Childrens interactive stories
12 Best Interactive Books for Kids That Will Burn Energy...Quickly!
Inside: These interactive books for kids are perfect for high-energy kids because they give your little one a chance to move and burn energy while you read. And you’ll love them too! Add these titles to your collection of the best picture books.
I can’t get my 2-year-old to sit still long enough for me to clip a fingernail – let alone long enough to listen to a whole picture book. Still, several times a day she brings a book to me and asks me to read it to her. And this is what happens, every time:
- I pull her onto my lap and start reading, but by a couple pages in, she can’t contain her wiggles.
- Another page, and she’s accidentally clocked me in the nose or my mouth.
- Halfway through the book, she squirms out of my lap to perform what I assume must be a gymnastics routine she invented during the hours of 8:00 pm and 11:00 pm when she should be sleeping but clearly is not.
Or it could be Toddler Parkour.
At that point, I probably should just close the book and move on. But there’s something in my brain that can’t move on until we get through the whole book – even if I have to finish it by reading double-time through gritted teeth with nobody listening but me.
This Isn’t Your
Typical List of Interactive Books for Kids Because of the wiggly toddler stage, we’ve had to get creative when it comes to picking out picture books we can read together. At first, my search for interactive books for kids turned up a bunch of lift-the-flap and pop-up books. Which is fine except that moving one finger every 30 seconds doesn’t exactly cut it for my toddler. Not to mention that those intricate lift-the-flap and pop-up pieces get destroyed on the first read-through. “Interactive” books for your iPad or smartphone aren’t a good fit, either.
Because when my kid is full of energy, screen time turns her into a total grump who’s still full of energy. (And it sounds like my kid isn’t alone.)
Related: A Simple Trick to Limit Screen Time – And Get a Happier Kid, Too {Printable}
12 Best Interactive Books for Kids
These picture books get the stamp of approval from all four of my wiggly toddlers over the years. They’re perfect for high-energy kids because they give your little one a chance to move and burn energy while you read. And the best part of these interactive books for kids is that unlike a lot of kids’ books on the market, they won’t make you gouge out your eyes if you end up reading them every day. Wait. Let’s not kid ourselves. If you end up reading them 20,000 times a day. Add these interactive children’s books to your home library, and get back to enjoying story time with your active kid.
1. Press Here
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My kids would get so into the instructions to press and shake and tilt this book that we’ve outlawed it from the pool of bedtime stories for kids in our house. If your kids love Press Here (which they will), be sure to check out the other two in this series: Mix It Up! and Let’s Play! And here’s a bonus for parents: After a few read-throughs, your kid will be able to figure out what they’re supposed to do on each page without you reading the words. Translation? Give your kid all three of these books, then you can cuddle up on the couch for a catnap. Related: 10 Books That Will Calm Your Kid Down at Bedtime
2. Flora and the Flamingo
Fair warning: This is a wordless picture book. But don’t be scared because it’s so much fun. I wouldn’t have thought to add this to a list of interactive books for kids until my preschooler
surprised me one day.
I was flipping through the pages, pointing out how the main character Flora was mimicking the flamingo’s poses. And then my daughter squirmed off the couch and started mimicking the flamingo’s poses along with Flora. It doesn’t get more adorable than that. If Flora‘s a hit with your little one, try these two next: Flora and the Peacocks and Flora and the Penguin.
3. Gallop!
Here’s a little taste of this interactive picture book:
Can you gallop like a horse? Giddyup-a-loo! Can you strut like a rooster? Cock-a-doodle-doo!
My kids can’t resist getting up and acting out every animal movement in this book, and it always ends in giggles from everyone. For kids who love Gallop!, try out Waddle! and Swing! for even more interactive fun.
4. Can You Make A Scary Face?
This interactive picture book revolves around a tickly green bug and getting it off your body.
Get ready to watch your kid try to wiggle her nose, make a scary face, and do the chicken dance – and more. Kids who enjoy this one might also enjoy Is Everyone Ready for Fun? from the same author.
5. Little Yoga
Toddlers and preschoolers doing yoga has to be the cutest thing ever, so this book delivers maximum cuteness because it steps through nine playful yoga poses perfect for little ones. My favorite is when my toddler grabs this book off the shelf, lays it in front of her, and starts moving through the poses on her own. Melts me every time. Be sure to also check out Sleepy Little Yoga, from my list of the best bedtime stories for kids that will actually calm your kid down for sleep. One final note: I’ve heard great things about another yoga book for kids called You Are a Lion! and Other Fun Yoga Poses, but we haven’t checked it out yet. If you get to it first, let me know what you think!
