I am excited to share another fantastic PlayTales ebook with you. We have reviewed several PlayTales stories recently, and I can once again say with certainty that the PlayTales app is one of the most worthwhile digital investments you can make. The interactive stories are diverse and appropriate for a range of ages, and they are constantly releasing new ones.

Teha el Viento is a beautiful story about a wind girl who lives in the clouds and loves to practice flying around with her winged friends.

She comes across Little Leaf, who desperately wants to fly but can’t because he is stuck to the branch and doesn’t have wings. Together, they have to figure out how he can make it happen. Eventually, they figure out that the only way is to go along with nature and “fly” like a leaf…by drifting on the wind.

Teha el Viento is available in English, Spanish, and German. Access it as a story on your bookshelf within the PlayTales app or purchase it as a separate app.

Find Teha el Viento in iTunes, Google Play, and Nook store

Available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Nook

Recommended for ages 3-10

Price: Free with PlayTales Gold! subscription  OR   $0.99 (Android and Nook); $1.99 (Apple)

Check out more about this classic story on the PlayTales Blog. Also, see more about developers Easy Tiger Creations and Geniosity Limited.

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one Teha el Viento Spanish-language ebook promo code for a free download to FIVE lucky winners! All you have to do is leave a comment letting us know who you’d like to share this ebook with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We are big fans of StoryToys apps, since they offer such a great mix of game play and reading. The new Haunted House 3D Pop-Up Activity Book app is no exception. It’s a wonderfully creepy ebook with 8 pop-up scenes that require some sort of action. From tickling monsters to decorating jack-o-lanterns, the activities leave no Halloween creatures out.

Like other StoryToys apps, this one is available in 4 languages: English, French, German, and Spanish. The narration is professional and especially creepy to match the occasion. These 3D apps really offer an incentive for children to improve listening skills, since each activity page includes new, sometimes multi-step directions. There is also a puzzle section and a sticker section for hours of additional fun.

My favorite thing about this app is that it is long enough to offer surprises each time my little guy uses it, so he won’t get bored after the first couple times. Since he, like most kids, absolutely loves Halloween, I know he will revisit the Haunted House 3D Pop-Up Activity Book all year long.

Bonus: Take advantage of the half-price deal and get this quality app for just $0.99 until November 2nd!

Find Haunted House 3D Pop-Up Activity Book in iTunes and Google Play

Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android

Recommended for ages 5-9

Price: $1.99; ON SALE for $0.99 from October 25th-November 2nd

Check out all of the 3D apps from StoryToys on their website and Facebook.

The first is La Fiesta de Halloween ($3.99), a great story about vampires, monsters, spiders, and more getting ready to have a Halloween party at a haunted house. The ghosts provide the tunes and the skeletons dance.

In La aprendiz de bruja ($1.99), a young girl is learning what it takes to become a witch. She mixes up potions and learns to fly on a broomstick. She practices spells on her cat and accidentally turns him into all kinds of odd things.

Lastly, Cazavampiros ($2.99) is a story about hunting for a vampiress in a creepy castle. It’s fun to search each room for clues and finally find the girl who’s guilty of stealing candies.

As with all PlayTales books, these Halloween stories are interactive and you can choose to read them yourself or have them read aloud. PlayTales offers options for ages 1-12, but these Halloween stories are appropriate for ages 4 and up.

All titles can be downloaded through the PlayTales app for the individual prices listed above, or through PlayTales Gold! app with a monthly, semi-annual, or annual subscription. PlayTales is available for Apple and Android.

NOTE: To find Spanish titles, go to “Store,” change language to español, then perform a search.

All parents try to ease their children into new experiences. Historically, reading a relevant book has been helpful to prepare children for a change. Now, we have the great option of using educational multimedia to do the same.

The Luca Lashes/Luca Pestañas series of ebooks, apps, and activities is one way to do this. Luca is a young boy who gets nervous as he goes through lots of “firsts,” including going to the dentist and getting his first haircut. In Luca Pestañas Aprende a Cepillar sus Dientes, he is hesitant about brushing his teeth because of the scary-looking bristles on the brush, but he uses his magic truco of blinking his eyelashes to give himself courage and finally learns to do it.

Likewise, in Luca Pestañas y su Primera Clase de Natación, Luca is nervous about swimming until he remembers all the other “firsts” he has achieved with his eyelash trick.

Try these two or any of the other 7 Luca Pestañas books to acquaint your niños with new adventures, big or small. Between November 15 and December 15, visit the Luca Lashes Facebook page to enter a contest to win the entire series in the language of your choice: Spanish, English, Italian, or Chinese.

Find Luca Pestañas Aprende a Cepillar sus Dientes and Luca Pestañas y su Primera Clase de Natación in iTunes

Find Luca Pestañas Aprende a Cepillar sus Dientes and Luca Pestañas y su Primera Clase de Natación in Google Play

Available for iPhone, iPad, Android, and Nook

Recommended for ages 0-4

Price: $1.99 each

Check out more about the Luca Lashes series here.

I especially like that the stories the developers chose are a mix of classic tales — think Caperucita Roja and Cinco Monitos — and contemporary stories, some of which I had never heard before using DeCuentos. In addition to a variety of stories, the videos present different readers with different accents. There are both male and female readers, which keeps it interesting.

