Trista Kunkel, a long-time member of the LittleeLit think tank, has reported that she’s FINALLY used an app in storytime! Here’s her report:

Trista weighing worms. Because that’s how she rolls.

Tonight I used an app for the FIRST TIME EVER in storytime and it went great! I actually had a little girl who was sleeping wake up and sit down once she heard the word ‘iPad’. Ha!  I started off by explaining to the parents that this is a collaborative app (the Felt Board Mother Goose on the Loose app) and is intended to be used by both the adult and the child.

Because I’m not too familiar with some of the rhymes available in the MGOL app I decided to use ‘The itsy bitsy spider’, which I’m really comfortable with, and it was a hit. I told the kids we’d be singing a familiar rhyme and that I wanted them to guess which rhyme it would be based on the felt pieces I put on the board. I’m happy to report that they guessed it correctly before the spider even made it up there.

We then sang along as they watched it come to life and then we sang it again with the song that came with the app. (Miss. Trista doesn’t have the best voice and really, really prefers to not sing alone).

What I found really funny is that by the end of the rhyme the kids were asking me why shadows were being projected up onto the screen when they held up their hands and then they all proceeded to make shadow puppets. Huh. I had this fancy new technology and after 3 minutes they were more interested in making good ole fashioned shadow puppets. Now what does THAT tell ya?

Trista Kunkel
Birchard Public Library 

Cen answers Trista’s rhetorical question: Yes, what DOES that tell us? To me, what it says that children are curious and open to learning. They want new experiences, and they want explanations for their queries. They want to play and experiment and see new things. It also tells me that they’re not as device obsessed and tied in knots about format as we adults are.

How wonderful that we can support their multi-faceted curiosity in storytime with the many different tools at our disposal!