There is no denying that computers have definitely become an established part of our society, and children will continue to be surrounded by computer technology. It is no surprise then, that manufacturers and toy developers have identified this changing culture and designed miniature toy computers for children of all ages to become familiar with the idea of using their own computer. The purpose of these toy computers varies depending upon the age of the child.

Of course, most children love copying their parents and other adults they seem around them. This is often noticeable if children have access to toy telephones and steering wheels. They will usually chatter away quite happily on toy phones, and drive parents round the bed with toy steering wheels, usually with built in horns. Because many children will notice their parents using a computer, children will develop a natural curiosity about these shiny, beeping objects, and want to either grab your mouse and see what can be done with it, hammer away on your keyboard, or punch your laptop's screen to watch the pretty ripples of colour appear, until, that is, the thing breaks.

Toy computers that small children can play with therefore provide them with a safe alternative, so that they can pretend to be mummy or daddy working away on a computer, but without putting your own system in any danger. This is not to mention the dangers to children of cables, wires, temperatures, and the fact that these machines use a high level of electricity. For all sorts of reasons, keeping young children well away from the home computer is a very good idea. Insurance firms usually tend to agree.

However, as well as being toys for the child to imagine as the real think, manufacturers have now develop a large range of these toy computers that really are basic, simple computers themselves. The level of complexity ranges from having big chunky coloured buttons that say the name of the colour when you press them, displaying the word on the screen, to fully fledged interactive machines that allow children to order words and ideas, respond to questions and take part in a wide variety of games, such as matching or connection games, designed to consolidate the understanding of topics and ideas they may be just about getting to grips with.

As children become older, and start to enter school age and in particular junior age, the level of complexity of these toy computers starts to move forwards so far that it is hard to say when these toy computers stop being toys and start to be classified as proper computers. They rarely have the ability for extra programs to be installed, and won't have internet access, but they will usually have a wide number of education games and knowledge based tests, quizzes and exercises built in, and allow the child to write using simple word processor software, save files, and print them out.

Because of this dynamic scale of toy computer to fledgling computer to fully functional computer, children become very quickly accustomed to using these, and moving on to proper computers becomes a logical and easy step. Much easier, in fact, than the step that had to be taken by the parents in many cases!