What we're enjoying right now - Speakaboos!

I'm very excited to share with you about Speakaboos today! Speakaboos is an online library featuring videos of well known children's stories - each narrated and beautifully illustrated. The beta version of the site offers more than 35 titles, with some stories even narrated by Kelly Ripa, Nick Cannon and Kevin Bacon.

An additional 30 titles should be added by the end of the year, and coming in February, you will be able to record your own stories! What a fantastic concept - a traveling parent can record a story for their family to be read while they are out of town, distant relatives can read stories and share in the bedtime ritual, and I'm sure many children would love hearing their own voices recorded and played back. Once recorded, the stories can be downloaded onto a computer for easy use. Prerecorded stories can be played for free or downloaded for $0.99 per story. 15% of the revenue goes to support the National Education Association.

There are story guides, worksheets and crafts for parents and teachers to use with the stories. There are also games, contests and coloring pages. I downloaded a few of the story guides and found them to be a good resource - offering comprehension and discussion questions, research suggestions and information on the specific adaptation of the story.

Nick Cannon rapping Old McDonald Had a Farm

I'm excited about sharing these stories with my daughter and seeing what stories and celebrities are added to the collection in the coming months. What do you think? What is your favorite story so far on the site? Anything specific you'd like to see added?

Happy listening!