Tag Archives: apps

Librarians are perfectly situated to become media mentors for families seeking help navigating the digital landscape, but not all librarians are comfortable in that realm themselves—yet. Perhaps you are (or know) a children’s librarian who would like to start using apps in the library, but you’re not sure how to get started?  I have teamed up with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to create a free, self-directed online course called Digital Storytime: Kids, Apps & Libraries that is available…

Across the children’s media landscape, from movies to video games, diversity and inclusion have been hot topics for discussion throughout 2016. Much of the conversation has focused on the finished product, such as an app or toy and whether it does an effective job in reflecting the diversity of the world we live in. Looking at the finished product is without a doubt important, but at Diversity in Apps (DIA), we are also nudging the conversation towards a focus on…

For several years now, children’s literature has been venturing step by step into the digital field, with all the creative force and originality that the domain has shown itself capable of. Beyond the simple digitalization of content in PDF or E-pub format, many producers (Nosy Crow, Tank & Bear, Camera Lucida, Atomic Antelope, and Moobot Studio, to name just a few) are embarking today into digital storytelling and using it to its full potential. The development of immersive environments, auditory…

Over the past year, the conversations around diversity in children’s media have reached a crescendo. Players and consumers have set forth a clear challenge to industries ranging from tech to publishing: Create media and content that inspires and reflects the diverse learners—children and families—who are consuming your content. According to Common Sense Media, 75% of all American children have access to some kind of mobile smart device and as research from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center shows, lower-income, Hispanic, and…

Today, we are thrilled to release the latest publication from the Families and Media Project at an event at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Diverse Families and Media: Using Research to Inspire Design,  by Amber Levinson, Sinem Siyahhan, Briana Pressey, and Katie Headrick Taylor, is a casebook and design guide to inspire educators, practitioners, and designers who create media and programs for children and their families. Diverse Families and Media was created as a response to a call from…

Imagine someone telling you that a new technology would be available in five years that has the potential to revolutionise childhood and early education. But the downside is that you will have to choose from among 80,000 possible options. This is the problem currently facing many parents. Following the invention of the iPad in 2010, by January 2015 there were 80,000 apps marketed as “educational” in the Apple App Store alone. We recently published a large-scale review of more than…

We recently released Family Time with Apps: A Guide to Using Apps with Your Kids, a free interactive guide for parents and caregivers. The book features comic strips that parents and children can enjoy together, as well as tips on selecting apps that can help turn screen time into family time. Whether the challenge is preparing for a new experience like starting school, spending more time outside, connecting to distant loved ones, or reading together every day, the guide provides…

Can you turn screen time into family time?  Our new resource, Family Time with Apps: A Guide to Using Apps with Your Kids, provides tips on how apps can be a part of family learning, communication and connecting to one another.  Starting today, it is available to download for free from the iBook store. The guide is an extension of our research on how families use and learn from media.  From Learning: Is there an app for that? to Learning…

Sago Sago‘s apps are charming interactive experiences that aim to engage the youngest players. We recently had the opportunity to ask CEO Jason Krogh to share the story behind the company and to tell us more about their most recent game, “Friends,” which encourages young children to go on a digital play date.   Can you tell us a little bit about your path to developing apps for children? Like most people in the field, I stumbled into it. Shortly…

About a month ago, we released a sneak preview of the literacy app analysis that we’re conducting with New America to discover more about the apps that families and educators are using to help children learn to read and communicate. As part of this preview, we provided a quick summary of our approach to this analysis of language- and literacy-focused apps for children ages birth to eight. Today, we are excited to share even more of our findings. In our…