Summer if finally here and I can say my family is enjoying every minute of it. Even though it is a time for fun and relaxation I feel it is just as important to still get your kids interested in reading since it is fundamental in all learning. Silver Dolphin Books has several book apps and hard cover books that are perfect for little hands to enjoy all summer long! Here are some tips and tricks to help get your kids into reading.
Taking turns to read aloud with your child; offering incentives such as staying up past bedtime ? providing that time is spent reading; and playing word games in the car are some great ideas! Another idea is the importance that book series can play ? for many new readers, finding books that pique their interest can be the beginning of a lifelong love of reading!!
Silver Dolphin Books has a few fun ideas for you with the launch of six new interactive apps based on their popular Totally Monster and Pretend & Play book series, created in partnership with Skyreader Media Inc. The new immersive and interactive e-books for the Apple? iPad?, for ages 5 and under, provide next generation storytelling featuring bright bold colors, fun animations, and great audio!
Check out these screen shots of my daughter playing with this app. The illustrations are full screen and so colorful! My toddler loves having this app read to her!
Far from frightening, the adorable monsters of the Totally Monster app series introduce young readers to a variety of everyday situations, utilizing the bold and imaginative illustrations of former Disney animator Sue DiCicco.
- In Totally Monster: Best Friends, the two little monsters reinforce the message of what it means to be, and have, a best friend and how best friends stick together through anything. Children will learn how great it is to have a best friend to the end through the monsters? high jinx and fun adventures.
- In Totally Monster: Feelings, children learn that monsters can be blue and have good and bad days, just like us. Young children can learn to identify and express their feelings and emotions along with the monsters in this imaginative book.
- And in Totally Monster: Manners, children learn that it’s important for everyone, even monsters, to have good manners. Children will enjoy the antics of the monsters as they learn how to be polite, help out, and make friends, and how much more fun it can be when we all play together.
After each page is read to them my girls love clicking on each of the animals to see what cute little thing they do like move a little or make an animal noise. The colors are so bright and vivid it would keep any child’s attention! These are definitely high quality book apps that kids will want to play over and over again!
- Pretend and Play: Toolbox, where youngsters help to build a new birdhouse for Birdy. By selecting the correct tools?a saw, hammer, screwdriver, or pliers?to complete the on-screen images, app users learn the different jobs that each tool performs as well as how each job is important to completing the project. The end result, a stunning 3-D birdhouse, is reward for a job well done in addition to the personal satisfaction of completing the project!
- Pretend and Play: Firefighter, a captivating introduction to the heroic tasks that firefighters perform. Children assist the app’s firefighter in saving the day by choosing the correct element for putting out a kitchen fire, saving pets from a burning home, and removing a fallen tree. The app imparts elementary fire safety in addition to an understanding of some of the many elements used by real-life firefighters. Upon completion of the challenge, children are rewarded with the creation of their own 3-D fire truck.
- Pretend and Play: On the Farm, where children are transported to Farmer Jack’s farm for a tour that includes a variety of adorable farm animals. From the smallest field mouse hiding in the barn’s hayloft to the tall brown horse peeking over his stall door, every animal has something to say. Children learn about animals as they select the correct animal to complete the image and also engage in small counting games’such as how many butterflies can they see among the cows?helping to build numeracy skills. A 3-D barn is revealed at the end of the adventure.
THE HARD BACK BOOK SERIES!
Each of the six titles listed above are available as hard-back books too!
The Totally Monster book series features fun, feel-good flaps and surprises on each page. The picture above is of the inside of Totally Monster: Feelings featuring the horribly adorable illustrations! The HUGE flaps are easy for my toddler to flip open all by herself and the beautiful color illustrations are adorable!
And in the Pretend and Play series, each book comes with four fun shaped puzzle pieces to play with and fit into the scene. Each title features a fun pop-up at the end and with a built-in handle this kit is handy for grab-and-go fun wherever your adventures take you this summer! This farm one is my toddler’s current favorite book since she loves making all the animal noises and then fitting them in the right spots.
As a mom and a librarian with quite an extensive collection of books at home I can tell you Silver Dolphin books are some of the best out there as they are always high quality and the stories always grasp my daughters’ attentions. This is my first time using their book apps and I literally could not be happier with them as they are engaging and tell cute stories while grasping their attentions as well. So remember that even though it is summer make sure and get some reading in with your kids every single day!
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