PICTUREBOOK
The rudimentary design of Picturebook won’t have you drooling – its template is very basic – but this iPad & iPhone app is just perfect for young, hopeful storytellers. The 4.25-year old Mouse, who cannot yet spell much beyond cat/mom/dad & her own name, is using the Picturebook app to write her own stories. For reals. Unlike her sister, Mouse doesn’t have the educational stamina for book work or for flash cards, but she’ll spend a solid half an hour with Picturebook thinking up a modest plot and a few sentences, then sounding out the words to make those thoughts appear on the screen.
She also gets to add some clip art-esque images to “illustrate” her story and Viola!: a self-created digital picture book that she can flip through just like the fancy ones sold in the app store and one that she can share with friends and family.
The Picturebook app is brilliant, especially on iPad…and it’s free! Some stock photos come complimentary, other packs – school/farm/Cinderella/ninjas (yes, ninjas) – are available as in-app purchases for $1.99 each.
*Hat tip to Cool Mom Tech for initially spreading the love on this one.