I love to look at those lists that they give to professors that explain the state of the matriculating freshman class. You know what I’m talking about? The ones that say things like, “They have never lived in a world where Madonna wasn’t famous.”
Naturally, I look at my daughter and wonder what kind of world she will matriculate into. At two, she’s already saying things like, “We should text Daddy and tell him!”
Even Dr. Seuss is a different experience for her. We’ve been reading Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Hop on Pop, and of course the very popular One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. But we also have been enjoying playing a game based around The Lorax on the iPhone. It’s called Lorax Garden and the game picks up where The Lorax ends – you have been given a Truffula seed, and now it’s your job to plant it and take care of it. Trees require a lot of water, so you must water them, and they require love, so you must give them hearts. But you can’t get hearts until you plant and take care of some flowers. Flowers are trickier. You have to water them, but you can’t water them too much or they’ll get sick. And you must be mindful of weeds that sprout up and get rid of them immediately. The more flowers that bloom, the more hearts you get and the more trees you can love.
I love this game because we can play it together and see the results of our efforts – much like our real garden in our backyard. (PERSONAL NOTE: BUT WHERE RACCOONS DON’T EAT YOUR FIGS!!!!!) This is a great game for passing the time on airplanes with your kids – something we seem to be doing a lot of lately.
Then the folks at Oceanhouse Media were kind enough to send me a code to download There’s a Wocket in my Pocket. I gave it to my daughter to try out and once again, we are loving it.
There are three choices:
Read it yourself – on your own terms and time, have it read to you and you control the page turns, or you can let it play-out, page turns and all, automatically. If you tap the items in the picture, it speaks the name of the object clearly and concisely. As a voiceover actress, I appreciate the fact that the voice is not grating (why do toy companies think that kids want to hear those terrible squeaky voices?!? I’m looking at YOU Fisher-Price!!) –and I also appreciate the fact that it’s not voiced by a child. I’d rather have her listening to someone who speaks well, rather than a kid who is also learning to talk – as cute as their voice may be.
Oceanhouse Media has a whole list of titles to choose from. I have another flight coming up soon, and I’ll be pulling from that list myself in… *checks watch* just a few minutes.
