It’s never too early for children to start developing their literacy skills! Turn everyday routines into learning opportunities with Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE)’s Reach Every Reader, a foundation literacy initiative comprising resources, assessment, intervention, and support to help all children become successful readers and learners. FableVision developed two apps—Photo Play and Animal Antics—to transform car rides, trips to the grocery store, and more into moments of engaging conversation.
Created in partnership with the HGSE, Reach Every Reader is an initiative that aims to support high-level, equitable literacy achievement by creating opportunities for conversation between parents, caregivers, and children. Five years in the making, the project seeks to bridge the literacy gap by improving learning opportunities and word acquisition in low-income families.
Photo Play gives young children and caregivers the opportunity to decorate and interact with their own photos using fun stickers, emojis, and “talk” balloons. The app uses conversation prompts to encourage free-flowing conversation, both while using the app and offline. By allowing players to personalize photos of themselves, children are more engaged in the activities and more open to discussions of the location of the picture, memories of the day the photos were taken, and hopes for future trips and activities.
In Animal Antics, imaginations run wild as children and caregivers play make-believe and create stories and dialogue for animals cast in 20 different scenarios. The app incorporates play-acting and conversation exercises, allowing children and caregivers to take on the role of animal characters and move through scenarios of their choosing. As players move through each scenario, they take turns recording their voices and choosing the emotion of their animal, shaping and building the story as they go.
Thorough research was conducted to create apps that not only fulfilled specific learning goals, but also kept children engaged and excited. Playtesting was conducted with a diverse group of families who reported learning easily implementable, effective new strategies as a result of the initiative. Research emphasizing the quality and diversity of words was also incorporated into the development of each app, as was research on the importance of intergenerational play in children’s early language development.
FableVision is proud to join forces with Reach Every Reader to launch this project supporting early literacy development through early assessment, detection, and intervention for children across a range of socioeconomic status. The initiative furthers our mission to move the world to a better place through positive media that helps bridge learning gaps for children of different backgrounds and abilities.
Photo Play, Animal Antics, and a GBH-created app Small Wonders are available now on iOS, Google, and Android. Click here to play now!
