Reviewed by Mary
Reading Rainbow is a very familiar name to a generation of American parents who grew up watching the iconic PBS show. For 26 years Reading Rainbow encouraged children to read, and now it is back on our screens – this time as an iPad app. LeVar Burton, who hosted the show, is also back as the host and co-producer of the app. The app is aimed at children from 3-9 years of age and you can create a personal profile for them – including age, gender and interests, allowing the app to personalize the book recommendations to suit the child. When you first open the app you are greeted by LeVar who introduces you and your child to the app through a short video presentation. As well as books, the app contains a series of “video field trips” these are short video clips on a whole host of topics from animals through friends and family, pirates, and more. Some are classic clips from the T.V. series and others are new videos made for the app.
When viewing the app it looks like you are viewing an old-fashioned T.V. screen, with a curved surround and a group of big buttons on the bottom. There are five buttons – one switches the sound on and off, the next contains the video clips, then the magic islands, the sticker book (the child earns stickers for reading books) and finally the child profile. In the main area there are a series of themed islands floating in the air- including Genius Academy, Animal Kingdom, Action, Adventures & Magical Tales and My Family, My Friends. Touching an island will take you to it’s library.
Each library contains all the books and videos in that land, books include both fiction and non-fiction titles from leading publishers such as Kane Press, Sleeping Bear Press and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Books that are recommended for the child are marked with a red ribbon. Touching the book takes you to it’s cover and a brief synopsis of the story, you can then choose whether or not to get the book. With the free app you can explore the islands, watch the videos, and download one story of your choice. To get access to the entire book library you need to subscribe. Inside the book you can choose read to me or read it yourself options. The narration is done by professional actors. When it is being read the entire block of text is enlarged and highlighted, but there is not individual word highlighting. Each story has interactive elements, and a spinning circle shows the child where to touch to activate them. After the story is over, the child can also choose to play a related game e.g. a matching game with pictures from the story. Once the child has read a story they can keep it in their backpack. The backpack is a bookshelf to hold the child’s current favorite books for easy access – they can keep a maximum of five books in it at a time, and can return them to the library to make room for new books. Books in the backpack can be accessed even when you are offline. Each island contains a large collection of books at different reading levels. The app currently contains 150 books and 16 video field trips, with new ones being added regularly. Once they have subscribed, parents can also go to the Reading Rainbow website to see what books their children have been reading, how much time they have been spending reading and even gets hints on how to get them reading more in other areas.
This app has a large library of good quality children’s books and the narration is well done. Including the video clips is a nice touch and brings back some of the feel of the T.V. show. I’m sure seeing LeVar host it will bring back a flood of childhood memories for many people. One additional feature I would like to see added is a label showing the reading level on the front cover of the books. At the moment you can only make one child profile, but the developers are working to add more, which will be a nice update. They are also working on an Android version of the app. The app is targeted at 3-9 year olds, and I would say that is accurate from the current book selections. I like that it includes non-fiction as well as fiction titles. If you remember Reading Rainbow from your childhood, I would strongly recommend downloading the Reading Rainbow app not only for a trip down memory lane, but also for the opportunity to see if it will get your children hooked on reading too. If you are new to Reading Rainbow, then it’s a great time to get acquainted. With the launch of this app Reading Rainbow continues to help a whole new generation of children to fall in love with reading.
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Reading Rainbow
by Reading Rainbow
Category: Education, Books Requirements: Compatible with iPadMini4G, iPadThirdGen4G, iPadMini, iPad 2 3G, iPad WiFi, iPadFourthGen, iPadThirdGen, iPadFourthGen4G, iPad 3G, iPad 2 WiFI Size: 139.23 MB |
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The app is free to download, but to fully access its contents there is a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 or a you can get a six month subscription for $29.99
Mary
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Alison, Amanda, Grace and Mary are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. We also offer the latest news in apps for kids, interesting articles, developer interviews, free apps and regular giveaways!