6. From Head to Toe
This book comes in board book format too, which makes it perfect for the youngest toddlers who still think books are for chewing, not reading.
Kids get into this one quickly because the text point-blank invites them to act out the animal movements. By the way, this book holds a special place in my heart because it was my youngest’s first favorite book – one she would ask for again and again. Related: The Ultimate List of the Best Picture Books, Endorsed by Kids And Parents
7. Keep Our Secrets
I actually don’t know why my kids love this one so very much, but they absolutely do. The story is cute, but they really go bananas for it. This is going to sound weird, but you’ll need a hair dryer to make the images appear on each page. Or as another option, you can get a special eraser to make the images appear more quickly. (I hear this eraser works well but haven’t tested it myself.) The whole book is like one big science experiment: Will it work if we breathe hot air on it? What if we use a heating pad? What if we leave it outside in the sun? When you’re done reading, put the book in the freezer to make the pictures go dark again.
The kids love this part too – every time, they come up with wild explanations of why it works.
8. I Got the Rhythm
My kids love the musical element of this interactive book, and they have fun imagining a rhythm along with the main character. And of course, they move their little bodies along with the rhythm. Clap, clap. Stomp, stomp. Snap, snap. This book is especially perfect for kids who love music and dancing.
9. Pete’s a Pizza
Aside from the fact that the wordplay in this book title makes my preschooler crack up every time, this book is a great excuse for some healthy roughhousing. As you read, you’ll pretend to turn your kid into a pizza just like Pete’s father does in the story, and your kid will eat. it. up.Warning: You may resort to ordering pizza for dinner afterwards.
10. It’s a Tiger
In this picture book, the main character keeps running into (and away from) a tiger over and over again.
Your kids will have fun acting out trying to get away from the tiger. My kids love to run when it says to run, tiptoe when it says to tiptoe over the snakes, climb the air when it says to climb the ladder, and more.
11. Cat Secrets
This picture book invites kids to pretend to be cats – they’ll meow, purr, stretch. Adorable! The last part of the book could even make this a good fit for bedtime, although you may need to follow it up with a more calming book from your collection of bedtime stories to seal the deal.
12. How to Put Your Parents to Bed
Of all the interactive books for kids we’ve read, this one is my absolute favorite. In this book, the child is the one putting the parents to bed. And so our favorite time to read this book is to get the wiggles out well before bedtime. Here’s how: Sometime between dinner and bedtime, read the book and have your kids put you to bed.
The key is to make them do all the work of getting you ready for bed. Send them out for a glass of water. Don’t cooperate when they try to tuck you under the covers. Ask ridiculous questions like, “Why don’t ducks have arms?” or “Why don’t fish eat hamburgers?” We also love to use this one as a proper bedtime story – we just tone down the interactive bit as explained in my list of the best bedtime stories for kids.
Before you go, get my FREE cheat sheet: 75 Positive Phrases Every Child Needs to Hear
Your Turn
What are your favorite interactive books for kids? Share in a comment below!
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Storytelling Games | PBS KIDS
Storytelling Games | PBS KIDS Storytelling GamesMore Games
Martha Speaks
A Tale of Two Soup Cans
True Stories, science/environment
Play Now!Sesame Street
Sesame Monster at the End of This Game
Social & Emotional Growth,Executive Function Skills
There is a monster at the end of this game and your furry and adorable pal Grover will do everything he can to stop you from playing!
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Xavier Story Creator
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
Create stories your own way!
Pinkalicious and Peterrific
Pinkcredible Story Maker
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Social & Emotional Growth,The Arts
Celebrate fall & create new Pinkalicious stories!
Peg + Cat
The Big Dog Problem
Mathematics,Computational Thinking
Read a storybook with Peg and Cat!
Peg + Cat
The Election Problem
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Mathematics,Social Studies,Computational Thinking
The chickens vote for someone to watch them while the farmer is away!
Peg + Cat
The Perfect Ten Problem
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Mathematics,Computational Thinking
Read a storybook with Peg and Cat!
Sesame Street
Storybook Builder
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Social & Emotional Growth
Create stories with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Cookie Monster!
Pinkalicious and Peterrific
Pinkamazing Family Game
Social & Emotional Growth,The Arts
Take turns drawing, acting, singing and dancing with Pinkalicious!
Cyberchase
Mission Motherboard
Mathematics
Help Motherboard defeat Hacker, play puzzles, and collect things!
