CreAPPcuentos - Create funny stories

Still in the minority, by far, are apps where children get to create something rather than just play. This is a pity. While children can feel a personal pride at completing an educational game, it doesn't quite compare to the pride that comes from mixing their imagination with their learning to make something that they can show off.

Creappcuentos lets children layout stickers to form scenes that they can bring to life with descriptive text, speech bubbles, and sounds.

The bright and colourful graphics suit the stories really well and their consistent styling means that they form a cohesive whole when put together. There are quite a few different picture packs available for the app and all of them are free.

Characters and items can be overlaid onto the chosen backgrounds. They can be resized and rotated and positioned exactly where they are needed. Speech bubbles and text boxes are placed in the same way and differ only in that when tapped they bring up the onscreen keyboard ready to fill them with words to bring the story to life.

A really nice touch is that sounds can be recorded directly in the app for use in the stories. They can be attached to objects ready to be triggered.

Creating the stories encourages children to think about refining and improving their work. Every scene is easy to edit and they can be re- ordered as new ones are added.

The app is equally useful for children to use at home as it is at school. Parent and child could work on a story together with the parent encouraging their child to further their use of vocabulary. At school children can also be creative with it but teachers might also find it useful for producing some child-friendly exercises. The app has some helpful ideas for teachers built in to it.

The app has a Spanish developer and its supporting website is a mix of Spanish and English. The app itself does not seem to have a selectable language; presumably, it is making a selection based on the device's set language, but this is not flawless, though there are mechanisms by which you can add new text.

Pleasingly, the created stories are not trapped in the app. If a child has gone to the trouble of creating something of which they are proud, they will want to share it. The app allows the stories with their artwork and speech bubbles to be emailed in pdf format. This could be a really nice way for children to contact a grandparent or other relative.

An alternative use for the stories is to turn one of the pages into a jigsaw. A tap of a button and a selection of the number of pieces break the page into traditionally shaped pieces that children can put back together.

Creappcuentos is a really well thought out and executed app. It does a great job of showing children that they do not just have to consume content but can be creators too. While exercising their imaginations with this app they will be building their literacy skills. As it is a free download, parents and schools should get this app straight away and see how their child enjoys making their own stories.