Kinder Surprise Storymakers website feedback thread - £250 voucher prize draw for testers NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

This thread is for the 100 Mumsnetters who are trying out the Kinder Surprise Storymakers website.

Here’s what Kinder Surprise’s brand manager says: “We've designed a new website to give parents a fun and simple tool to create stories with their kids. Each story will be unique and personalised with your child’s name on it. You can share the story with friends & family online, download and print, and there are thousands of storybooks to be won - so lots of lucky families will have a hard copy of their personalised book sent to their door!”

Below are the questions we’d like testers to answer but please feel free to add any other comments which you may have.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Everyone who adds their feedback below will be sent their own hard copy storybook of the story they created on the Storymakers website and also be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website? Colourful, design / images appealed to both the kids.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
DS wrote a story about Bertie the racing car and DD wrote a story about Twinkle the dog.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Story makers website and the process of writing their own story?
DD being younger tended to go with the pre written. DS tried to write his own ending but on the space story when we typed "be careful you don't fall down a worm hole" it said it was too rude and he had to write something else! (so being lazy, he gave up and went with the prewritten). Both DC liked the drag and drop pictures to decorate the pages.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not? Yes I might mention it, to those with younger DC as it is something to fill in the odd 10 mins.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
Colourful, easy to use, nice layout. Bit slow with the Ipad, would have been nice to swipe between scenes.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
A spinner explored different scenarios, met various characters then went home.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
Loved it!

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not
Yes, both the 5 year old and the 3 year old made their own stories.

Q1. Very intuitive to navigate around, colourful pages and the pictures / buttons to select were nice and big making it easy for DD to use.

Q2. Elsa the dinosaur who went to space, under the sea, the jungle, the desert and finally home.

Q3. DD liked the fact that she could either choose between the written words or type in her own. She also enjoyed decorating the pages with the drag and drop options, which again were easy to grab and move around and also change their colour.

Q4. Not sure I would recommend it as such but would suggest in passing as an activity to do with their child(ren). It didn’t take too long so DD’s attention didn’t wander and for the first book there were just enough scenes, words and characters to choose from, however if creating more then I think DD would soon tire of the limited option.

I think the age range of 3 – 7 is right as any older they would not get anything out of it.

Having written it herself DD did want to read it back so it was good that this encouraged her to want to read it herself.

The front cover picture of the story book on DD’s library shelf does show that she wrote it but has called the dinosaur David and not the name she gave it which could be a bit confusing.

Whilst a good activity to do on line, if I had to pay for it to be printed I am not sure whether it would be something I would do (dependent upon price of course).

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

It was colourful and DD2 was very keen to get going, but I couldn't easily see where to set up a new account (in the end I clicked on forgotten password and the site redirected me to the correct place)

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
DD2 wrote about Rainbows the Parrot who went on various adventures.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
We were hinder by the fact the site froze part way through the first chapter and we had to start again as it wouldn't let us click next so DD2 had a few tears, and she also didn't like the fact we couldn't resize or flip the background characters. Half of the time she wrote her own words and half the time she picked the prewritten suggestions. But in the words of a 5YO "It was really really good and great" "I can't wait for my story book to arrive"

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
I would possibly advise parents with younger DC, but I think at Y1 DD2 is probably towards the top of the age it is suitable for, and I didn't try with DD1 (7) as while she might have enjoyed the process, the book would never get looked at again and just gather dust.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Impressed. It was bold and bright and everything was clearly laid out. DD liked it (she's nearly 4). It looked fun. I had computer issues making a log in initially, but I think that was my old laptop, as when I went on the ipad it all worked fine.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

DD wrote a story about a spring (DD used the same name as her name which she thought was very funny).

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

She really liked it. Because she's quite young she kept to the prewritten options which I read out to her. She was involved and into the activity the whole way through. She loved having her own story she created and when I asked her afterwards if she'd like a book of the story she wrote she looked very excited and said yes. It's certainly something I'll do again with her as it felt interactive and fun and encouraged story writing and reading together.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, definitely. I was impressed with it and liked it more than I expected. Having characters that DD knows (e.g. frozen characters) would make it even better for her. As a fun online activity it's great but I'm not sure I'd pay for a book, it would depend on the price.

Q1) The website looked colourful and interesting . Dd 6 loved the multiple choice stories and liked the range of characters and scenarios.
Q2) Dd wrote about Wilma the whale who visited a variety of unlikely locations and met and interacted with other characters. At the end Wilma writes to DD telling her she really enjoyed her day.
Q3)DD loved the site and was thrilled to hear that she will receive a copy of her story. Our only frustration was difficulty with customising the scenes by adding extra characters and props. They seemed to get stuck behind the control panel and I ended up having to place them for her.
Q4) I would recommend it to a friend with a similarly aged child but probably not for older children . My youngest dd 2 would find it frustrating I think so 6 is probably the right age .

