Summer Fun With Dolphin Books & Apps - Review & #Giveaway

Yeah!  Summer is just around the corner and its time to learn some tips and tricks to help get your kids into reading!

Taking turns to read aloud with your child; offering incentives such as staying up past bedtime – providing that time is spent reading; and playing word games in the car are some great ideas!  Another idea is the importance that book series can play – for many new readers, finding books that pique their interest can be the beginning of a lifelong love of reading!!

Silver Dolphin Books has a few fun ideas for you with the launch of six new interactive apps based on their popular Totally Monster and Pretend & Play book series, created in partnership with Skyreader Media Inc.  The new immersive and interactive e-books for the Apple® iPad®, for ages 5 and under, provide next generation storytelling featuring bright bold colors, fun animations, and great audio!

 

THE APP SERIES!

Far from frightening, the adorable monsters of the Totally Monster app series introduce young readers to a variety of everyday situations, utilizing the bold and imaginative illustrations of former Disney animator Sue DiCicco. 

In Totally Monster: Best Friends, the two little monsters reinforce the message of what it means to be, and have, a best friend and how best friends stick together through anything. Children will learn how great it is to have a best friend to the end through the monsters’ high jinx and fun adventures.

In Totally Monster: Feelings, children learn that monsters can be blue and have good and bad days, just like us. Young children can learn to identify and express their feelings and emotions along with the monsters in this imaginative book.

And in Totally Monster: Manners, children learn that it’s important for everyone, even monsters, to have good manners. Children will enjoy the antics of the monsters as they learn how to be polite, help out, and make friends, and how much more fun it can be when we all play together.

The Pretend and Play series includes:

Pretend and Play: Toolbox, where youngsters help to build a new birdhouse for Birdy. By selecting the correct tools—a saw, hammer, screwdriver, or pliers—to complete the on-screen images, app users learn the different jobs that each tool performs as well as how each job is important to completing the project. The end result, a stunning 3-D birdhouse, is reward for a job well done in addition to the personal satisfaction of completing the project!

Pretend and Play: Firefighter, a captivating introduction to the heroic tasks that firefighters perform.  Children assist the app’s firefighter in saving the day by choosing the correct element for putting out a kitchen fire, saving pets from a burning home, and removing a fallen tree. The app imparts elementary fire safety in addition to an understanding of some of the many elements used by real-life firefighters. Upon completion of the challenge, children are rewarded with the creation of their own 3-D fire truck.

Pretend and Play: On the Farm, where children are transported to Farmer Jack’s farm for a tour that includes a variety of adorable farm animals. From the smallest field mouse hiding in the barn’s hayloft to the tall brown horse peeking over his stall door, every animal has something to say. Children learn about animals as they select the correct animal to complete the image and also engage in small counting games—such as how many butterflies can they see among the cows—helping to build numeracy skills.  A 3-D barn is revealed at the end of the adventure.

THE HARD BACK BOOK SERIES!

Each of the six titles listed above are available as hard-back books too!  

The Totally Monster book series features fun, feel-good flaps and surprises on each page.   Here’s a fun color spread inside Totally Monster: Feelings featuring the horribly adorable illustrations!  Available at www.silverdolphinbooks.com.

 

And in the Pretend and Play series, each book comes with four fun shaped puzzle pieces to play with and fit into the scene.  Each title features a fun pop-up at the end, just like the one shown here, and with a built-in handle, this kit is handy for grab-and-go fun.

My Thoughts

The Pretend and Play On The Farm book is just adorable. Farmer Jack takes kids on an exploration on his farm. They meet pigs, cows, sheep, and horses.  Each page teaches kids a little about the animals, like where they play and the sounds they make.  It also come with four cute puzzle pieces kids can slide into the pages. It's a great choice for younger children just starting out with puzzles.  The interactive app makes it even more hands on. On the screen, the farmer and the animals come to life. They can actually hear the story spoken alouds. The puzzle pieces are also in the app and children have to select which piece goes on each page. Each page also has kids count things like mice, bees, and bunnies. 

 Totally Monster Best Friends is another fun book for summer reading. Two little monsters are best friends and they do everything together. The story teaches kids a lot of opposites, like up and down, happy and sad, laughing and crying. The pages unfold to create larger images and the illustrations are bright and cheerful. The app for this one is the same story in digital format. The best part about the apps is my kids can sit and have a listen to a book being read to them, even if I'm cleaning or cooking dinner.

The Giveaway  

One lucky winner is going to receive a copy of both of these fun books and apps! To enter, just fill in the Giveaway Tools form below. This giveaway will end on  6/27/14  at 12:00am EST. Open to the US only. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Dolphin Books offering this fantastic prize.

Entry-Form