I don’t let kuttyma (who is almost 7 and going on 12) get much screen time. It is a very tough rule to maintain in today’s world where everything is screen-based. But I find it easier to enforce the no screen rule than filter out the good parts that she needs to round-off her education from the junk that floats around online these days.

I recently got the opportunity to test the CG Slate along with kuttyma and found it a great way to keep her education digital and relevant while restricting the information she has access to.

The CG Slate is an entertainment cum educational tablet from ConveGenius  – a company that aims in making digital education affordable, fun and rewarding. The CG Slate is powered by Lenovo and comes with a pre-loaded SD card. They have two versions one targeted at kids in classes 3 – 5 and another targeted at kids in lower grades (K-2).

I loved their packaging. The box containing the CG Slate was very attractively designed and fun. It definitely got me excited while unboxing. In addition to the tablet and its accessories, the kit also included goodies like a fridge magnet, coasters, a keychain, stickers, name tags, a figurine and a bookmark. It was a nice and unexpected bonus.

I had picked the CG Slate targeted for older kids for kuttyma and setting it up was a breeze. You do need Wi-fi connection to get started but overall the setup went on much easier than I expected (yes yes! Technology and me are not the best of  friends in general). It took me less than 5 minutes to get working on it. Kuttyma started exploring it immediately and she proved to be a whiz. She needed no instructions or manuals to tell her what to do. Kids are naturally inclined to technology and the CG Slate has been designed keeping kids in mind every step of the way. Kuttyma did declare the CG Slate a WINNER (which is big praise coming from my daughter).

Kuttyma likes reviewing products more than I do and she was more than happy to make a video. Check out her favorite part of the CG Slate experience below.

The CG Slate includes material based on NCERT syllabus keeping in line with what kids learn in school and need to be learning when away from school. It includes worksheets, stories, videos, quizzes and such making it like a book, educational videos on the internet, a personal tutor, online games, and tests all rolled in one.

I definitely like the fact that it is a kids tablet and it has made educational topics more game and fun based. The videos on the CG Slate fascinate kuttyma. She likes to view them often. The videos stick to the subject on hand and are quite informative. Some of them are rather long and kuttyma tends to get a bit impatient in the middle of them. Personally, I find the accent of the characters in the videos rather irritating. That is definitely one thing I would change.

I also like how a parent (or teacher) could set up the CG Slate for multiple kids to use and how each kid has their own profile and password. This would work wonderfully well with families that have multiple kids and in schools/camps.

The topics the CG Slate cover is quite comprehensive and age-appropriate. From science to math to English grammar the tablet covers it all. I would have liked to see language as an option in it too. Unfortunately most of the digital learning for kids available in the market these days seem to skip regional languages.

Another feature I would like to have seen in the CG Slate is a timer. Educational or not, screen-time is screen-time and an automatic lock combined with an alarm warning that can be pre-set by parents/teachers would be immensely useful to restrict usage. Like all gadgets, the CG Slate does get addictive and kuttyma was constantly on it the first couple of days.

In all, the CG Slate is an economical and educational tablet for kids to explore and learn without the disturbances of advertisements and other not-so-kid-friendly features. It is sleek and easy to carry. It would make a great companion while traveling – right when the kids get bored and cranky.

CG Slate (both versions) is currently available via Flipkart. Right now they have early bird discounts for customers (which is quite substantial). Pick one up and I am sure you would find it useful.

I received a CG Slate for purposes of this review. All opinions are mine and kuttyma’s.