Over the weekend The Sunday Times continued their list of the world’s best apps for 2013 with a selection of apps for children – and we were thrilled to see that four Nosy Crow apps made the list! Cinderella, Pip and Posy: Fun and Games, Rounds: Franklin Frog, and Animal SnApp: Farm were all featured in the list of 25 must-have apps for children. The full list is behind a paywall – here are are a couple of excerpts.
From the review for Cinderella:
“Nosy Crow is a London-based independent that publishes some of the best-quality digital children’s books available. Take its retelling of Cinderella: the original illustrations and animation are first rate, and kids can read it or listen as it’s spoken by other children.”
Here’s their mention for Pip and Posy: Fun and Games:
“[A] lovingly-crafted collection of interactive activities. Your children will be matching pairs, colouring in scenes from the books, completing jigsaws and pulling faces at the front-facing camera.”
“Set on the farmyard, it gets children to match the top and bottom halves of six animals before reading a rhyming story for each. The stories are accompanied by animation, music and text-highlighting to help young readers, too.”
Many thanks to Stuart Dredge and Matt Bingham for their very thoughtful reviews – and if you’re trying one of our apps for the first time, we hope you enjoy!
Today’s your final chance to get Rounds: Parker Penguin, our new life science storybook app, for less than half price in our Penguin Awareness Day promotion! The app will be just $1.99 (£1.49) until the end of today (if you’re in the US, check which timezone the App Store is set to), before rising to its full (and very reasonable!) price of $4.99 (£2.99).
Here’s some of the coverage Parker Penguin has received so far:
“Children with an interest in the world around them (and its wildlife) will love this delightful book-app from Nosy Crow. It follows a penguin called Parker through its life from birth to parenthood, with a mixture of storytelling and interactivity.” The Guardian
“Presented with rich artwork full of round shapes and accompanied by music that varies when you touch the penguin, this is an intriguing way for kids to learn science.”
— One of 10 top iPad apps for kids in 2012 USA Today
“The graphics are first rate and I defy anyone not to feel a warm, seasonal glow as the chick hatches and stumbles about in the snow. Sniff.” The Literary Platform
“This innovative app stretches the definition of e-book, with a dash of Nosy Crow irreverence.” Mashable
“The latest pre-school learning app from Nosy Crow, this adventure follows Parker Penguin as he slides across the snow, dives into the water, finds a mate, guards an egg and raises a chick. When you get to the end, the circle of life continues with Parker’s next of kin.” NBC News
You can find Rounds: Parker Penguin on the App Store here. We’ve also made a free PDF penguin fact sheet, which you can download and share here.
“Old MacDonald gets a British twist (boots are called “a Welly”, for example), right from Nosy Crow (see also Cinderella) in this make-your-own nursery rhyme. The app is a good choice for the young child … everyone will like the personable animals. This is an excellent language experience.”
The app website AppPicker has also published an interview with Nosy Crow on the making of the app, which you can read here.
And you can find Animal SnApp on the App Store for $4.99 (£2.99) here – we’d love to hear what you think of it!
I have to admit that e-books, digital books, story apps, whatever you want to call non-paper books had never appealed to me until recently. Having self-published two books myself; I was adamant that I was all about paper books… from recycled sources, of course!
However, I also believe in changing with the times and moving forward.
Fortunately, I came across Nosy Crow on Twitter and saw that they had won awards for their work; their reviews were good, so I thought it was about time I bought my first non-paper story, and I’m glad to say that I was impressed… very impressed!
My first purchase was Nosy Crow’s Cinderella Story app. I was immediately struck by all the different options: 1. Read and Play, 2. Read to me, 3. Read by myself… and the music was excellent too!
I don’t have children but I work with children as a speech and language therapist. I was keen to somehow incorporate this app in to some of my sessions, as a sort of treat. As it was a treat, I decided to use the Read and Play option. The voice telling the story is perfect; it really suits the fresh and fun, simple, yet detailed representation of Cinderella. As the story started, and inspired by the excellent illustrations in each well-presented scene, I suddenly thought, “Hang on, we can work on some good synonyms here!”.
Talking with my student (I work on a one-to-one basis) about the various characters, I was able to teach synonyms. Here are some examples:
There was also opportunity to consider synonyms for verbs e.g. – Cinderella “cried/wept” when she could not go to the ball. – The chubby stepsister asked Cinderella to”fetch/get” her clothes/accessories for the ball. – Cinderella had to “rush/hurry” home to get back before midnight.
You may be thinking that it is possible and effective to teach new words through everyday conversation, and yes of course it is and can be, for most children. But the beauty of using this app and any other colourful medium is that children benefit from seeing words come to life, through colour, actions and detail. Strong visual representations of any word particularly if they are in the context of a meaningful, eventful story, will assist children in later recalling new words that have been introduced to them. And, most importantly, using a colourful teaching aid will engage them. When children are learning and absorbing information, it has to be fun! Naturally, if something is fun, it is more interesting and hence easier to recall.
Education aside, you too can use this app at home to enhance your child’s vocabulary. For example, if your child is beginning to write stories, this is a great, subtle way to introduce your child to more descriptive words, and the bonus is that you have a great story to refer to for reference – “Remember the Cinderella story? Do you think your character is mean like Cinderella’s stepsisters or kind like the fairy godmother?”
In moving with forward with current trends, it is all about finding a balance of using traditional methods with newer ways of learning. So next time you read a story, whether it’s a regular book or story app, make the most of it: just think of all the different things you can teach and show your child, and expand on their ever-increasing knowledge.
Written by Priya Desai
Speech and Language Therapist/Children’s Author/Independent Publisher
www.priyadesai.co.uk
