Tuesday, May 22, 2012

iPad at Story Time

I've had quite a few people ask me about how I use my iPad during story times. It started out as a fun way to bring my iPad to work and actually use it for something besides online shopping and playing games (what it gets used for in my off hours).

Two of my favorite iPad apps for Story Time are both by Software Smoothie - iBaby Buttons and Felt Board.


Felt Board by Software Smoothie
Felt Board  ($1.99) is a really neat app that mimics the traditional felt board that story time attendees have come to know and love. The app provides you with numerous cut outs of animals, people, clothing items and backgrounds to assemble whatever your imagine can create! One of the cons of this app is that you can only have one felt board at a time, making it hard to pre-plan anything. Check Youtube for some neat videos of users demonstrating this one.

iBaby Buttons by Software Smoothie
iBaby Buttons ($1.99) is a little less structured. This app is a lot of fun if you're comfortable allowing the children to touch the iPad themselves. Sort of a free form activity, the app puts colorful orbs whereever the screen is touched. Touch the spot again and an image appears with a corresponding sound - for example, a baby with laughter. One more tap causes the bubble to pop. I find that this is a good one to fall back on if the babies just aren't into the ideas of stories



Fun Felt by Qurios
A third app that I really enjoy is Fun Felt ($.99). This is similar to Felt Board but doesn't come with any premade backgrounds or outfits. I enjoy it because, in that sense, it acts more like a traditional felt board. I've used it with great success when I want to do my letter of the day activity. I hide the letter behind different shapes or the same shape in different colors and have the children identify which it is hiding behind.




I'll continue to search for useful story time apps and let everyone know as I stumble up on them. Let me know if you find any you love, too!


***This is not a paid endorsement.

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