Make the Most out of Screen Time with Speakaboos
Thanks to Speakaboos for sponsoring this post.
How much screen time do your kids get?
If your house is anything like mine, it’s probably more screen time than you would like them to have.
My kids spend way more time using electronics than I would like. We try and fill our time with other things but as a working mom, sometimes I just have to do what I have to do. That being said, I am super picky about what activities they do during their screen time so I was thrilled to discover Speakaboos, a reading app for kids ages 2-6 that turns screen time into reading time.
My daughter is almost 4 and she loves to read. We go through stacks of books every night before bed but she’s always looking for any chance she can get to read.
What I love about Speakaboos is it is screen time you can feel good about. It’s educational and encourages reading but it’s also really fun, and highly engaging for kids.
My daughter loves it so much that it is the first thing she goes to when she earns some screen time. She loves the princess section. She’s at an age where she wants to be big like her brothers so badly so she loves the independence Speakaboos gives her. She feels like she can sit down and “read a book” whenever she wants to and I love that she’s turning getting into the habit of reading.
By choosing Speakaboos, kids #ChooseReading!
More Than Just Another Reading App
Speakaboos was created by renowned educational media experts including Dr. Alice Wilder, Chief Learning Officer for Speakaboos and one of the world’s leading authorities on literacy through media. With Speakaboos, Dr. Wilder brings her expertise in literacy and involvement in the development of series like Blue’s Clues and Super WHY! to the interactive, digital educational app for children.
Remember Blue’s Clues? It was a favorite in my house when my boys were younger. It transformed kids’ educational programing and Speakaboos hopes to do the same thing with digital media.
What is in the Speakboos Library?
The Speakaboos app can be used by children of all reading levels. I’m a firm believer that the best way to turn kids into confident readers is to just get them reading as much as possible.
The award-winning Speakaboos library is filled with some of my children’s favorite characters and is so interactive that it makes reading fun. The stories are separated into high-interest cateogories which include, Vehicles, Robots, Animals, Dinosaurs, Princesses, Bugs and more. This makes it easy for kids to choose what they want.
The app makes it easy for kids to follow along with the words by highlighting each word as it is spoken. Each story has fun animated elements and touchscreen interactions that really bring the story to life.
I love the variety of stories. Speakaboos includes everything from classic stories, like the Three Little Pigs, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel, to engaging original stories. They even have some of my children’s favorite characters like, Sesame Street, Thomas & Friends, Sid the Science Kid, Angelina Ballerina and more.
They have included some classic children’s stories from Scholastic, including:
- Swimmy
- Duck on a Bike
- Peanut Butter and Jellyfish
- Harold and the Purple Crayon
- Maurice Sendak’s iconic “Where the Wild Things Are
- plus many more!
How does Speakaboos Work?
Speakaboos can be used on a computer, tablet, or mobile device. It’s perfect for entertaining your kids on the go or fitting in some reading time at home.
You can download Speakaboos through iTunes, Google Play, Android, and Speakaboos.com.
What I really love is you can use Speakaboos while you are offline. That makes it easy to use on road trips, unlike many other apps, and I don’t have to worry about giving my preschooler access to the internet when I don’t want to.
Your Speakaboos subscription gives you access to over 200 interactive stories, with new ones being added all the time. That’s a great value!
Why should you #ChooseReading?
Why is it important to #ChooseReading? An early love of reading creates life-long readers. Reading is the foundation of learning and sets kids up for success academically and later in life.
I’ve gotten so much joy out of reading in my own life. I want my kids to experience the same thing so I’ve really worked to encourage them to develop their own love of reading.
Download Speakaboos today and the next time your child engages in screen time, they’ll #ChooseReading
Speakaboos is free to download and offers a 7 day free trial for all users. Click here to start your free trial. After the trial you can choose from a monthly or yearly subscription for unlimited access.
Speakaboos is offering an exclusive discount for Busy Mommy Media readers. Click here to receive 30% off your monthly or yearly subscription today!
See Speakaboos in Action
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With a fun game or incentive like read 10 books and we will go out for ice cream
I like to find a subject they’re interested in & then get books on it. I start with small words and we work our way up from there.
reading together, one chapter swapping between us
I read with them all library books
I encourage them to read by reading to them a lot and having books everywhere!
I think starting to read to them early and often will encourage a healthy relationship with books
We love to go to the library to find more books to read!
We always let them pick the books they want us to read at bedtime. They seem to really enjoy it alot.
My daughter really wants to learn to read, so just taking her to the library is a big motivator.
My favorite way to encourage my kids to read is to model; they see me reading books and then they want to read with me and will bring over books for us to read together.
Let them pick the book
Reading together is our favorite way to do it!
If it is a book or story my son likes or wants to hear he has no problem reading it.
I like to let my daughter choose her own books. As long as she’s reading, I’m not too picky about *what* she’s reading!
For me, it’s letting them pick out the books they want at the library.
i’m lucky in that we read everyday and i don’t have to do any encouraging. it could be encouraging that we read together every night and she is reading now so she likes to read to me during the day.
Modeling reading from an early age. Sharing the love of stories together.
I like to model the behavior and provide access to a variety of books.
I just sit and read.
I took my daughter to the library and she got to pick the books she wanted, it made it fun for her and she wants to read them so that she can go back
I encourage them to read by having the tv off for an hour each evening and we read together.
Using a lot of sound effects when I read to my son and also wrapping the books as “treats” before we read them.
I always let my daughter choose a book to read before she goes to bed and she absolutely loves it.