Chance to win a £200 voucher - check out the Storytime Sounds app from notonthehighstreet.com and share your storytelling experiences, tips and tales NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

To celebrate the latest addition to the iPhone Storytime Sounds app from the team at notonthehighstreet.com they'd love you to share your storytelling experiences, tips and tales on this thread.

They'd also love to hear your feedback on their app; it's available on iTunes - you can download it here: itunes.apple.com/gb/app/storytime-sounds/id883691199?mt=8

They say "our story time app is free to download and is designed to bring an extra element of fun to storytime for families with kids aged 3-7.

There are 6 soundboards for different storytelling themes - pirates, fairytales, lost world, space, monsters and our latest addition, Christmas"

So please share what storytelling means to you on this thread. Are you creative enough to make up your own bedtime story for your LO, do you do "funny" voices, when do you do storytelling with your child - bedtime or during the day? And do give the app a try if you can - notonthehighstreet.com would love to hear what you and your DC think of it (the new Christmas sounds in particular), how you used it and whether it made storytelling easier/more fun.

Please share your thoughts and feedback on this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for notonthehighstreet.com. Please add your comment by 24 December. Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Good luck
MNHQ

PS They have also written a little story as a starting point for your storytelling adventures, which can be found here: blog.notonthehighstreet.com/2014/12/10/a-christmas-story/

We always read dd stories at bed and often in the day too. Sometimes I imagine I'm reading for jackanory and go all out with voices . Dd likes stories from my head too but I'm less confident with those ones.

Mine always have a story before bed but technology is not allowed after 7 pm so wouldn't use the app for stories. My children love it best when I Make up the stories and do silly voices, polar bears sailing around in a pea pod to find buried treasure etc etc

I haven't got an iPhone and like others prefer to put technology away for bedtime.

I love a rhyming story, and I do the voices. There are a few that my son chooses that make my heart sink (yes Thomas the Tank I'm looking at you!) but we take turns to choose so it's not too painful.

I think anyone publishing a children's book should have to read it out loud. We have been given some absolute dross as gifts, especially Disney tie in rubbish.

We love story time here and I love that my children love books. I was always such a book worm! I agree with Celticpromise above who notes that some books are total rubbish. Most I read with the DC are fab but there are some that I am amazed at in terms of actually being published. I don't think that writing books is easy but there have to be some standards. Testing out with children first is a great idea.

I have not tried the app yet but will do so. I imagine the DC will love it as they look technology but also books. A winning combination! I too would not use it at bedtime though. It would be fine for earlier parts of the day.

Android user here.

We use night time story time to enjoy the classic stories together - it is nice to read something we can all enjoy. A particular favourite has been the Lion the witch and the wardrobe books and I do a pretty mean Aslan! We've also enjoyed Swallows and Amazons recently and that was quite spiffing - lots of jolly jolly voices!

Both my boys love stories and I really like to look of the app, will be great for fuelling stories on the go, I wouldn't use it for our bedtime story time, its paperback books only then ;)

I do put on the silly voices for the stories and sometimes we act out their favourites such as 'going on a bear hunt' =)

Ds, 6, loves the app. We have been reading stories and he makes all the sounds. He has always been a sound effects guy and this is great for him. I guess his only complaint would be, let's have more.

Like others, I wouldn't use any technology at bedtime, but I can definitely see a place for it at other times.

We love getting new books, and I have one friend who always sends books as presents and has excellent taste, so I love those parcels! We do a lot of repetitive reading too, and some books I can read on autopilot, but adding in voices or new characters helps keep it entertaining for me - and checks that the children are actually listening!

I remember vividly my dad reading bedtime stories and putting on all sorts of funny voices, and also adding Big Ears to every story he read - we used to get cross with him, but it always ended up with us all laughing!

The sounds on the Storytime App are brilliant and great fun. DD (aged 4) and DS (22mths) love the sounds and have been having great fun copying them. They are familiar with using electronic sounds to complement story reading as we have a few sound book versions of some popular picture books. Like the sound books I probably wouldn't use the app for bedtime stories as the sounds tend to keep them too lively but we've used them quite a bit in the daytime since I downloaded the app. The Christmas sounds are the most popular at the moment with DD - probably because she is rediscovering all the Christmas stories we unpack along with the decorations.

I love the app and so did my little ones
Will definately recommend ??

The app has really fired up my five year old son's imagination. He loves to write his own 'books' but hadn't been keen recently. Today I downloaded the app onto my iphone and he spent a quiet hour (unheard of!) while I cooked dinner incorporating the Christmas sounds into his new Christmas picture book. His only complaint was that there was no sound effect for the festive crab, warthog and stick insect that his story also featured

DD LOVES stories and 'reading' (she's 3) at any time. As part of our bedtime routine we always read one or two books and then tell what she calls a 'baby story' (not sure where that name came from!) which always begins 'Once upon a time there was a little girl called DD who had a baby brother called X and a Mummy and a Daddy who loved her very much. One day they decided to go on an adventure to...' She helps us make up the stories and is really inventive! We tried the app last night and she was blown away-she loved coming up with new scenarios as excuses to press the different sound buttons and we ended up using all of them in one story which was no mean feat. (Space-going pirates etc meet dinosaurs on horses pulling Santa's sleigh etc...) She really enjoyed it.

I was impressed with the sound quality too and I liked that some of the voices had English accents as most of the apps we have for the children seem to be American. I also liked that the sounds can play over each other and you don't have to wait for one to finish before pressing the next one-it meant we could build up some great sound effects.

Overall very impressed. It definitely added to our usual voices and made a difference to me shouting 3,2,1, blast off!

I've downloaded the app but can't really think of a story to use the sounds. I don't fault the app - I just don't/can't do made up stories. I even find it almost impossible to retell stories I know from memory (3 little pigs etc). I am a good reader though, I use plenty of expression (voices, sounds, movement etc) and we have loads of books so I don't get any complaints on that front.

I always do voices when reading- the children love it!

@4yoniD

I've downloaded the app but can't really think of a story to use the sounds. I don't fault the app - I just don't/can't do made up stories. I even find it almost impossible to retell stories I know from memory (3 little pigs etc). I am a good reader though, I use plenty of expression (voices, sounds, movement etc) and we have loads of books so I don't get any complaints on that front.

Try the one from NOTHS here

I havnt tried the app.
Both dh and I do voices (as our parents did) and enjoy reading to our girls. Although I'm probably the more creative of the two of us dh is possibly better at telling stories out of the blue. Although they are a bit random with Irish blow fishes and leprechauns going on an adventure

My dad used to continue books that I loved from his head, chapters and chapters of sequels I re read a few of them as an adult and wondered where all the other stories were - he fessed up!

I'm not sure about the app, I like the traditional approach using a book and looking at pictures together but maybe I'm just old. I will definitely try the app and have a feeling that my little one will like it equally or even more than a traditional book.

get in the role and enjoy it the kids will interact more and enjoy it with you...also allow the children to have a turn 1. it helps them to progress 2. will give them experience when reading in front of the classroom 3. will give a more enjoyable experience for parents and children

i love to get the boys involved & get them to do the funny voices & actions

Not tried the app yet but plan to! Love reading to my kids, the more animated and excited you are the more they get out of it, its probably my favourite thing to do with them-snuggling up with a good book before bed!

We have read to our son every night since he was a baby. He love that we use different voices for the characters and always asks lots of questions.

He has a love of books & will often bring one down from his bedroom during the day to read with me.

We also take him to the library. He sometimes has strange tastes lol! He once chose a book that was about architectural structures & insisted that we read it to him!

For story telling I try to do different voices and choose interesting books.