Smories: Stories for kids read by kids

A writer friend of mine and mum of two forwarded on this link with a note: 'why didn't I think of that?!'.

Smories are a website that you could use to keep kids entertained in the back of your car, as the press release says. In fact it was something dreamed up by a couple with kids on a long ride through the Kalahari desert. Simply, they've filmed children reading stories for kids and it's conveniently sorted by age-appropriateness. What I found more interesting is that they accept new stories from writers the world over and you can have them read - ergo, free publicity for budding writers who still get to keep rights.

Kids do make really good readers, putting in a lot of emotion into their reading. I know my daughter will drop what she's doing to see what another child is doing, especially if it is something interesting.

It's only been about two weeks since the launch and the press release says 35,000 videos have been watched. Maybe some of that demographic are mums - even I watched transfixed some of the readings on the site.

Seminar on safe downloading - Apr 26

I'm doing some writing for another unrelated project for World IP Day but I think this event could be useful in teaching kids about responsible Internet usage. There's a "dedicated programme for the first 100 children (7-14 years old) where they will explore the i-Space gallery at the Singapore Science Centre with our very own "Detective IP"."

As I've learnt, around the world they're starting to target primary and middle-school kids because kids these days are on the Net so early. See Hector's World. In the UK Wallace and Gromit have been drafted to promoting innovation to 9-11 years olds.

Getting on Facebook

Act3 has its own facebook page! Children's theatre is finally taking its community to the Internet. Even the Arts Festival's Kidfest has its own facebook page.