App Story Time

Submitted by Susie Menk, Youth Librarian, Manitowoc Public Library

Ever wish you could get parents more involved when their kids are on screens?  I recently did an “app” story time for our toddler times.  Last spring I took a class on Media Mentorship with Claudia Haines.  It was a wonderful class and I gained a lot of insight as to how to help adults use digital media wisely.  One idea that Claudia shared with us was an app story time.  She called it “App-ily Ever After.”  I used this as the basis for my story time and it went super well!  Parents and caregivers were excited to get recommendations about apps and to learn the difference between book apps, game apps and creative apps. 

I put together a handout that highlighted the apps I used during story time, as well as putting apps into the various categories of books, games and creative apps. Additionally, I added a section of recommended app developers and places to get good app reviews.  I also put out the RIF Early Literacy calendar and reminded the adults that face to face time is still the best for little ones.

Sandra Boynton is always a favorite and the story time starts with her Blue Hat, Green Hat book app.  The kids just love how the characters move and the turkey is always getting things backwards...OOPS!

We followed this up with Peekaboo Barn, an app where an animal sound is heard and then you touch the barn door to reveal the animal along with the written name of the animal.  The kids had a great time guessing what animal was behind the door!

A Frog Thing was another awesome book app.  The story by Eric Drachman follows a frog who wants to fly, but his parents tell him that flying is not “a frog thing!”  It’s a wonderful story with lots of sound effects like splashing water and different voices for the characters.  As a bonus to this app, you can record yourself or someone else reading the story. 

We then used the app Felt Board to do the song “Five Green and Speckled Frogs.”  Felt Board allows you to create a picture or words or background for any kind of flannel story or song.  There are all sorts of options for backgrounds, people, accessories, colors, shapes and letters.  I was able to prepare the frogs and log at the pond and then during the song, I moved the frogs so they looked like they were jumping into the water!  So much fun!

The last app was by far everyone’s favorite.  It’s called Don’t Let the Pigeon Run this App! by Mo Willems.  This app allows kids to be a part of the story line.  The bus driver comes on screen and asks questions that the kids can answer by talking into the app.  The app records their answers and then those answers become part of the story line.  It was a total blast!  The kids wanted to do it again and again.  There is also a section where Mo Willems walks through how to draw the pigeon.  Lots of fun!

At the end, I put out several iPads that had the apps I used loaded onto them and allowed the kids and their adults time to play with them.  There were questions by the adults that I was able to answer one-on-one at this time.  The adults were thrilled with the information and the kids loved the apps. 

All in all a wonderful opportunity to share early literacy tips. 

Claudia Haines can be reached at the Homer Public Library or through her website https://nevershushed.com/ .