Goodnight Mo by StoryToys is a 3D interactive bedtime story app which is available on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch (and coming soon to Android). It is designed for children ages 15 months to 3 years old.
My initial reaction to Goodnight Mo when I first opened it up to look at with 16 month old Hollywas delight. Mo is a very cute cuddly character and all of the colours of the app were bright, yet relaxing. The graphics are great and I really like the 3D effects on each page because the pages look as if they are a pop up book and the shapes on the screen move when you move your device. Very clever. I would say that the 3d effect and pop-up characters work best on the large screen of the iPad and in terms of Holly gaining the accuracy to be able to touch and interact with the items and characters on the page, the bigger screen is an advantage.
However, I actually prefer using Goodnight Mo on the smaller screen of my iPod touch and the reason for that is that at bedtime I want Holly to be winding down for the night and the big bright screen of the iPad is too exciting for her to settle. The smaller screen gives us a better chance of actually being able to settle down.
The idea of the Goodnight Mo story is that each of the 8 rhyming pages of the book is supposed to represent a different part of the daily bedtime routine. We are just about to move Holly into a cot bed and so it is really important right now that we start to drill into her the routine for bedtime so that she will recognise the signs that it is time to settle down - Goodnight Mo seems like a fun way to do this with her. The pages feature the process of getting changed, having a bath, brushing teeth and cuddling up in bed.
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Each page has a number of areas of the screen you can touch to animate the page such as flushing the toilet or changing the colour of the nightlight. There are lots of little noises that are made but the overall feeling of the app is one of relaxation. As you move through the book the colours get darker and more muted an the story has a slow, relaxing tune playing throughout (you can switch this off).
I really enjoyed changing the language of the app - it is available in French, German and Spanish too. This really fascinated my older daughter, Lara, as she doesn't often get to hear other languages being spoken. I was impressed that the texts have been written such that they also rhyme in the other languages too. You can choose to read the text on the pages yourself as a parent or you can let the narrator do the reading; I find the low male reading voice very calming and so, it seems, does Holly. I can well imagine Goodnight Mo becoming a regular part of our bedtime routine.
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Goodnight Mo is available from the iTunes app store for £1.99
My initial reaction to Goodnight Mo when I first opened it up to look at with 16 month old Hollywas delight. Mo is a very cute cuddly character and all of the colours of the app were bright, yet relaxing. The graphics are great and I really like the 3D effects on each page because the pages look as if they are a pop up book and the shapes on the screen move when you move your device. Very clever. I would say that the 3d effect and pop-up characters work best on the large screen of the iPad and in terms of Holly gaining the accuracy to be able to touch and interact with the items and characters on the page, the bigger screen is an advantage.
However, I actually prefer using Goodnight Mo on the smaller screen of my iPod touch and the reason for that is that at bedtime I want Holly to be winding down for the night and the big bright screen of the iPad is too exciting for her to settle. The smaller screen gives us a better chance of actually being able to settle down.
The idea of the Goodnight Mo story is that each of the 8 rhyming pages of the book is supposed to represent a different part of the daily bedtime routine. We are just about to move Holly into a cot bed and so it is really important right now that we start to drill into her the routine for bedtime so that she will recognise the signs that it is time to settle down - Goodnight Mo seems like a fun way to do this with her. The pages feature the process of getting changed, having a bath, brushing teeth and cuddling up in bed.
.PNG)
Each page has a number of areas of the screen you can touch to animate the page such as flushing the toilet or changing the colour of the nightlight. There are lots of little noises that are made but the overall feeling of the app is one of relaxation. As you move through the book the colours get darker and more muted an the story has a slow, relaxing tune playing throughout (you can switch this off).
I really enjoyed changing the language of the app - it is available in French, German and Spanish too. This really fascinated my older daughter, Lara, as she doesn't often get to hear other languages being spoken. I was impressed that the texts have been written such that they also rhyme in the other languages too. You can choose to read the text on the pages yourself as a parent or you can let the narrator do the reading; I find the low male reading voice very calming and so, it seems, does Holly. I can well imagine Goodnight Mo becoming a regular part of our bedtime routine.
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Goodnight Mo is available from the iTunes app store for £1.99