Scribbles and Ink
Scribbles and Ink: In and Out
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),The Arts
Draw along with Scribbles and Ink
Wild Kratts
Monkey Mayhem
Science
Use creature power suits to help invite all the monkeys for Grabsy's birthday!
Wild Kratts
Wild Kratts Baby Animal Rescue
Science
Baby animals have been captured and it is up to you and the Kratts to save them!
Plum Landing
Can You Dig It?
Science
Dig underground to find food, but watch out for predators!
Martha Speaks
Getting To The Game
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
One of the Martha True Stories Texts.
Martha Speaks
Operation Ice Cream
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
One of the Martha True Stories texts.
Martha Speaks
How to be an Inventor
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
One of the Martha True Stories texts
Martha Speaks
Super Inventions
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
One of the Martha True Stories texts.
Martha Speaks
How Do You Measure Up?
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Mathematics
Read about measurement with Martha!
Martha Speaks
Planning an Elephant's Party
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Mathematics
one of the Martha True Stories texts
WordGirl
Comic Book
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
WordGirl Interactive Comic Book Activity
WordGirl
Storybook Adventure
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
html5 choose your own adventure book
Arthur
Arthur's Puppet Theater: Cinderella
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Social & Emotional Growth,The Arts
Put on a Cinderella show with Arthur and his friends!
Arthur
Arthur's Puppet Theater: Goldilocks
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Social & Emotional Growth,The Arts
Make your very own play!
Arthur
Arthur's Puppet Theater: Little Red Riding Hood
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA),Social & Emotional Growth,The Arts
Create your own version of this classic fairy tale!
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Adventure Stories
Literacy-English Language Arts (ELA)
Create stories with Clifford!
Scribbles and Ink
Scribbles and Ink: Far and Away
Use art to make a pet, travel to faraway places, and see where your imagination can take you!
Clifford the Big Red Dog
A Dog's Life
Social & Emotional Growth
Watch Clifford for the day! Give him a bath, play fetch, read, and play dress-up.
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Alma's Way
Alma Train Game
All Aboard with Alma! Build your own subway system to drop off and pick up passengers!
- Goals:
-
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Hero Maker
All new heroes & items to create your avatar!
- Goals:
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Ready Jet Go!
Rover Maker
Build & drive your own rover on Earth, Moon and Mars!
- Goals:
-
Ready Jet Go!
Jet's Planet Pinball
Play pinball and collect all the planets!
- Goals:
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Elinor Wonders Why
Elinor's Nature Adventure
Use binoculars, magnifying glass & more to observe and discover Elinor's world!
- Goals:
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Sesame Street
Cookie Monster's Foodie Truck
Find out where different foods come from to make apple pies, tacos, and more with Cookie Monster and Gonger!
- Goals:
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Sesame Street
Abby's Sandbox Search
Help Abby find the objects hidden in the sand!
- Goals:
-
Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Xavier Story Creator
Create stories your own way!
- Goals:
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Peg + Cat
The Big Dog Problem
Read a storybook with Peg and Cat!
- Goals:
-
Peg + Cat
The Election Problem
The chickens vote for someone to watch them while the farmer is away!
- Goals:
-
Sesame Street
Storybook Builder
Create stories with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Cookie Monster!
- Goals:
-
Sesame Street
Letter Dance Party
In this game, your child can practice letter recognition and dance with Big Bird and Snuffy.
- Goals:
- Halloween Games
- Friends & Neighbors Games
- Space Games
- Dress Up Games
- Engineering Games
- Back to School Games
- Play Together Games
- Feelings Games
- Nature Games
- Music Games
- Animals Games
- Reading Games
- Create Games
- Adventure Games
- Storytelling Games
- Science Games
- Winter Games
- Shapes Games
- Dinosaurs Games
- Arts Games
- Rhyming Games
- Math Games
- Spanish Games
- Social Studies Games
- ABC Games
- Measurement Games
- Vocabulary Games
- Food Games
- Routines Games
- Matching Games
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Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum
Hero Maker
All new heroes & items to create your avatar!
- Goals:
-
Sesame Street
Storybook Builder
Create stories with Elmo, Abby Cadabby, and Cookie Monster!
- Goals:
-
Sesame Street
Abby and Elmo's Potty Plan!
Help Abby and Elmo go potty!
- Goals:
-
Pinkalicious and Peterrific
Pinkamazing Family Game
Take turns drawing, acting, singing and dancing with Pinkalicious!
- Goals:
-
The Cat in the Hat
Builda-ma-loo
Build your own painting contraption with The Cat in the Hat!
- Goals:
-
Sesame Street
Elmo's School Friends
Play with Elmo and his friends at school.
