David Miller, Kuato Studios
A number of reports published recently on both sides of the Atlantic shed some interesting light on the benefits of digital books in children’s literacy. One of the key findings of the 2014 National Literacy Survey is that “children are more likely to have above average vocabulary attainment if they look at or read both printed stories and stories on a touch screen compared with those who read printed stories only.”
In the US, the excellent report from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Family Time with Apps, suggests that any kind of reading whether digital or print has real benefits, but that “communicating with your child while reading is the key.”
The key is in the interaction – the conversation – that the child has while reading, or as a result of reading. And digital books provide a huge variety of opportunity for interaction. Animation, sound, ‘living’ text, interactive characters all provide rich conversation points for adult and child, as they discover the many learning layers that exist in the well designed digital book.
Where the digital book is itself a game, then we enter the realms of new forms of storytelling and word building. As parent and child play, no longer is this simply an experience of parent reading and child listening. The child will display many more verbal and visual cues that the parent can use to draw out further learning, and there will be many more potential re-readings of the same narrative.
The element of fun and customization is also a great motivator. Having the ability to create their own stories within the digital storybook, or choose sounds and music makes it more motivating for both child and adult to share and discuss. The point is there should be a reason for these elements – they should not be distracting – they should enrich the act of reading, and cultivate the art of reading.
In this context, enter two new games from Kuato Studios, Dino Tales and Safari Tales. The uniqueness of the games’ is that they creatively bring together elements of storytelling and language skills. For example, as the child plays, their play session is captured as a colorful storybook that they can share and read with parents and loved ones. Within the storybooks, children are encouraged to choose their own adjectives, verbs and adverbs, thereby changing the tone or mood of the writing. Expressive word wheels allow children to build questions – whimsical or factual – which they can pose to a wise in-game learning buddy called Darwin, whose answers may be factual, or equally whimsical! Facts and fictions, language and imagination are all blended together one rich environment designed to foster the joy and value of reading.
The games and corresponding digital books are enhanced immeasurably by the human interaction, providing an emotional connection no tablet can replicate.
David Miller is the Director of Learning at Kuato Studios, a learning company building fun and interactive products that inspire kids to learn the new skills of the future. For more information, visit them online at www.kuatostudios.com.
