With everything in our modern culture that works against our kids and their relationship with God, it is encouraging to find companies and products that are striving to work together to build our faith in God with modern day inventions. Planet 316 and WorthyKids/Ideals are doing that very thing with their Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App so we were excited to get to review it!
We were given the Planet 316 Story Bible that has over 100 stories from both the Old and New Testaments written in a child-friendly, read-to-me format. There is a complete Table of Contents at the beginning that is helpful for jumping to a story. There is a People, Places and Things in the Bible Index at the back that is a great perk for young readers finding their way through the Bible. The illustrations are bright and colorful with a lot of fun mixed in. The innovative part of this product is the free downloadable app that comes with it. For every story, the app reveals the images in an augmented reality that pops off the screen and, when clicked on, the characters speak often with other sound effects. It is a neat combination of technology and finding ways to connect with the Biblical stories better. The kids are always excited to use technology and immersing themselves in scripture at the same time is a win-win, for sure!
The Planet 316 Story Bible App is available in the Google Play store and the Apple App Store, though we had some trouble at first getting the sound to work on our iPad mini. It requires a device with a camera and we finally determined that it works best on newer hardware like smart phones or newer model tablets. In some cases, just making sure your device has had the latest update will suffice.
The other thing we encountered was the logistics of holding the device over the book in order to get the app to work properly while holding the book open (since it was a new book, some pages wouldn't stay open on its own). To activate the images, the device has to be a certain distance (not too close) from the page. It is easiest as a two person job where one holds the book open and the other works the device. As long as they took turns appropriately, it worked fine. If I was using this with just one (small) child it would most likely require my continual involvement.
The Planet 316 Story Bible and App is a fun, innovative way to interact with the Bible. Modern advancements are a part of our way of life these days, no matter the side effects they sometimes bring. With this new technology and their mission to spread God's Word through it, it's even more exciting to wonder what Planet 316 and WorthyKids/Ideals will think of next!
Keep Up with Planet 316 on Social Media:
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Planet316/
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/planet_316 Tag: @planet_316
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