Every night it is the same scene. She says, “Mommy, read me a story!” I say, “Sure!” Five stories later I have run out of steam and am curled up in the fetal position at the foot of her bed. She is still clamouring for just one last tale.
I am desperate for her to learn to read, but let’s face it. At age four, she still has a long way to go before she’ll be reading herself Goodnight Moon. But she wants to learn, she wants to be able to hide under the covers with the flashlight and read until the wee hours. So it falls to me to find some sort of happy medium. Enter the iPad.
The iPad has been a lifesaver for our family. Engaging apps and videos have provided me with many, many valuable minutes of downtime when I needed them the most. Age-appropriate learning tools have filled the gaps in my parenting knowledge….like how to teach the ABC’s or reproduce the sounds obscure animals make. My husband might complain because the iPad is never available when he wants it, but you’ll not hear a cross word from me.
As I laid at the foot of the bed, I suddenly realized that I was overlooking the obvious solution to my problem: iPad books! I did some searching around and found one that I just had to share. If you have a 4-8 year old, this will definitely be of interest. You will thank me.
The app is called Dabby Dill and the HICCUP Pickle. Just the sort of silly name that parents hate but kids love! The app tells the story of little Dabby Dill and her terrible case of the hiccups. You can choose from several options – a narrated version, a read-along version or read on your own. On nights when I’m full of energy, I can use it just like a picture book. On nights when my reserves are running towards empty, I can select the narrated version instead.
Dabby Dill is more than just a book. Because it is on the iPad, it has lots of fun interactive features built right in to help bring the story to life. You can make the dog hide under the bed, turn lights on and off, play sounds and more. The interactive options change on every page and really keep my child engaged from start to finish.
You can find the links to the iPad app and the kindle version of the story on the Dabby Dill website (plus lots of fun extras like coloring pages and vocabularies): http://dabbydill.com/
I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
