The Boy with his Head Stuck in a Book

In the world of digital media, many children would prefer to pick up a smartphone or tablet rather than choose to read a book.  So Zappar has launched a new title to bridge the gap between technology and literature, with an augmented reality book for children aged 7 - 11 years, called The Boy With His Head Stuck In A Book. 

The paperback book tells the story of an ordinary boy who is reluctantly dragged to the library one Saturday afternoon, where he discovers an ancient, mysterious book and quite literally gets his head stuck within its pages. He finds himself catapulted into a magical world filled with dinosaurs, ghosts, dragons and pirates as he tries to free his head from the book!

Downloading the Zappar app allows readers to scan the pages and bring them to life. The images and characters are animated in this innovative digital pop up book. There are buttons to press to activate the scenes and the letters on the pages spin around the page.  It is definitely a great way to engage reluctant readers!

The book references a whole host of classic titles, opening up young readers to a range of texts that they may wish to further explore. The referenced books include:

• The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
• Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
• Red Riding Hood – Brothers Grimm
• The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
• The Iron Man – Ted Hughes
• Peter Pan – J. M. Barrie
• Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
• Harry Potter – J. K. Rowling
• Sherlock Holmes – Arthur Conan Doyle
• A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
• Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
•  Tarzan of the Apes – Edgar Rice Burroughs
• King Kong – Merian C. Cooper/Delos W. Lovelace
• The Jungle Book – Rudyard Kipling
• Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton
• The Sword in the Stone – T.H. White

At only £5.99, this product is an affordable way of keeping children engaged with reading in an interactive way over the summer holidays.  The Zappar app is free to download from Google Play or the App Store. You can find The Boy with his Head Stuck in a Book on Amazon.

The Amazing Alphabet from Tinyme

The Amazing Alphabet, is an amazing new picture book now available from Tinyme.  Each unique book is fully personalised, custom made and makes a wonderful keepsake for any child.

Not only is it a colourful, educational book, it also features the exciting addition of Augmented Reality. Simply download the free AR app (iOs or Android) to unlock the fun. By hovering over the pages with the app, the characters jump out of the page, coming to life with music and sound effects, allowing children to engage with the printed page in a whole new way. The app also has a 'read to me' function so even non-readers can immerse themselves in the story.

In the story of The Amazing Alphabet your child sets off on an adventure to help 'Little z' find his perfect friend. Along the way they will meet all the colorful characters of the alphabet. Children can learn the alphabet and discover words beginning with each of the letters. It's fun for kids who will enjoy the old school pleasures of a picture book combined with the cool addition of modern tech.

The book is lovely and the AR is impressive and engaging. Your child's name is used throughout the book making them a big part of the story of 'Little z' on his quest too find his perfect friend. It's fun and really quite unique. Below is a screenshot of the app in action so you can see just how cute it is.

This is a great gift idea for young children (and a great alternative to chocolate for an Easter gift for a special child) and costs £20.  Find out more at:  www.tinyme.com/the-amazing-alphabet-book.

Magic Tattoos Review

Like many kids his age, Freddy absolutely loves temporary tattoos. He will happily create a 'sleeve' covering his arm in cool designs.  So he was pretty excited to receive a pack of 24 new tattoos to try out. However, when he found out that these were no ordinary tattoos, the excitement levels rose considerably. For these were Action themed Magic Tattoos from Tobar!

Magic Tattoos work with the free Magic Tatts app from the App Store or Google Play, which brings the designs to life.  Each of the eight designs comes with its own sound effects and animation. Skeleton warriors, fierce ogres, T-Rex dinosaurs, ferocious sharks, battle robots, terrifying tarantulas, hissing cobras and hairy gorillas burst into life when you look at them through your smartphone, using augmented reality technology.. Freddy thought it was pretty awesome to have the fully animated characters move across his arm. I was pretty impressed too!

The effect can stop working as well when the tattoos start to wear off, so it is best to enjoy them straight away. On the sheet, the designs spring to life instantly, so we kept a set unused for Freddy to play with using the app whenever he wanted.

They would be great for impressing guests at a birthday party.  They apply really well and they look impressive with a clear, colourful end result. They last well and if undamaged will still work for a couple of days.

You can get Magic Tattoos in Action and Fantasy packs of 24 for £4.00.

They are innovative, fun and affordable novelties that kids will love.

Cupets Review

There are twelve quirky, cube shaped pets or 'Cupets' ready to be brought to life via a free downloadable app, in this new range of interactive toys from Flair.  We were sent Alpha the Cupet Wolf and we have been looking after him, feeding him, bathing him, playing ball games with him and entering the amazing Cupets virtual world with him, for a couple of weeks now...and do you know what?  We have grown to love him!

The Cupets themselves are small cube shaped toys with a face on one side and a QR code on the top.  The toy comes to life when used with the app which is available on Android and iOS.  By inputting the code you can access your Cupet, bring him to life using augmented reality and play with him within the game on your phone.

Cupets need taking care of, much like the old Tamagotchis of the 90's.  You give them food, love, rest and exercise to keep them healthy. As you look after your Cupet, he uplevels and unlocks more features on the app. There are a few fun games where you can earn coins which can be exchanged for food, accessories and medicines. One is a lot like the very addictive Temple Run and I may have spent a lot of time on it in an effort to beat my high score!  They can be played offline which is a bonus, so are good for keeping Freddy entertained whilst out and about.  In addition to this, you can earn achievement medals for fulfilling certain care criteria.

He's a bit dirty and not very happy!

With a bit of attention he is now bright eyed and bushy tailed!

You can even teach him to read!

He enjoys playing dressing up too!

Augmented reality brings him to life.

You don't actually need the physical Cupet toy to play on the app, except for when using the AR function. The augmented reality feature is a bit of a novelty but we can't get our Cupet to do much apart from simply sit there and look cute or poop!  For us the app is the thing we really enjoy and the physical Cupet provides the initial code to access that.

If you have more than one Cupet unlocked they interact and it opens up more game possibilities.  I am sorely tempted to get another one for Freddy!

You can take photos using the app and share to social media.  Here is one of Alpha holding up a 'Freddy' sign which Freddy thought was very cool!

The Cupets cost £6.99 each which gives you the physical cube toy and the access code for the free app.  Find out more here:  www.flairplc.co.uk/Cupets