If you want your kid to love reading and storytelling (and who doesn’t?), you’ll want to check out HOMER, an early learning company that’s dedicated to giving kiddos the best educational start possible.
The HOMER Reading app is designed for kids ages two to eight and personalizes your little one’s reading journey based on their age, reading level, and interests. It’s different than other learning apps in that it actually teaches kids to read, step-by-step, with expert-designed lessons on ABCs, sight words and phonics. It’s even backed by research: HOMER has been proven to increase kids' early reading scores by 74% with just 15 minutes of usage per day!
What’s even more exciting is that HOMER is rolling out a new “Make Your Own Story” activity later this month that’s inspired by kids’ imaginations. The “Make Your Own Story” activity is a kid-favorite in the HOMER Reading app. It allows kids to practice storytelling by placing pictures of characters and props onto a background to create a scene. By deciding what the characters are going to do next and where they’re going to go (and what would make sense, narratively), little ones get a crash course in the fundamentals of storytelling while, of course, having fun. Being able to create a story helps children understand stories they read or hear and, when the time is right, helps them compose stories as well.
And who better to come up with an imaginary world to inspire kids’ storytelling than kids themselves? The HOMER team called on the wisdom of the world's foremost experts in fun: kids! That's why, recently, they brought together a panel of tiny tots in New York City for a very serious summit to decide on the setting and characters of the next “Make Your Own Story” activity. Their verdict? An ice cream shop filled with imaginary creatures and a magical train that moves throughout the shop serving ice cream. (Because why not?!)
The fun doesn’t stop there. HOMER needs the help of even more experts—your kids! They have the characters and the setting, but now they need the rest of the ice cream shop: the name of the super-cool sea monster owner, wild and crazy ice cream flavors and (a not-so-minor detail) what happens next. Kids can help HOMER come up with all of this before the new “Make Your Own Story” activity launches on April 20. Follow @learnwithhomer on Instagram to find out how to get involved. Your kids’ ideas could be brought to life within the context of the app!
If you’re not already signed up for HOMER, you can try it free for 30 days! A membership, at just $7.99 per month, includes two apps for the price of one: HOMER Reading, the proven learn-to-read program, and HOMER Stories, a library of interactive stories that lets little ones practice their newfound skills.
(This post is sponsored by HOMER.)