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

We really enjoyed using it. DS 5 was the tester although our DS 8 and DD 10 were interested too. I loved all the options that there were for DS to choose from such as day/night and the quirky images of the characters they might meet.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

We did a 'practice' story about Oo-oo Aa-aa the Monkey and then a 'real' one with Kyle the Koala Bear.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

DS was hooked throughout and enjoyed being able to use his own words and make choices about the characters and the background. He can't wait for his story to arrive and wants to show it to his teacher.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

I definitely would. It's really fun and easy to use.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
A1. Colourful,quick,easy to use,Big font, Fun and exciting look for children.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
A2. A dolphin called Chrissy went to see several of his friends and explored different places.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
A4. She absolutely loved it and it caught her attention straight away. She was smiling and get involved straight away being vocal about how the story went and I wasn't allowed to have any input at all.As soon as we finished she wanted to do another one straight away,it held her attention and we both found it so fun and i was interested to see what characters she picked and the things she wanted them to say to each other. A great bonding and fun exercise.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
A5. Most defiantly.The letter also at the end was a nice touch from the character she picked as the main character of the story. I think this would only work with a younger child but it made it so personal and made my daughter smile.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
The website was bright and colourful and easy to navigate. I didn't initially grasp that you just had one page per location and thought that we had done something wrong when the next button threw us back to selecting another location. However it makes perfect sense to get the children to use as many of the scenes as possible and the scenes chosen cover a wide range of children's favourites. I used the website with a four year old so we used the suggested script each time but would imagine that having the option of typing your own text would keep older children interested.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
Our story was about Polly the Parrot having adventures in different locations and her interaction with the characters she meets there. The letter (email and dream in other stories) was a good method of adding more personalisation to the story. My daughter is going to be thrilled to receive a book which involves her in the story.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
We spent about an hour playing on the website and made up three stories. My daughter particularly enjoyed adding in the background features and having the ability to change the colour / style of each item. I think we probably customised everything that we were able to. The light switch alternating between daytime and night was a good idea although my daughter felt that all our adventures had to be in the daytime otherwise Polly would be too tired as she should be sleeping!
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not? I would recommend the website for friends with younger children as we had fun making the stories together. I think the suggested age of the product test - 3-7 is probably about right. Children who are any older may get frustrated by the fact that they can't continue to create one long story with the same scene / storyline.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
Bright and fun, quite easy to use - but sometimes after having written a bit of the story we found that for some reason we couldn't click on the green tick and ended up having to lose our story. Not sure if it was a fault with my computer or the website.
I used the site with a 3 year old and a 7 year old, and was pleased that the 7 year old got slightly more complicated options and characters. I would have liked the option to possibly continue the story in the same location rather than choosing a different location each time.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website? My 7 year old wrote a story about a monkey and my 3 year old about a cat.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story? My youngest loved that she could choose a toy that she recognised as she had actually got out of a Kinder egg. Both children enjoyed making up their own (slightly bizarre) text rather than choosing from the options available. My 7 year old was a bit frustrated that she kept running out of room for everything she wanted to write - she wanted huge conversations - but she still enjoyed it. They both liked putting the little background pictures in and changing the colours. My 3 year old loved the letter written to her at the end.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
Based on the fact that my children both enjoyed it, yes I would!

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Nicely colourful and attractive to my DD(3). Good use of sound (not too obtrusive). Rudeness filter is a bit overzealous! If you're going to have a squirrel ask about nuts you have to expect the answer to involve nuts too!

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

We did two - Ricardo the racecar, who explored the sea, the beach, the desert and the jungle, and Dolfydolf the Dolphin who explored the sea, the farm, outer space and the forest.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

She really enjoyed it - we had to go straight back in and do a second one after the first. She really liked all the characters and enjoyed making up her own endings to some of the interactions. There was just enough choice of options to keep her really engaged - might not be so engaging to an older child though. At one point she wanted to change hair colours etc. like she can do in some game apps she plays.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, it was certainly good fun, and I like the fact you can keep the books as a PDF. It was also good that it wasn't overly branded with Kinder logos etc, which might put some people off. I will definitely mention it to other people.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Bright and inviting. I'd bigged up to DS (aged 4) we were doing something special together and he made an appreciative 'ooooh' when we logged on.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

Our tale was about a fearless brown puppy dog (called Brownie by literal-minded DS) going exploring and meeting lots of new pals on the way.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

He loved it. He's been shying away from reading as he finds it tricky and thinks Biff and Chip are 'boring', but he was so keen to do this and tried to sound out some of the words. He enjoyed adding touches to the pictures and having the choice of doggy dialogue.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes, I would. My only criticism is that when DD has a go, she found it frustrating but she is out of the target age (8). DS (4) LOVED it, especially the letter at the end, which was lovely. He was delighted to see 'my name in a story!'. I expected it to be more Kinder branded so that was a pleasant surprise. It was really good. Thanks!