- Goals:
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Alma's Way
Alma Train Game
All Aboard with Alma! Build your own subway system to drop off and pick up passengers!
- Goals:
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Elinor Wonders Why
Elinor Ari's Wonderful Ideas
Design your own animal-inspired vehicles!
- Goals:
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Team Hamster! & Ruff Ruffman
Team Hamster! Splash Dash
Use tools to fix the water pipes and have a hamster pool party!
- Goals:
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Hero Elementary
AJs Recycle Rescue
AJ has a mission to to reuse litter in the park and clean it up for his friends to enjoy.
- Goals:
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Hero Elementary
Treehouse Trouble
Sara and Fur Blur need help fixing treehouses around City Town!
- Goals:
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Ready Jet Go!
Rover Maker
Build & drive your own rover on Earth, Moon and Mars!
- Goals:
Two great interactive stories for kids (and more) [Android / iOS]
If you have kids and a flair for technology, you've probably thought about getting some interactive books for your kids. There are quite a few good options available these days, so it pays to occasionally take a closer look at a couple of the best books to help you find what you like.
Today we found two great little children's stories that are classic but completely modernized with a new interactive format for smartphones and tablets. It's the perfect way to get today's kids to really enjoy both the idea of reading books and the fun of interacting with history digitally. Also, if you like these interactive stories for kids, you can easily find a lot more from the same developers. Interactive e-books are one of the best ways to offer interesting educational activities to digitally native kids. So look!
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid is Hans Christian Andersen's first StoryBooks story that is as compelling as the original classic. Kids can follow the beautifully illustrated story through multiple pop-up 3D book pages, each with a game or puzzle. Your kids will be mixing potions, saving princes, making music with magic shells, navigating mazes and more. It's a lot of fun, but essentially still a great book for kids.
Check out this video of The Little Mermaid in action.
Get your copy of The Little Mermaid on Google Play or the App Store for $5.00.
More from StoryToys
StoryToys offers books for children and adults through the Google Play Store, iOS App Store and Amazon store store. For adults, their Classic Book app gives you great retina-optimized versions of open source works.
For children, stories are always very interactive versions of classics. They are like a pop-up book, but much more. The experience is 3D and each page has simple tasks or games to play. The stories are read by professional actors and offer Read to Me, Read to Yourself and Auto Play modes. Sound effects and music are also added to further develop the mood of the story.
In addition to The Little Mermaid, other StoryToys books include Puss in Boots, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. They also offer a learning to count app called Farm-123, which is designed for toddlers.
StoryToys apps have been downloaded over 2 million times and won awards including Best App for Kids 2010 and Apple's App of the Week.
“At StoryToys, our mission is to create fun apps that kids love and parents can trust,” says Barry O'Neill.
Cinderella
Cinderella is an interactive story for children for children up to 8 years of age. The app tells a story with interesting music in the background, and then lets kids interact with different role-play-style objects in a pop-up window. Children will be able to dance with the prince, sweep the floor, run home and leave slippers behind.
Get the full version of Cinderella for less than 1 € or try the Cinderella Lite app [no longer available] for free to see if it's right for you in the first place.
In the meantime, watch a video of Cinderella in action.
More By CluePop Books
CluePop Books have designed their books to be educational and entertaining, combining fairy tales and interactivity with a great combination of music.
They try to make their apps look like a real pop-up book as much as possible while also making the best use of the smartphone/tablet interface.
In addition to Cinderella, stories from CluePop Books include The Ant and the Grasshopper, Thumbelina, and Puss in Boots. These interactive stories for kids are available for Android, iPhone and iPad.
More apps for kids
If you're looking for more cool apps for kids, check out these amazing Android apps for kids. , interactive books , and some more great interactive e - books for kids great interactive e - books for kids great interactive e - books for kids . You can also learn how kids with iPads can succeed in school. and how the Amazon Kindle apps have recently been improved to make picture books more appealing.
How do you entertain your children on your smartphone or tablet? Have you found any great book apps you want to share?
Children's Museum in "Tsaritsyno" / Museum-Reserve "Tsaritsyno"
Please note! Most items in the Children's Museum can be interacted with.
The use of gloves is mandatory. Please bring children's gloves with you.
The Children's Museum in Tsaritsyn is part of a large (adult) exposition of the museum-reserve. And we invite parents with children not only to have fun in the museum, but also to learn a lot about the history of Tsaritsyn - now a walk through the halls of the Grand Palace will be more like an exciting quest.