Not familiar with the show at all – didn’t grow up in the US.
For me it was Playschool and Sesame Street
I remember watching RR as a child with my brother.
HAHA I remember watching it enough that when I read reading rainbow I started to sing the song…LOL
HAHA I remember watching it enough that when I read reading rainbow I started to sing the song…LOL
I loved Reading Rainbow as a child! I grew up with books and having a love of books! I have tried to do the same with my own children as well! We read lots of books everyday!
I remember watching RR as a kid, singing along with the theme song, and then often wanting to go to the library to pick up the book(s) LaVar had just talked about!
I loved this show growing up :)
I remember Captain Kangaroo!! And Bunny and Mr Greenjeans! And I loved Reading Rainbow!
I remember watching reading rainbow with my sister as a kid on our 1/2 days of school.
Nichole loved watching Reading Rainbow with her bog sister, cindy, and now loves sharing it with her caregiver’s kids!
Reading Rainbow was after my time, but I adored Mr. Rogers!
Watching reading rainbow after school and hat always stuck with me is the music, it’s reading rainbow…nreading rainbow…
I grew up watching Reading Rainbow! It was such a good quality show unlike most of what is on for kids today. I would always watch it with my brother and sister and instilled a love in me for books. I am very excited about this app!
I don’t remember it from my childhood (I am too old), but my daughter enjoyed this show. I am sorry that it went off the air.
I used to watch Reading Rainbow as a child and even now when I see a book with the little Reading Rainbow tag on it from a used bookstore I must buy for my son.
I loved watching Reading Rainbow with my daughter. Sorry it’s gone.
I remember Reading Rainbow…but The Electric Company stands out more in my mind. There was a counting song that still sometimes gets stuck in my head!
I used to love reading rainbow as well as Mr. Rogers and the little train ride he did to the land of make believe.
I remember watching Captain Kangaroo – Mr. Moose and the falling ping pong balls was my favorite part.
I remember the theme song and my little sister really liked it :-)
I used to LOVE reading rainbow! So glad there is an app now!
Mysterious Golden Cities : Popcorn and Dad ! Cool
I remember Reading Rainbow but as an Aunt, Teacher not a kid. One show I remember from my childhood is “Big Brother” on channel 4. It was a popular show in Boston in the 50s! His program taught values like good citizenship. Every show we were encouraged to Toast the President of the United States? President Eisenhower’s photo was on the wall, and Big Brother would hold up a glass of milk, while “Hail to the Chief” played in the background. He referred to his young audience as “small fry”, and his closing song was “So long small fry, it’s time to say goodbye…”.
I’m really not that old, but believe it or not we had only 1 tv channel until I was 16, I remember there was a show specially for kids on a saturday morning used to start at 7am, up at the crack of dawn it was the highlight of the week, and the dreaded bosco and re runs (at the time didn’t realise it was re runs cos we loved it) Mr. Ed. and Flash Gordon. O dear I must be old.
I watched this show all the time growing up, I loved it. Was considering purchasing a subscription for my two little girls, but unfortunately right now a single child is tied to the subscription. I think they are supposedly fixing this so you can have multiple kids can have profiles. If/when they fix this I’ll be trying out the 6 moth subscription.
I loved this show! I think I’ll love this app!
Come on and take a look, it’s in a book, a reading rainbow. I used to love this show. Wish it was still around. Maybe it is with this app, but I am not sure I like a 10 dollar a month fee for full access. I remember a show that came on after Rainbow with a mouse in a store. Those were the days when kids shows were fun and creative. Now anyone with a computer can make a show and the content be a little lacking.
I vaguely remember reading rainbow. My memory isn’t what it used to be and it was never good. lol
We love reading rainbow! I grew up with this as a child and now my babies get to experience it too!
My memories are of watching the Muppets on Saturday. We didn’t watch much tv but we always watched the Muppets.