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
Very easy to use, intuitive set up. DD was delighted with the whole thing, and it was lovely to have something to do together. The story was a bit lacking in plot, but I guess that's what happens when you enable that age group to do it themselves. I'll be interested to see whether the printed version is read over and again.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
Emma the lion went and explored various different places and met interesting characters along the way.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
DD (3) loved it and was most unimpressed when she couldn't do another story because it was tea time. I can see us returning again and again.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
Definitely - it was a lovely thing to do together and anything that encourages reading and creativity has to be a good thing.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Bright, colourful and intuitive to use. DD enjoyed the sounds - especially the jungle scene. I enjoyed the fact the sound was limited!

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

Softy the mouse went on an adventure, exploring the seaside, under the sea, a farm, a forest and finally ending up at home.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

DD loved it! She was slightly confused that the scene changed on each page and we thought we'd done something wrong initially. The additional characters/objects that could be added to each page were possibly her favourite aspect of the story making process. She would have liked to be able to resize them but thought the colour choices were good. There was a problem on the fourth scene when the program stalled and caused the whole laptop to freeze. However, the remainder of her story was saved which was lucky. DD only wanted to use the speech with the happy face next to it as she thought that was the 'right one'. She loved the fact that the author was her and it said her age on the cover. She's desperate to receive the book so she can bring it to school to show her teacher!

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

I would recommend the website to friends with similar aged children because DD enjoyed it so much and it's a fun activity to do together. I think the fact that you can save the story as a pdf is great. I also think the option to buy the story (if you are not a winner) would be good - cost dependant of course.

Overall we really enjoyed using the site to make a story. Thank you!

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Attractive to children; easy to use; engaging

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

Our first story was about Sticky the Dog who went to the seaside and met a crab, and a space dog in space. We then created two more - one with Fire Dragon the Dragon and one with Soren the Whale.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Story makers website and the process of writing their own story?

She loved it - being 3 we stuck to the options offered to us, but I think when we next have a go, we will see how imaginative she can be. We liked dragging and dropping the additional items into the pictures. We had to stop at 3 stories as we were on our way out, but she was desperate to have another go.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not? Yes I already have!

Q1. It was nice and colourful and was easily apparent what you were supposed to be doing. There was a good mix of charachters to choose from.

Q2. I did a story with my five year old and a story with my seven year old. The five year old chose a dog and went to the forest, the farm and the desert and met some characters along the way. I can't remember what the seven year old chose, but followed the same pattern and then went home.

Q3. They were engaged throughout and wanted to have another go. I don't think they really saw themselves as the storymakers - when they tried to use alternative suggestions it tended not not work.

Q4. Probably not. I found it very slow and repetitive and a bit weird. It didn't work as well as it should have done and needed lots of input from me, although they were certainly engaged and seemed to enjoy it. It didn't seem to stimulate their imaginations very much or lead to many questions. It didn't seem to work very well on the tablet, so I switched to the laptop which the children find less easy to work with. When we tried to use our own alternative responses it only worked on one occasion, all other times we ended up choosing a stock response as it didn't work. When you moved the charactes onto the page they would cover the text rather than going behind it.

Q1 lovely. Very colourful, simple humour, very intuitive.
Q2 ours was about Cassie the Cat who visited the forest, jungle, farm and space. Then she went home and wrote about her adventures in her diary.
Q3 she really enjoyed it. She liked controlling Cassie's destiny! And adding the add ons and changing their colour.
Q4 yes. It sparks creativity, imagination and my DD is now playing with her playmobil farm animals.
Thanks for the opportunity.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
It was bright and colourful and looked child friendly. It wasn't apparent how to sign up though, I had to click on the Lost Password option and we had a lot of problems moving things on the page. We couldn't add some text because there was an image over the tick button which we couldn't get to move.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
Bruno the dolphine went under the sea, to the seaside, a farm and a forest.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
She was excited by the concept and enjoyed choosing different scenarios and adding extra items to the picture but found it very frustrating when she couldn't get it to work.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
I don't know. I found it very frustrating but I loved the concept and DD enjoyed the process and has asked if she can have another go so maybe if it works better on our next attempt we might. On the basis of our trial run I wouldn't recommend it.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

It's bright, colourful and easy to use. There is lots of characters to choose from.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

Our story was about Charlie the frog. Ds loved being able to choose where he went and who he saw. He has told everyone the monkeys joke

