the story above was made using one of our family’s new favorite apps:Â infiniscroll.
i’ve seen a lot of kids’ apps recently and this one is unique and offers some fun opportunities for collaborative storytelling. basically, you pick five pictures that are stacked up into sort of a “totem pole” then you can record a segment of story for each picture and save the results as a video. (there are a few other ways to interact with these story elements, just follow the links above to see it more thoroughly explained.) it’s a relatively new app and they’re still adding a few features that will make it even better (i got a quick reply from them when i wrote in with some requests/suggestions for improvement), but we’re already enjoying it as a bedtime story option and i’ve even used it in my storytime at work.
another really different app that we’ve recently enjoyed is called family play and it’s put out by sesame street (here’s a great article about how this app came about). here’s the thing about this app–the gameplay happens in real life, not on the mobile device. the app’s role is to ask you a few questions (where you are, how many kids are playing, whether you have access to some simple materials) and then it comes up with a game suggestion for you to play with your kid(s) and also briefly explains the educational benefits of the game. and the games really are simple and fun, not all “educational-y.” you can get the “at home” version which includes locations like the kitchen, bathroom, living room or you can purchase the add-on locations of “away from home” or “traveling” which i think includes things like restaurants or “in the car” or “on a plane.” i’m guessing those will be added to our collection on our next trip. what’s not to love about an app that actually encourages face-to-face interacting and fun (with sneaky learning)?
p.s. winners of the giveaway will be announced tomorrow!
