How Technology is Changing Storytime

I love reading books and I’m glad little man loves reading too. It might sound funny, but the first thing we bought as soon as we found out I was pregnant were baby books, picture books and pop-up books with sounds. Hubby came home from work one day with a big pile of books, I barely had a bump at the time.

Although little man has lots of toys in different colours and shapes, we make sure he spends some time reading books at home and we always read him a bedtime story, no matter how tired we are. I must say I love our bedtime routine, little man goes to his bookshelf and picks a book, we get cosy under his duvet and I read a story for him. Reading a bedtime story is a lovely way to bond and wind down after a busy day, we both look forward to it every night.

During my childhood, I only had standard books, they were not as fancy as little man’s books. I don’t remember having any books with sounds or any gadgets at storytime. I simply had pages of story with pictures and I would spend ages reading books. I would enter an imaginary world in each story, one day I would see myself as a princess in a castle, the next day I was playing with wild animals in the jungle.

However it is a different story nowadays, technology is changing storytime massively, from fancy books to interactive story buddy, such as Bigsby and Cooper, that reply as you read a story for them. With the introduction of tablets and tag readers, such as Leapfrog Tag Junior, pre-schoolers can immerse themselves in a whole new world of electronic learning.

Little man loves reading stories on his Kurio, we took it with us to Brazil last year and he had a great time reading stories with his cousins. It is amazing how much information one single tablet can hold, they had a library’s worth of books to choose from and also different games to play.  Storytime has become much more interactive due to apps and gadgets.

I was given a copy of a new animated book app of The Frog Prince to see how technology is changing storytime. The Frog Prince uses animation to bring the story alive, making it fun and enjoyable for children. Little man already uses a few educational apps, there is one that he uses to practice counting, another one to put letters together and form words. The other day he woke up, quickly run to my bedroom and said “I can spell ear, mummy, E-A-R is ear”, I was puzzled and asked him where he learnt it from, he said “Alphablocks can spell ear”.

I believe there will always be space for paper books, but each day apps and electronic resources play a bigger part in children’s learning. I have a passion for learning, I should start my teacher training soon to become a teacher like my mother, and I am open for new tools to introduce reading to children and improve their literacy. I am happy for little man to use apps and gadgets to learn new skills and I am glad technology can change storytime in a positive way, making it more interactive and more enjoyable for little ones and parents.