“This is not a children's project, but a family project,” says the curator of the exhibition project, head of the ArtTerra bureau. - We deliberately did not set age restrictions. Our task was to create an exhibition that would be equally interesting for a kid who wants to touch everything, a teenager who is constantly drinking, and their parents, who are tired of everything and want to take a break. Museum for everyone! It is for this reason that all the best modern children's museums in the world are oversaturated, overfilled, and therefore every visitor finds in them something that is interesting to him.
”
All five halls of the Children's Museum are located on the ground floor of the Grand Palace. The first two present the history of the construction of the Tsaritsyno palace ensemble, told in the language of games and entertaining quizzes. What was on the site of Tsaritsyn a thousand years ago? Who is Cantemir, and why was the estate given to him by Peter the Great called Black Mud? Who built the Grand Palace? When did a landscape park appear in Tsaritsyn, and in it - a holiday village? The answers can be found in the Children's Museum in Tsaritsyn.
All exhibits are located at a low height, so that it is convenient for the child to examine them, touch, press, twist, twirl. There is not a single object in the halls that cannot be touched (with the exception of museum exhibits from the Tsaritsyn funds located in special niches). “In a museum for children, in no case should you say “do not touch anything,” explains the general director of the Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve, Elizaveta Fokina.
— This is the space of free knowledge! The child should be interested to shiver, and he should not only see the exhibit, but also feel, touch, hear. In any story, the child should have the opportunity to get into - and in the literal sense of the word.
One of the first two halls of the Children's Museum is called "The Time of Tsaritsyn". In it, visitors get acquainted with the "cultural layers" of Tsaritsyn, learn how the place where the museum stands today has changed, what was here for four thousand years - in the Bronze Age. The curators thought for a long time how to interest the child in this information. The decision came by itself: the children should be curious about how their peers, who lived both a hundred and two hundred years ago, saw Tsaritsyno. The oldest oak tree in the Tsaritsyno Park “grows” in the hall (it is already over 250 years old), around which there are “sound pictures” of different eras as a ladder. Numerous interactive modules will help you explore the past on your own.
For example, in one of the modules it is proposed to choose from primers of different times the one that was used to learn to read in the 17th century, and in the other, to identify among the many buildings the one in which Catherine II lived. In the module dedicated to the modern history of Tsaritsyn, you can find out who inhabited the buildings of the Tsaritsyn ensemble during Soviet times. There is also a place in the hall for very young visitors. While the older brothers and sisters are solving intellectual puzzles, the kids can play with blocks - of course, also about Tsaritsyno - in a special area with a soft surface.
The second room tells about the construction of palaces in the 18th century. They perform this task in the most visual form - with the help of a wall-mounted magnetic puzzle, which is a fragment of the facade of the Opera House in Tsaritsyn.
The third hall is dedicated to the palace amusements of the 18th century - fireworks, balls and theatrical performances of that time.
In addition to the usual exhibits that children can interact with, a computer game can be played in the hall, which will help you simulate your own pyrotechnic show.
The fourth hall, Tsaritsyno under the open sky, conveys the atmosphere of the park: colors built on shades of green, exposition modules in the form of garden lattices and gates, recreational areas and a children's slide for skiing. The atmosphere is complemented by a video installation dedicated to the seasons, as well as interactive modules "Three Historical Images of the Tsaritsyno Landscape" and "The ABC of Landscape Art", introducing the basic concepts, categories and terms.
In 2021, the fifth hall was opened at the Children's Museum. This is a separate multifunctional educational space - a link between the children's and "adult" museum. The hall has three zones. The theater area with a stage, an auditorium, scenery with a built-in puppet theater will become a venue for interactive museum programs. Outwardly, the scenery is stylized as the facades of the buildings of the Tsaritsyno ensemble, and the audience seems to be on the palace square, decorated with figured bosquets.
If necessary, the area easily turns into a conference or cinema room. The second thematic zone is dedicated to the culture of entertainment in the 18th century. The third zone - the exposition "Cabinet of Natural History" - is dedicated to the Enlightenment with its cult of sciences. At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, learning and refined taste became signs of good taste. Educated people created natural history cabinets in their homes, collecting art objects, rare specimens of flora and fauna brought from travels, scientific instruments, and much more. Each such office was bound to have a library. Unlike the cabinets of curiosities, natural history rooms were not intended for collecting curiosities, but for scientific and educational pursuits.
The central object of our Cabinet is a huge wooden cabinet with autonomous lighting controlled by the “smart home” system. The system allows you to build a “light route” along the showcases of the cabinet, highlighting in turn the items you need according to the scenario.