Although nothing is a substitute for personally reading a cuento to your child, this app comes pretty close to the real thing.

Find DeCuentos in iTunes and Google Play

Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android

Recommended for ages 1-5

Price: FREE

PlayTales Gold! is my favorite kind of app. It offers endless entertainment and bonding opportunities for kids and parents. PlayTales Gold is an interactive library with a wide selection of kids’ stories, games, songs, and personalizing options.

Sesame Street is also one of my favorite classic kids’ shows because of its wide array of characters and its integration of Spanish.

Now these two great educational offerings are coming together. PlayTales has teamed up with Sesame Workshop to bring us four new multilingual ebooks. Your kids can read fun titles such as Elmo Loves You! in English, Spanish, German, and Italian.

This partnership truly reinforces the global reach of Sesame Street programming and gives us yet another way to make learning in English and Spanish more exciting for our Spanglish speakers.

All of PlayTales’s books download quickly and remain saved in your library, and each has “Read to Me” and “Auto Play” options in case you don’t want to read it yourself. New titles are added every week, which is especially useful for kids whose reading levels are rising and whose homework includes nightly reading. Apps like this save us from having to spend a fortune updating our home library!

PlayTales Gold offers several different subscription options: monthly for $4.99, semi-annual for $9.99, or annual for $19.99.

Find PlayTales Gold! in iTunes and Google Play

Available for iPad, iPhone, and Android

Recommended for ages 1-12

Price:  Various subscription levels (see above)

Check out the PlayTales website for more info and to begin downloading your copies of the new Sesame Street books.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away one annual subscription to one winner AND a monthly subscription to FIVE winners for a total of SIX winners! All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us who you’d like to share this prize with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In honor of famed Mexican painter Frida Kahlo’s birthday this week, we are sharing ways you can expose your kids to Frida’s life and art. One of the most fun ways to learn her history is through the Frida’s World storybook app.

Instead of overwhelming users with Frida’s personal life details, this app focuses on her art and its impact. It inspires kids to use art to express themselves, no matter their circumstances. It celebrates Frida’s unique style and her positive attitude, all while showcasing her art with visual replicas.

Not only will you read about Frida herself, but you will learn a few artistic terms and techniques. Listen to the story in English or Spanish, and then give your child a chance to be an artist for a moment by coloring and saving his/her own “paintings.”

Find Frida’s World in iTunes

Available for iPhone and iPad

Recommended for ages 4-10

Price: $2.99

Once again, Disney has come up with a new way to excite kids! One of their most beloved animated movies, Toy Story, is now the theme of an app that will keep your kids busy for hours. Toy Story: Story Theater  allows kids to use characters from the movie (Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and more) and various settings and props to “direct” their own short films. The possibilities are endless.

First, practice placing characters and recording scenes using the Free Play option. Then, once you’re ready for your directing debut, go on to Story Play to get started on the real thing.

Save as many recorded stories as you want, and then choose the best one to submit to Disney’s Story Theater Fest contest. The creator of the video with the most votes will win a trip to Disneyland Resort and be honored at the D23 Expo in August. To ensure that your family has a chance to win this fabulous prize, be sure to submit entries to the Disney Learning Facebook page by June 23rd.

Bilingual kids can have even more fun with this app by recording stories in whichever language they please. Disney will accept story submissions in both English and Spanish.

Find Toy Story: Story Theater in iTunes

Available for iPhone and iPad

Recommended for all ages

Price: $2.99

StoryToys, the same app developer that brought us 3D versions of Puss in Boots and The Little Mermaid, now has a new electronic pop-up book. Beauty and the Beast 3D Interactive Pop-up Book is another adorable multilingual app that offers a great combination of story time and game time.

Since most kids are already familiar with the Beauty and the Beast tale, they will enjoy how this storybook is broken up with interactive pages to make it a little more exciting. You can help Belle open gifts, help the merchant escape from the wolf, or – my favorite – play ping-pong with the Beast. The favorite part of make-believe princesses everywhere will be breaking the spell at the end!

The story is also nicely simplified and can be entertaining for a range of ages, from toddlers through early readers.

I particularly love that parents can use the Parent Center to customize the app in various ways, including changing the reading mode and opting out of promotional screens.

Find Beauty and the Beast 3D Interactive Pop-up Book in iTunes

Available for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Recommended ages 3 and up

Price: $4.99

Check out more from StoryToys on Facebook and Twitter.

Little princes and princesses alike will have fun with the new StoryToys app, The Little Mermaid/La Sirenita. A pop-up book in electronic form, it’s another cute adaptation of a classic story. The best part, of course, is that it can be played in Spanish (and 4 other languages, too). 

Even kids who don’t know the story of La Sirenita will enjoy the games that pop up every few pages and include tasks like decorating Ariel’s hair with conch shells and pushing buttons so that she and the prince will dance. 

This story is relatively long, so it doesn’t leave out important details from the original tale. It’s a book that’s interactive, multilingual, and accessible from many platforms!

Find La Sirenita in iTunes and Google Play

Available for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and Android

Recommended for preschoolers

Price: $4.99

Check out our previous review of Puss in Boots for more from Story Toys, or follow them on Facebook or Twitter.