Story Patch is cleverly designed, with the specific goal of helping kids grow by creating a fun and educational book they can assemble by themselves or with the help of their parents. A large open book is shown in a patch of grass with six entry points: Create a Story, Edit a Story, Share a Story, Read a Story, Tutorial and Credits.
It’s in Create a Story, where you create a title for your book. Your child can either select a theme or create a story from scratch. Trip to the Zoo, My First Day of School and I Got a New Pet Today are just some of the themes to choose from. There are helpful buttons that the child can select that will ask questions specific to each theme. What happens “under the hood” is that story patch inserts the answers that users gave into the story text (for example, if they were asked their name). This is a great app that will keep your child entertained for hours.
One of the really cool parts of this app is the Image Library; it boasts a collection of 800 images to choose from, organized into 47 different categories. Once your graphics are on the page, you can resize them, stack them, move them to the front or back of the screen. When scenery is chosen for the background, it’s always put on the back layer so you can be assured none of your other objects will be hidden. Changing the size of graphics helps give added dimension to your child’s story. You can have smaller houses in the distance to simulate perspective.
The other cool component of Story Patch is the Character Designer. It allows your child to bring either a man, woman, boy or girl into the story. You can then edit the way they look either by facial expressions and arm movements, or by changing the colors of their clothes, eyes, skin and hair. You can also bring in pictures from your photo library for added realism. When you finish, you simply press the Home button, and you can email your story to friends or read old stories. There is a Back button to take you back to where you want to go. For more information, go to the web site, www.storypatch.com. The app sells for $9.99 and is available on the iPad.
