Friday 24 August 2012

Magikid Story Tails

Magikid Tails is a bilingual interactive storybook app from Angell Echo/Magikid for ages 4+. The narration is available in English and Mandarin Chinese. The app is designed for both iPhone and iPad. It requires iOS 4.0 or later. It is beautiful app for children who enjoy imaginative play.








Magikid Tails is based on the true story of a family's trip to the Zoo. Vivian's  (child in the story) mother wrote down the story and later recounted it to the developer's team of writers.


The story begins with a little girl, Vivian, and her Mom and Dad on a trip to the Zoo. From the very first page we are given a sense of excitement in the child's voice at the anticipation of the day ahead. We see balloons flying and Vivian's legs skipping to and fro.







Throughout the book we are introduced to the tails of  peacocks, a kangaroo, a woodpecker, an elephant, a rhinoceros, a squirrel, a monkey and fireflies. We are told about the differences between each one.









Vivian expresses her delight at each creatures tail and  it is through this delight that we see her imagination come into play when she declares she wants her own tail. Her Dad who appears to be very much involved in role playing and imaginative play with his daughter comes up with the idea of making her own tail using his belt. I love this feature in the story as role play and imaginative play are very important when it comes to our children with special needs and we are often told by the professionals to encourage it.







Each page is bursting with interactive features. There are seven different animal jigsaw puzzles and one matching game towards the end of the story.









After the reader has completed the story there is the opportunity to colour their own peacock tail. My daughter loved this feature and had great fun trying out a variety of colour patterns on the peacock's tail.








Overall this is a great app for children who love learning about animals and enjoy interactive features in a storybook. It is a tale than every family can relate to.



The developer has added the options of turning the background music off and you can also turn the auto-turn page on. However please note that if you turn on the auto-play feature that the interactive elements of the app will be disabled while it is in the 'on' mode.


If you would like to buy the app please do so by clicking on this link iTunes. It currently retails at $1.99 in the US iTunes store.

To find out more about apps by Angell Echo please visit their Facebook page or their website.



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