DreamGear Elmo Case for original iPad

Like the company’s Elmo Plush Portfolio for iPad ( ), DreamGear’s $25 Elmo Case for iPad is a fun addition to your original iPad if you have young kids in the house.

The Elmo Case is a silicone skin—made from non-toxic, food-grade silicone—that fits the iPad very snugly. It completely covers the back of the iPad (with the smiling visage of Elmo in the middle) and wraps slightly around the front, providing a protective lip that lets you, say, place the iPad on its face without it touching the surface it’s on. As the company describes it on its site, the case protects the iPad from “nicks, scratches, and short falls”—a fair way of talking about these types of cases.

There are cutouts on the top for the headphone jack, microphone, and Sleep/Wake button; on the side for the volume buttons and orientation-lock/mute switch; and on the bottom for the dock-connector port and speakers. I found most of the cutouts to be sufficiently large, with the exception of two. The headphone jack opening isn’t quite wide enough to handle some headphones with larger plugs; and the somewhat narrow dock-connector port opening sometimes made it hard for me to insert a dock cable without pinching the silicone in between.

The Elmo Case adds almost no bulk or weight to the iPad, which makes it nice for people who like the size and shape of the iPad as is. The silicone is generally comfortable to hold, but can be a little slippery (making it hard, for example, to prop it up against a surface if you like to read on the iPad without holding it).

Like its plush counterpart, the Elmo Case is an officially licensed Sesame Street accessory.

(DreamGear also sells a Cookie Monster version of the iPad case for the same price.)