Mama Tells A Tale app for iPhone and iPad
Mama Tells a Tale- An audio-only iPhone app designed to let your child listen to stories in your voice!
So you have a 2 year old who loves to listen to the same story again and again and again and again...
But there is a human limit to how often you can repeat the same story...
So what do you do...
Given that you own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you download Mama Tells a Tale (MTAT).
It is a simple voice-recording app that spares you the repetition syndrome, as I call it.
So then how does MTAT work?
1. You record a story in your own voice
2. You edit it i.e. put in sounds from the inbuilt directory of sounds wherever you need
3. You title and save it
4. You enjoy peace of mind!
So next time you are out of town or your 2 year old is bent upon listening to the same Bear story for the nth time you just hand him your iPhone or iPod Touch!
Why MTAT?
Because...
No matter which story telling application you download from the net, it does not replace you.
You know your kid the best. You can adapt a story to his level of understanding.
Your voice is far more soothing than a pre-recorded alien sound.
You are the only one who knows his vocabulary. Your child may be calling a bear a boohoo.. or a forest a ungle (baby-version of "jungle")... the readymade storywallas would never know it... They cannot!
Not everybody knows English... this app is a bliss for the non-English speaking world (and trust me there is a huge one!)
Even those who know English are not necessarily born in UK or US and are not really familiar with their accent! A familiar accent is just sooo necessary for a kid.
And MTAT is for lullabies as well. And man, you really cant have someone from the other continent sing a lullaby to your child!
MTAT is for ...
Mothers who want to sleep instead of repeating the same story again and again!
For working mothers or out-of-town mothers
For fathers who can never really replace the mother but can use the app to temporarily settle down the kid.
For all family members who cant sing mama-like lullaby
For grandparents who are not with the child often but would want to know what kind of stories the child listens to. (Have the mom record it once and let the child listen to it while he falls asleep in your lap!)
How is MTAT different from other voice recording software?
Firstly it is childproof!
Being a mother I too first tried recording my stories on the inbuilt voice memo in iPhone. Had almost half a dozen stories in them and one fine day my dear 2 year old was fidgeting with the phone and coolly deleted all of them ... kept pressing all buttons that popped up and there went all my stories!
So you see in MTAT it is not a childs play to delete a story! After all it is your hard work. You wouldnt want to lose it to some random act!
Secondly it has an in-built directory of over 50 sound clips. So next time you want to create a jungle effect with a braying beast in the background you can easily do it!
Moreover you can form play lists here and put them in a loop so you dont have to worry about restarting a story. It keeps playing.
And MTAT allows you to edit a story unlike the voice memos!
Why doesnt MTAT have a visual input?
Because being a mother I know that kids don’t sleep while they are visually engaged!
You need to shut their senses down to put them to sleep...
You need to switch off the lights, lessen the sounds and detach him from the world.
Moreover MTAT is about giving you the power. To shorten or lengthen a story as you like it. To highlight or miss out points as you like it... a visual element would make MTAT just like any other story telling app.