When I put my son down in the living room beside his big bin of colourful, educational and fun toys, the idea is that he dives right in and has a great time. But does he? No. He makes a bee-line for the electrical socket. Or he crawls over to the video game consoles and tries to pull them off the shelf. Or he sees my iPhone on the couch, pulls himself up, and uses it as a teething toy. He once got enough drool in my iPhone to disable it for more than 12 hours. It seems that no matter how great his toys are, he will always prefer electronics—or electrocuting himself.

My daughters were the same with their love of non-toys, although they weren’t as into electronics as my son. My eldest daughter’s favorite toy for the longest time was a (clean) yellow and black fly swatter. She took that thing everywhere. My second daughter’s favorite toy was a coat hanger. She pretended it was a rocket ship and flew it all around the house for hours. Kids are strange little beings.

I was perusing Instagram the other day and saw in one of the photos an iPhone encased in some colourful round thing with handles. I did a little research and found what I was looking for: Fisher Price’s Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case. The iPhone inserts easily into the back of the Apptivity Case (which opens with a coin) and can be put in upside down to disable the home button. Fisher Price even has a bunch of free apps.

My four-year-old often watches Netflix movies on my iPhone and I’m thinking she would also benefit from the Apptivity Case. It would protect the phone when it’s accidentally dropped from her top bunk and would be easier to pick up from the van floor when she inevitably drops it while she’s playing games during our daily commute.

Does your child accept that toys are for kids, or does he or she prefer electronics? Have you found any ways to make electronics kid-friendly?

Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Apptivity Case, $20, available from toysrus.ca.

Jen Wilson is a married mother of three super-awesome children—two girls and a boy—who range in age from 0-10. She enjoys photography, organizing, reading, TV, and sarcasm. She drinks her coffee black and dreams of one day owning a dishwasher. You can also find her on her blog, Hey Mrs. Wilson, where she has been writing about life in Saskatchewan since 2004.