Nick Stepka knew what gift would make his daughter's 3rd birthday a hit. It wasn't a toy or a doll.

He gave her a tablet.

It wasn't a new iPad or a hand-me-down Samsung, though. Instead, it was one specifically designed for kids. It even came with a purple protective casing and loaded with kids' apps and games.

"Her eyes lit up when she opened it," said Stepka, 34, a father of three. "Everything else got put to the side."

Making Tough Tablets

For more and more people, traditional children's toys and games aren't enough. Compared to two years ago, almost twice as many kids ages 8 and under now own mobile devices.

Children are also spending more time on these devices: 15 minutes a day on average last year, up from five minutes in 2011. Meanwhile, kids' use of televisions, video games and computers has gone down.

That's the reason Jim Mitchell started Fuhu. The company makes tablets designed for kids ages 3 to 14.

"We were tired of giving our kids the iPad," he said. "They wanted to play with all the games on the iPad." It would "come back all smudged, or if they dropped it," it would break.

Fuhu makes Nabi tablets, which sell for between $100 and $300. The company had $200 million in sales last year.

Fuhu's tablets are designed to make them hard for kids to damage.

"Have Fun With It"

Kids can make the machines their own with stickers from film and TV characters. They also get other extras, like alphabet letters that attach to the tablet. They can use the tablets to watch TV shows and movies, play games and explore the Web. Their parents get to decide which games they'll play and which shows they'll watch.

Companies such as LeapFrog, Toys R Us and Samsung also sell devices for kids.

Hollywood has also noticed the trend. Walt Disney, DreamWorks Animation and Nickelodeon are making tablet and mobile apps.

Educational cable channel BabyFirstTV has produced 27 apps aimed at young children. Sharon Rechter helped start the channel. She said she expects that more people are going to want such apps and demand will grow.

"Parents are constantly looking for good educational content," she said. "Kids' apps and devices are definitely here to stay, and they're going to grow. Kids can learn from using a tablet, and they have fun with it."

BabyFirst has been working with Fuhu. Its new series "Albert & Junior" was designed especially for Fuhu's tablets.

Teaching How To Draw

Fuhu's next device, the DreamTab, was built in partnership with film company DreamWorks Animation. It will be released this month.

The DreamTab includes videos and games based on DreamWorks releases. Among these releases are several movies that are very popular with kids. These include "Shrek," "Kung Fu Panda" and "Madagascar."

DreamTab isn't just about fun, though: It's also about learning. For example, it can teach kids how to draw and animate their favorite characters, and how to put together books or videos.

A DreamWorks character tells kids when it's time to take a break from the screen.

It's nice to "have a penguin tell the kid it's time to go outside," said Jim Mainard of DreamWorks Animation. That's better, he said, than the parent having to "take the tablet away."

Stepka doesn't plan to switch to the new DreamTab: He already owns six Nabi devices. Although his children certainly use them to have fun, he said, the most important thing to him is that they learn.

"We don't want the tablets to raise our kids for us," he said. "But I don't want" them to miss out on "using the technology to educate themselves."]]>