Bedtime story apps for little readers
- %27Good Night%27 app teaches kids to count with animals
- %27The Hippo%27 tells the story of a girl%27s adventures with animal friends
- Learn word association with %27The Kissing Hand%27
Many bedtime routines with little kids involve snuggling up and enjoying a good book. These days, scores of families are reading those good books on their iPads, iPhones and smartphones via apps. Book apps encourage kids to participate in the adventures by tapping and swiping to move the story along. Here are some charming book apps that are perfect for bedtime reading.
Nighty Night, Little Sheep! HD
From Shape Minds and Moving Images GmbH, best for ages 2-5, $2.99, iPad (iPhone and iPod Touch version costs $.99)
Rating: 4 stars (out of 4)
This simple but elegant bedtime app for toddlers shows a farm at nighttime where the animals are still awake. With your kids' help, each animal will settle down and fall asleep. Toddlers find each animal by touching a window with a glowing light. They then tap the animal to hear its sound and help it to settle down by finding and then turning off the light switch. The app comes with seven animals (dog, pig, sheep, duck, cow, fish and chicken). Additional animals can be purchased for $.99 for a set of three. The animations are darling and the interactions cleverly change when your child touches an animal more than once. By helping the animals wind down and go to sleep, kids also learn that settling in is part of the bedtime ritual.
Good Night
From B. & J. Mobmann, best for ages 2-5, $.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
Rating: 3.5 stars
Preschoolers join baby bear Paul as he scooters around his forest neighborhood to say goodnight to all of his animal friends. What makes this app so much fun is that your child gets to help Paul find all the hidden animals. Teaching your child how to count from one to ten, the little bear starts by finding one little mouse hiding under a leaf, and eventually finishes with discovering 10 owlets nesting in a tree. Accompanied by gentle music, the story ends with a tired baby bear falling into his mother's arms to go to sleep. Families get both a sweet bedtime story and an app that teaches children how to count.
Leah & The Owl
From Playtend Apps LLP, best for ages 2-5, $1.99, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
Rating: 4 stars
Read by a little girl, this book app tells the story of toddler Leah who loves to read but doesn't like to take a bath at bedtime. As kids follow her through her bedtime routine, they participate by tapping on the gold stars that appear on each page. One star reveals a missing Teddy Bear under the bed. When Leah is finally tucked into bed with the lights out, something wonderful happens. A magical owl arrives to fly her through the night to frolic with the dolphins in the ocean, alligators in a swamp, penguins on a glacier and lions on the savanna. When Leah starts to fall asleep curled up next to the lion cubs, her friend the owl flies her back to her own bed. This is a perfect story to read to calm little ones before bed.
The Hippo, the Rhino, the Elephant and Me
From Ink Robin, Inc, best for ages 3-6, $3.99, iPad
Rating: 4 stars
An energetic little girl stars in this story about the adventures she has with her three best friends — a hippopotamus, a rhinoceros and an elephant. The four friends play hide-and-seek, draw pictures, form a band, and more. Your child joins the fun as he or she helps to find the hiding animals, swipes a finger across the screen to uncover drawings (even some drawn on top of the animals!) and plucks the instruments to make music. After all the fun, the little girl retires to bed where an astute observer will discover three stuffed animals — the hippo, the rhino and the elephant. Told completely in rhyme, this delightful story is perfect before slumber time.
The Kissing Hand
From Oceanhouse Media, best for ages 3-8, Free, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android and Nook.
Rating: 4 stars
Little Chester Raccoon doesn't want to go to school because it means separating from his mother. To give Chester the courage to try something new, his mother shares a family secret. By placing a special kiss on the palm of the little raccoon's hand, his mother explains that he now carries her kiss with him always. By touching his "kissing hand" to his face whenever he is scared, Chester will know that his mother's love is with him always. Since many children find going to sleep to be scary, this loving tradition may be just what they need to face their fear of the dark.
When kids tap the lovely illustrations, they see word associations. And while there is no interactivity, the rich soundtrack and warmly-told story shine through to create a special story of love. Plus, in the iOS version, family members, or even children themselves, can record reading the story and opt to listen to their own narration.
Developer Oceanhouse Media is offering this app for free for a limited time in tribute to the children, parents and educators of Newtown, Conn. It is their hope that this powerful story about the love between a mother and her child can help others to heal. Download this one — it is special.
Jinny Gudmundsen is the author of the new book: iPad Apps for Kids, part of the For Dummies series. Contact her at techcomments@usatoday.com. Follow her @JinnyGudmundsen.