Sesame Street eBooks- an Online Experience!

Ok, so you know our family loves the feel of books in our hands while we read, but I have to acknowledge that 3 yr olds LOVE to get on the computer and if they're reading and learning, then sometimes ebooks can be the way to go!

Sesame Street, a company known for 40 YEARS of educating kids, recently started their own eBook website, Sesame Street eBooks! The annual membership fee will be $39.99. They have already loaded 100 Sesame Street books onto the website, and there will be more as new titles become available. The categories include:

·  eBooks: Books that allow you to read aloud at your own pace

·  Audio eBooks: eBooks that include fun Sesame Street audio narration, text highlight, sound effects and music

·  Interactive eBooks: eBooks that allow children to interact with the content in playful and educational ways

·  Animated eBooks: eBooks that bring to life beloved Sesame Street characters and stories, in full-color animation 

The site offers an auto-play option that turns the pages for the reader, and text highlighting that visually reinforces the narration in audio eBooks- helping youg pre-readers and readers learn!. The site also provides the option of viewing in Kids Mode, which simplifies the navigation for a child by displaying only the available books while removing parent tips and menus.

The eBook titles cover 19 subject areas including letters, numbers, counting, colors, and cultural appreciation. They are in English AND Spanish. We were given the opportunity to try Sesame Street eBooks for free for a month and darling daughter was eager to check out all the available titles. At the first sitting.  LOL. We settled on 5 for every sitting- I think we got thru ALL the books! 

Among her favorites were:

• 1,2,3 Count With Me - a standard ebook-she really enjoyed counting the animals with Ernie "all by myself". The sense of satisfaction she had in turning the pages by using the mouse (computer ready skills along with hand/eye motion skills!) was a joy to watch! 
• Eat Your Colors- an interactive book- allowed her to select fruits and veggies and move them to the story, along with working on matching colors. She was actually disappointed that it wasn't longer! 
• Animated Alphabet: C- animated ebook-this book contained alot of daughters favorite foods . As it is automated, it's almost like a mini-dvd! I love that there is a book for every letter. You could work your way thru the whole alphabet in one month!
• Get Ready for School: Colors- an audio ebook- this book was excellent in getting her to recognize colors in other things around the room, and was great for producing comprehension outside of the book itself. 

The Sesame Street eBook site is a great resource for parents, especially those of toddler and pre-schoolers, as it gives you access to more books for learning and being on the computer makes it fun and like a game to kids, keeping them interested in learning- always a plus! At under $40 for a one year access, it's very reasonable if you add in the cost of driving to go BUY a regular book, not to mention you have to store the books (another bookshelf anyone?) if you buy them for at home. Not to mention trying to find the books- I know our Walmart only carries a couple of the available titles! AND< I love how you can pull up a book at a moments notice to address a problem, concern, or happening (like going to the doctor!), when YOU need it to help soothe your child! So I highly recommend this site!

Want to check out Sesame Street eBooks? You can for FREE- a rotating selection (weekly) of FIVE eBooks will continue to be available FREE of charge on the site!  So go check them out, I know you'll enjoy them as much as we did!

 

Disclosure / Disclaimer:  I received free access to the Sesame Street eBook website, courtesy of Impelsys,operator of the ebook site for Sesame Street, for review purposes! No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to review it.