t too difficult, however. You can also go shopping and buy her clothes, and take pictures of her at just about any time. As time goes on, your baby’s hair grows, she matures and she can do more on her own. There is a also pediatrician who checks in on you from time to time to make sure you’re caring for the child well enough.

Since it is a pretty authentic game, I found it fairly boring since I’ve already done all of that with my own kids. In real life, you have more personal triumphs. In the game, it’s less personal. It’s too much like real life for me to want to play it all the way through, though I did get about halfway. But then again, I’m not in the age demographic for which it is designed. It is an excellent tool to teach patience to children looking to babysit or to have their own kids one day. My kids are very much drawn to the game. My daughter is very nurturing, and my son just loves babies.

Game play can be frustrating at times because you get so focused on teaching the tasks to your baby and then the game interrupts you to do things like change a diaper or have mealtime. Of course, that’s like real life as well, since once you have a child, it’s impossible to get anything done in one sitting.

The retail price of $29.99 (for DS or Wii versions) is a bit more than I would pay, unless I had a child who was really interested in learning how to care for a baby. I’m not sure if the Wii version is exactly the same as the DS version that I tried, but it seems to me that it would be harder to be exact with diaper changing and bath time with a Wiimote than with a DS stylus.

Wired: Good variety in tasks to complete, cute babies, game progresses as you take care of your baby, you may develop a small connection with your virtual child.

Tired: Game is a bit too authentic at times, and it can be frustrating to have to do the baby-raising tasks without as many of the real life joys that usually come along with it.

At GeekDad we get offers to review many iPhone apps for parents. And, we try to highlight the best and most useful in our eyes for you the conscientious consumer. However, sometimes there are apps that make us scratch our heads and wonder, “why?”

So, I would like to present 4 iPhone apps for parents that might have been better left as ideas. (in no particular order)

iPrego

While GeekDad are all for science and the benefit of what we know. Sometimes we can take this a little too far. iPrego provides instant access to unbiased scientific summaries for thousands of chemical and physical agents that could affect the pregnancy process. (Guaranteed to stress GeekMom out so much she won’t be able to eat anything!) But really, this iPhone app could have thought a little more about the name.

Super Baby Rattle

There are several of these on the market. But, seriously would you give an iPhone to a baby that is entertained by a rattle. They will not only rattle it, but put it in their mouth, drool on it and throw it out the car window given a chance. We highlight Zenterprises version because they have also produced such world changing apps as “Sexytime Fun” and “Fart Piano”.

CryTranslator

Evidently this app can help translate the cries of your baby and let you know exactly what it needs. It claims to be accurate 96% of the time. While I have not been willing to pay the $30 to debunk the claims, I find them highly unlikely.

Annoy-a-Teen

An application that claims to play a high pitch sound only audible by teenagers that will drive them insane? Really? Parents interested in trying out a dog whistle app aimed at teens should consider the implications of tech-savvy teens finding a way to get back at them.

Image: Oxford University Press

I am always looking for interesting nonfiction books for my kids to read. They seem to enjoy nonfiction as much as they enjoy fiction, but a lot of informative books aren’t aimed at younger kids. They have too much small text, or are too long or too dry. Some are hopelessly out of date. Through many trips to our local library, though, I have noticed more nonfiction books emerging that are very well illustrated, short, accurate and hold my kids’ interest. Book publishers and authors seem to be finally getting the idea that kids aren’t just small versions of adults. They learn more when they are engaged and interested. Try to teach a kid a difficult concept, and watch for their eyes to glaze over. That’s your signal to take a step back, and teach it from another direction, or through a different method. Publishers are learning this lesson as well.

One new set of books teaches about (mostly) wild animals in an informative and engaging way: Wild Reads. I was sent a few books to review, and the minute I opened the envelope, my kids, aged 8 and 5, devoured them. The recommended age range for the books is 4-8, which sounds about right to me. They are filled with colorful, very detailed drawings to interest the non-readers, and have large print for young readers. The books don’t talk down to the kids, however. There are plenty of big words to learn, but each book comes with a handy glossary in the back.

There seem to be 14 books in the series: Bees, Big Cats, Crocodiles, Dinosaurs, Dogs, Elephants, Frogs and Toads, Horses, Rats, Sharks, Snakes, Spiders, Whales and Wolves. I received the books on bees, big cats, dinosaurs and dogs. Each one tackles the subject a little bit differently. For example, the book on bees covered things like how a city of bees works, the kids of bees, parts of a bee and what bees do. The book on dinosaurs covered the history of dinosaurs, their babies, herbivores and carnivores, dinosaur bones and modern day birds.

The last page in each book lists a website or two to get more information on the animal highlighted in the book. It also lists places to visit to see the animal. Unfortunately for those of us in the states, most of these places are in the UK.

Each book is about 30 pages long and costs $3.95.

Wired: These books help make nonfiction more accessible to children and show that nonfiction can be just as fun and interesting as fiction. Great price and value.

Tired: They only have 14 books available! Hopefully they’ll come out with more in the future.