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

Ds loved it. He was able to do it by himself so feels like it's entirely his story. The only thing that frustrated him was adding the extra animals that appeared done the side. It took him a while to figure out how to drag them onto the page.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

Absolutely would recommend this. Ds is very excited to have created a book

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
The website was bright, colourful and easy to navigate for both me and my four year old ds.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
The story was about Archie the Motorbike who visited different places and met different characters along the way.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
Ds loved this website! He enjoyed making up the story and the choices were very clear to him. I liked the used of colour coded faces for the choice of spoken reply - ds always picked one of the top two options but if ds (9) had used it (I think he'd enjoy it too, even though it's a little young for him), he would have made up his own replies and made use of the third option. We liked the light switch for day and night and the option to add other characters. We also really liked the message at the end for ds from the toy - ds was very excited by this. Overall, straightforward, easy to use and didn't take too long so ds didn't get bored.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not? Yes, I would recommend this - I think my friends and their dc would enjoy creating the stories - especially if they thought the story would be made into a real book.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
I thought it was beautifully colourful and very child friendly. It held my sons interest from the moment we opened the site. It was very easy to use and to start with I watched over waiting to help but my son, who is 6, found it super easy to use. He got right in to it and on completing one story kept asking to do it over and over again.
Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
We first made a story about lemon the motorbike and another about jasmine the horse - which is the name of my mothers horse. We loved how they got to go to different places and meet other charachters and ds loved being able to choose so many options.
Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
Ds loved it! Most "personalised" stories are nothing more than slotting in a child's name here and there, but in this story the child decides who the main character is, where they go, who they meet and what they say. He particularly liked the email at the end, he thought that was a nice thing.
Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes and I already have told some friends with kids about it. It's a fun child friendly interactive website that allows children to be creative, either on their own or with others. its fantastic and I plan on sharing with a lot of people.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
It's great! It is bright, colourful, inviting, easy to use for both of us and I love that it has sound as well. It wasn't too long and drawn out but at the same time it wasn't over in a second, I have an 11 month old as well so any one to one time spent with my son at the moment is once the baby is in bed so this was perfect!

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
A car called Flash who went to visit the desert, the jungle, under the sea, and the seaside. My ds wrote a couple of endings himself, the one he liked best was telling the crab to "watch where you are going"!

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
He loved it and wants to do another story but it was coming up to bedtime so I have said that he can do another one tomorrow after school. He said it was fun and he liked being able to choose the adventures, he also liked being able to do "a little bit of writing". I have a feeling this is going to be a bit of an obsession over half term as he loves being allowed to use the laptop! He is now really looking forward to receiving his book.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes definitely, my son has a few friends who I think would like this so I will definitely be sending them a link. It is something fun for them to do on the computer which most children these days love being able to use and it's also something fairly quick, easy and fun that parents and children can do together.

Marking my place! I plan to do this with DD over half term. Thanks for the chance!

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?
The website was very coulourful and inviting but so painfully slow that my 4 year old DS's attention wandered between each page loading. If I were not visiting it for MN I would not have finished the first book as I could not get past the end of chapter one and gave up after one hour of trying. On my second attempt (after sleeping on it,) we logged in again and completed 2 books slowly but with no problems.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?
My DS wrote about Fiery Lightning the car. Fiery Lightning first met a Hen in outer space laying planets then a Lighthouse at the seaside with a bright light followed by a Vulture in the Jungle finally meeting a singing Starfish under the sea before returning home to dream of more adventures.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?
My DS loved choosing the characters and enjoyed writing his own chapter endings but he enjoyed decorating the pages the most. He did get very bored by having to wait so long for the next image/page to load.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?
I would recommend my friends and family visit this website as it would encourage children to read and excercise their imagination and creativity but I would advise that the adult log in first and test the site for compatability with their device as it could put the children off if they experience difficulties.

Q1. What were your overall impressions of the Storymakers website?

Overall impressions were good. It's a great concept. But we had big problems with the website. It was sooooo slow to load. The dialogue came out one letter at a time. We had to guess what the character was going to say. It was very frustrating with a three year old who wanted to get on with it. The screen kept pausing. The add on pieces were very hard to control. They didn't want to drag and drop, they skidded and moved about. Three year old couldn't make it work at all. Made for a stressful experience.

Q2. Can you briefly tell us what the story was about which you wrote with your DC on the Storymakers website?

we did several. The main one was about a racing car that went to the jungle and outer space visiting various friends. With nonsense dialogue.

Q3. What did your DC think of the Storymakers website and the process of writing their own story?

loved it. But it was too hard to use for us on the iPad.

Q4. Would you recommend your friends and/or family to visit the Storymakers website with their child(ren), or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

yes

Everyone who adds their feedback below will be sent their own hard copy storybook of the story they created on the Storymakers website and also be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 Love2Shop voucher!