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| from The Nutcracker Musical Storybook |
It's always worth reading what educationist Trevor Cairney has to say about helping children to learn. In this post he recommends seven new children's story smartphone apps.
They all look interesting, but I was taken by the Nutcracker Musical Storybook. It looks a lot of fun, using the original story by E T A Hoffman, and some of the music Tchaikovsky wrote for his famous ballet.
Here is some more information from Cairney's article:
It comes in story or movie mode. Each has a single line of text at the bottom of the screen that presents the simple narrative. In the read-only option the user can control page turning and tap pictures for a number of simple effects (mainly sound and some movement). In the movie mode the story moves automatically from one screen to the next. Both modes make use of segments from the opera. The read only page is controlled from an initial Christmas tree image with numbered baubles allowing different paths through the story. The reader can swipe the pages and interact with a number of visual elements on the way.
The images are delightful and capture the mood of the 19th century winter setting with wonderful variations in colour, light, movement, animated figures (puppet-like), sound and of course Tchaikovsky's wonderful music. The well-known scenes are all there with the 'Waltz of the flowers' and the 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' brilliant!
It sounds like an app that will help your 4 to 8 year old child to enjoy hearing or reading a story and experience some great music as well.
