I have so many memories of library visits as a kid. I would pick out more books than I could fit into my arms and sink into a big bean bag chair and read through as many as books as possible—the rest I’d take home.
The magic of books is that they have the ability to take kids wherever they want to go—whether it be to a fictional land or undersea. FarFaria, a new storybook app for kids ages 2 to 9, channels that same library experience and takes kids to digital lands such as Fairy Tale Falls, Preschool Playground, Mt. Make Believe, Looney Lagoon, and more where they can access an entire library of books from the fort they made in their rooms or on the way to school.
The app’s homepage shows kids which books have been newly added (FarFaria adds new books weekly), and recommends titles through categories, including What’s New, Most Popular, Favorites for Back to School, or genres that fit kids’ unique interests such as Healthy Habits. The more books kids read on FarFaria, the more tailored their homepage becomes to what they like—almost exactly how Netflix does it, but with books!
Another great feature is the Favorites feature which serves as a storage space where kids can download and find all of their favorite stories. I know when I was little I couldn’t sleep without hearing my mom read me Guess How Much I Love You, so this feature makes finding kids’ go-to stories a piece of cake. The other best part is that once a story is downloaded into the Favorites section, kids can read that story offline—or when they’re not in wifi. The beauty of this really comes in when kids and families are on the go. If you’re on a long road trip and there’s no signal for miles, kids will still have access to all of the the stories that they “favorited”—it’s magical.
Overall, there are more than 750 stories in the interactive world of FarFaria. With each story there are beautiful illustrations and crystal clear text. On the cover of each story, there’s a number which indicates the reading level so parents and kids will know which stories are best suited for them, based on a scale of 1 to 5.
In addition, with each story kids choose there’s the option to have the story read aloud as they follow along, or they can read to themselves. I love this option because it encourages kids to read independently instead of relying on Mom and Dad to read to them—although there will always be a time and a place for that.
