Bonding with My Son Thanks to Sock n Boots' Storytime

 

We have all heard and know that reading to our children, even at a young age, encourages learning, language development and a lifetime of reading enjoyment for our kids.  But as I was reading about this book and iPad application series called Sock N Boots, something about the characters, the company's mission and the content referring to fueling a child's imagination and bonding with your child, really caught my attention.


Amazon Links to Purchase and Review:

Sock 'n Boots - Share  Sock n' Boots - Play it Safe  Sock N' Boots - Afraid of the Dark

I spoke to the company founder and creator, D.K. Smith, and he described the company's mission as "encouraging discussions between parent and child and creating a bonding experience between parent and child."  The discussions that result from reading the book together will be about right-and-wrong and helping your child to overcome fears or social challenges such as being afraid of the dark, staying safe outside of the home and more. The morning after my review book arrived, I nestled down with my little guy and we had so much fun! The colorful artwork, charming characters and rhyming short stories kept his attention and even I had a good time reading the stories. It was definitely a bonding experience I will do more often thanks to the book and the iPad application (only 99 cents)!http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sock-n-boots/id472964592?mt=8

What I love most is that Socks is always getting into trouble. This was me as a child. So under-stimulated, so curious...I meant no harm but always managed to cause chaos and interrupt everyone else!  Thankfully, he has a friend called Boots who helps keep him out of trouble.

Mr. Smith, recommends that the readers (parent/teacher/friend) bring the story to life with lively narration, sharing and pointing to pictures and truly enjoying the experience alongside the child. I have to agree with this advice! Recently I started reading "Buzz Goes the Bee" which my 2 1/2 year old and it didn't matter what I was actually saying - as long as I enunciated it, shrugged my shoulders and intensely said, "The Bee Just Sat!" - he would laugh and giggle so hard with eyes wide open.  I found the same thing to be true as I read Sock n Boots with him over the weekend so thank you for the reminder!


The hot news is that there is now a Sock n Boots iPad app too! There are lots of features including a choice of three lessons that you can listen to with Auto Play, choose to have the narrator read it out loud to you and your child or it will give you the option to read it to yourself and interact with the book by touching on items.  A coloring book is also available that offers letters and numbers for coloring while the narrator spells out the color or number.  The "Write Your Own Story" feature allows you to write words and record your own voice using the pre-existing illustrations. Save your story alongside the other stories and post it to parent's facebook page.


See Sock n Boots Video Footage Here

This summer, the first three adventures of Sock and his pal Boots were rolled into one exciting compilation book called "Sock n Boots Adventures". It can be purchased on their website or through the Sock n Boots fan page here for only $11 on facebook.