A range of books come with augmented reality features to get children to read more, writes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan.
EVEN before I gave birth, I knew I wanted to take the (almost) gadget-free parenting path. I see families in restaurants transfixed to their own gadgets and children throwing tantrums when parents take their devices away so I decided early on that prevention is better than cure.
My son Tunku Murshid Mughni is turning two soon, and while many toddlers his age watch TV shows like Digital Durian’s insanely famous Didi and Friends on YouTube, my son watches it only on TV, which I don’t switch on unless there’s a show he can learn something from.
I’m building him his little library (and the Big Bad Wolf book sale is perfect for affordable children’s books) and have recently got hold of Magical Books, which are books added with augmented reality technology.
It operates using the Hippo Magic app which you can download and the AR will appear on the phone—which is why I am skeptical. My son doesn’t know that the phone can be an entertainment device. To him, it’s where he sees his videos and has video calls with his aunt.
COME TO LIFE
Once you have downloaded the app and scan the book covers—mine are The Velveteen Rabbit and Little Bear’s Big Adventure—just point the phone to the page where there is a Hippo Magic logo and some parts of the book will come to life on your device.
In Little Bear’s Big Adventure, you can count strawberries interactively or have instruments playing like a guitar. I understand the appeal of interactive reading, but –this is my opinion and my opinion only—the current world thrives on short attention span and reading is the opposite of that and that’s what I am trying to cultivate in my son.
ASSIST INTERACTION
The plus points of these books are they provide tools to assist interaction between parent and kids and learners get to be inventive and creative while learning and responding to augmented reality pages.
I think kids will be interested and motivated to participate and find out how their reality will be transformed during a lesson, which will increase their engagement and sensory development.
Call me old fashioned, but my mark of imagination is when kids create something out of ordinary things—the sofa as a fort, a big box as a tent or a laundry basket as a basketball hoop. And it’s only when you give them less that they get to be more creative.
I think the book can supplement traditional ones and make reading hours more entertaining, but I suggest parents read this book first as-is and only after the story has been thoroughly explored that they introduce the AR pages so toddlers don’t automatically assume all books come to life like these.
The Magical Books (there are 17 titles) are available at the Big Bad Wolf book sale which runs until Dec 16.