Boldium’s subsidiary company, BookBoing, just released its first iphone app for  kids. As parents, we have found that too often, learning is separated from any meaningful context - both in the classroom and in most computer games. In the classroom, kids are often given worksheets with abstract problems they don’t really care about; and on the computer, they are usually motivated by symbolic money or stickers.
 
This led us to the idea of "story-based learning." The magic of stories gets kids entranced, and then, every few pages, kids are asked to help the characters figure something out in order to move the story forward. Kids thus develop intrinsic motivation to solve problems because they want to help the characters out. And when kids have trouble figuring things out, the narrator gives hints that help kids develop the concepts necessary for solving the problems.

We built the app using the content management system, Drupal, so that it will be easy to create more stories. In fact, we are planning to release another one in a few weeks!
 
The first app is called Gigi and Frank: The Birthday. The story is charming. We were lucky to have a wonderful Swedish illustrator, Goran Stojkovski, do all the illustrations. And it follows the Kindergarten Curriculum Standards for California.
 
Check it out: http://www.bookboing.com