Storytime: Truth & Tales

NEW IN VERSION 1.15.1 Roar like a lion! In The Lion, children can roar into the microphone to fill the roar meter, with a countdown and a "Try Again" button. No microphone? The game switches to a tap-and-time challenge instead. This update also adds more ways to dress up characters (now in The Half Child and The King's Son), smoother coloring with steadier brushes, stamps, and color picker, and more accurate touch. The story preview and home screen are cleaner, with fresh animation polish across The Half Child, The Lion, and The King's Son and a tweak to the Move It-Move It tutorial. We also fixed the intro skipping on first launch, signing back in with a school account, unresponsive taps and a roar that drifted out of sync in The Lion, a waterfall glitch in The King's Son, and an error when closing the app with the subscription screen open. An unexpected review prompt was removed too. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS What is Truth and Tales? Truth and Tales is an award-winning educational app for children ages 4 to 8. It features interactive narrative games based on Teaching Stories, body movement activities inspired by yoga and tai chi, coloring activities, and audiobooks with professional human narration and word-by-word read-along. Designed with input from doctors, educators, and neuroscientists, drawing on research by cognitive psychologist Robert Ornstein, writer Idries Shah, psychiatrist Arthur Deikman, and neuroscientist Paul Zak. Winner of the Mom's Choice Gold Award, a Common Sense Media 5-star rating, and Apple App of the Day. 100% ad-free with no data collected from children. What are Teaching Stories? Teaching Stories are traditional tales shared across cultures for over a thousand years. Unlike fables that teach what to think, or behavioral stories that model what to do, Teaching Stories develop how children think by presenting characters who solve challenges through unexpected solutions. Ornstein's research showed they engage both focused attention and big-picture perception, and Deikman described them as perceptual templates that expand awareness. Each time a child revisits a story, new meaning emerges as their perception develops. Is it good as a bedtime story app? Yes. Every story is also an audiobook with professional human narration (never AI-generated), a calm fit for bedtime and quiet moments. The gentle, non-overstimulating design is a healthy alternative to most screen content for children. Can schools use it? Yes. School licensing includes educator logins, student access codes (no personal data required), and pedagogical guides for every activity. The platform aligns with all five CASEL social-emotional learning competencies, Ontario PPM 169 in Canada, and UK statutory health education. Children explore independently while educators facilitate through open-ended questions. What does it develop? Critical thinking, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, empathy, self-awareness, and the ability to make intentional choices. Movement activities build body-mind integration. Research on social-emotional learning programs shows an 11 percentile-point academic gain on average (Durlak et al., 2011). How is Truth and Tales different from Khan Academy Kids, Lingokids, or Moshi? Truth and Tales uses genuine game-based learning, not gamification. Apps like Khan Academy Kids and Lingokids use points, badges, and streaks; Truth and Tales has no external rewards, so development happens through narrative play. Research shows external rewards can reduce intrinsic motivation over time (Deci et al., 1999). Unlike Moshi or Headspace for Kids, which focus mainly on calming and mindfulness, Truth and Tales develops cognitive flexibility, pattern recognition, and problem-solving alongside emotional regulation. It is built on Teaching Stories, a methodology researched by named scientists for decades. Dyslexia-friendly fonts, a color-blind palette, and subtitles are included.