My Fabulous Storyteller Review – Children’s Storytelling Device
We were recently lucky enough to be asked to review ‘Lunii My Fabulous Storyteller’ which is a little portable storytelling device for kids. It’s beautifully designed in retro colours (I love that it looks French – they are beautiful designers for children!) and it is a perfect toy for travelling. My Fabulous Storyteller comes with 48 stories preloaded but you can also download the ‘Good Night Stories’ set for free, which is an additional six stories. There are also plenty of other story packs that you can purchase so it’s a great toy that will have longevity. I love that ‘My Fabulous Storyteller’ is only focused on stories and is emission free. Children will enjoy it because it feels like a technical device but actually it’s screen free and helps them learn to listen to a story rather than always have images to focus on.
When you turn on the device your child can choose who they would like the story to be about – Ben or Susan. They can also choose where they would like the story to take place for example in a a castle, in the sea or a forest as well as an object that will feature in the story. This reminded me of the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ series of books I had as a child and my kids really loved this aspect of the My Fabulous Storyteller. Which kid doesn’t like creating their own story? They took turns choosing different characters and settings and I don’t think they repeated a story the whole afternoon as there is so much choice. I wasn’t sure that my 8 year old would be interested in the Lunii but the element of choice meant that he was and liked playing around with different characters and locations to see what story he could create.
How to use the Lunii: My Fabulous Storyteller
The Lunii is so easy to use. My 3 and 5 year old could use it straight out of the box with minimal explanation. It’s very instinctive and there are minimal controls. I also like how the ‘My Fabulous Storyteller’ feels sturdy for a toddler to use. On the front of the Lunii is a cute LED picture which changes depending on the story option chosen. It’s like a glowing character which my kids loved! The device is charged via USB, and you can listen to it as it is or if you are in the car or on a plane you can attach earphones for some peace and quiet! The Lunii Store also sells matching headphones which makes it the perfect travel accessory because it’s light and you don’t have to carry around any additional cartridges for the stories. The battery would last for a journey or for several nights bedtime reading because a single charge will last you an amazing 10 hours!
My Fabulous Storyteller: A toy that helps develop creativity and reading skills
Although it obviously doesn’t replace bedtime reading with your child, as a teacher, I was impressed with how the Lunii could be used to improve vocabulary and support a child’s reading journey. The stories are easy to understand for a child aged 3+ but also use creative and imaginative vocabulary which enabled my 5 year old to learn some new words. For example, ‘decay’ and ‘transparent’ were weaved into the stories skillfully. As it’s commonly known that ‘reading and writing float upon a sea of talk’ (Brittan) I feel fully confident that using the Lunii alongside regular reading will help develop a child’s vocabulary. The Lunii can also help develop creativity. Orla, aged 5 went to write her own story once she had listened to the ‘My Fabulous Storyteller’. Spoken language is the first, most important resource that children as writers will have so listening to the Lunii can help develop children’s spoken and written language, as well as social skills and self confidence as they act out the stories afterwards. I think the Lunii would help kids internalise a bank of story language patterns and structures that will help them in the future as they learn to create their own stories.
In addition, as kids get older and they begin to learn languages, you can download the stories in different languages so I can see how it will be a toy that will be used for a good many years to come!
Lunii Review: Things we love about the Lunii
- It’s cool, chic design.
- It’s soft to touch and easy to hold but also a sturdy design for a toddler
- It’s an educational toy which helps support reading
- It entertains kids aged 2-8 (although 3+ will be able to operate themselves.)
- It’s very simple to use
- It’s easy to charge and doesn’t take batteries
- There is a headphone socket
- It’s screen free! There is no screen so it develops listening skills.
- You can go online and download new stories, so it has longevity as a toy.
- It’s an easy size and is very light to take on the move.
- The Luniistore has stories in different languages including Spanish, French, German and Italian so it can support older children learning languages.
- The stories are good value for money because they range from $3.90 to $22.90 per album.
- The Lunii stories cover every theme from pirates to space to baking – so there is something for everyone!
In our opinion, the ‘My Fabulous Storyteller’ is a great toy for fostering imagination and giving your child the gift of storytelling. You can buy the Lunii Storytelling Device from their store or from Amazon.
If you’re looking for other gift ideas to inspire kid’s creativity – here’s our favourite list of creative kid’s books or our list of top STEM inspired toys and gifts.
