Children’s story books have struggled to compete with video games and gadgets. And that’s a shame because – apart from being enjoyable – they’re an effective way to teach children to read.
AKQA’s holiday gift is a children’s story book in disguise – a story app that gives new life to an old form of story through SiriKit. It turns the reader’s voice into an animated story.
The Snow Fox is a wintry tale of a young child who adventures through the forest with a newfound furry friend in search of his/her mother.
But the simple story has an extraordinary power. The Snow Fox is powered by words. As the child reads, the personalised story animates.
When a sentence is finished, the story automatically transitions to the next scene, so the story comes to life word by word.
And bedtime reading gains a special magic.
At the end of The Snow Fox, children can create a short memento of their narration to share with family and friends.
The app is available to download for free and in English from app stores for iOS devices worldwide.
These are its special features:
- Uses iOS 10, which allows other apps to use the Siri technology.
- The Snow Fox is only available on iOS mobile devices for now.
- The story is personalised based on gender and name, which the user says aloud for Siri to recognise during one of the onboarding screens.
- Because The Snow Fox is a re-imagined reading experience, there are no page numbers. Instead, the reader’s voice leads a seamless journey from scene to scene.
- With entertainment options at an all-time high and learning and the enjoyment of reading suffering accordingly, the incentives to capture the attention of young minds has to be greater than ever.
- The experience creates a special video memento overlaying the child’s voice with the animations in the story—the ultimate gift to share with family and friends.
The Snow Fox is made to be enjoyed by parents and children together and more features are planned for the future, that will make it an enjoyable and educational app during any season.
