15 Augmented Reality Books for Kids
What are Augmented Reality Books
Take your child’s favorite story book, put it in motion, and watch as your kids interact and become fully immersed in a reading experience like no other. That, my friend, is the concept of augmented reality (AR) books. Traditional texts are being merged with digital technology to bring the stories alive. Kids use an app on a tablet or smartphone to interact with the characters throughout the books – watching animals move, characters seeming life-like, and sounds enhancing the learning experience.
You already know the benefits of exposing kids to new books. Now, imagine if you could get them to spend more time with books using digital pictures, videos, or audio clips to enhance text. Augmented reality books for kids brings the love for reading to life!
Here are 15 augmented reality books for kids – broken down into must-haves for preschool and kindergarten, non-fiction, fiction, and coloring book categories. These books are great for in the classroom, at home, or as fun gift ideas for kids.
3 Must Have Augmented Reality Books for Preschool and Kindergarten
ABC Animals Alphabet in Motion
Bring the alphabet to life through text, illustrations, audio, and video. Android and Apple users can access a free augmented reality app to make learning the alphabet so much fun! Your kids preschool or kindergarten aged kiddos will learn the letter names, and discover facts about the animals as they come to life with live-action video.
ABC Fun with Mickey: A Disney Come-to-Life Book
All kids love Mickey Mouse! Let their love for Mickey, books, and video, come together to create a fun, interactive, learning experience.
Let’s Learn Counting 123
Your kids can practice numbers and counting with 11 different interactive character experiences. This would be a great augmented reality book for preschoolers.
Non-Fiction Augmented Reality Books for Kids (Ages 4-10)
Ocean Monsters
Interact with life-size sea predators! Ocean Monsters is full of information to teach kids about some of the strangest and biggest ocean animals. Use the AR app to bring sharks, spider crabs, giant tube worms, squid, and deadly jellyfish to life!
Space Race
This is the story of space exploration to the moon and beyond! Whether you are teaching about space, or supporting your kids interest in space, Space Race, by Ben Hubbard, is the perfect augmented reality book about space. Use the AR app to get 360-degree interactive experience with the spacecrafts in action! This would also be a perfect gift for kids who love space.
Bugs
For all of our bug-loving kids out there, this augmented reality book about bugs is perfect for them! Your kids will interact with the creepy crawly bugs in nature. Use the AR app to get a closeup look of bugs, and make them crawl or fly across the room.
Daring Dinos
Watch the dinosaurs pop from the pages with this augmented reality book about dinosaurs! Dinosaur names are often hard to pronounce, but with the help of the AR app, kids will be pronouncing them in no time.
Reptiles and Amphibians
This is one of the highest rated interactive, augmented reality, books on amazon!
An amazon review says: “ My boys (6 & 9) love watching the T-Rex, the rattlesnake, and the chameleon eating the grasshopper. And my 11 yr old daughter especially likes the frog anatomy page. It’s really amazing how you can see the frog in 3D and then move your phone through it in mid air to see the internal organs.”
Fiction Augmented Reality Books for Kids
The Three Little Pigs
If you follow me, then you know I couldn’t resist an augmented reality fable or nursery rhyme book. Teaching kids how to read using poems and nursery rhymes is my absolute favorite! Check out my 115 Top Picks for Poem of the Day blog post.
Your kids will love watching the classic tale of The Three Little Pigs come to life with this interactive story book!
Toy Story Woody’s Augmented Reality Adventure
Bring all of your kid’s favorite characters from Toy Story 4 to life! My daughter was so excited when this came in the mail! She loves books, Toy Story, and playing on her tablet, so this was a sure hit!
Ernie’s Wish Trail
This is a children’s picture book that used augmented reality to enhance the reading experience. Go on a journey with Ernie, the butterfly, to learn a beautiful life lesson. When Ernie becomes a super-hero, your kids are sure to get a good laugh 🙂
Tom Swift Inventors’ Academy
This is a great augmented reality story book for older kids (ages 8-12). Tom Swift Inventors’ Academy is a story about how a friendly rivalry becomes an intense competition among the kids.
Augmented Reality Coloring Books
Bring coloring to a whole new level with these augmented reality coloring books. The kids color the pages with traditional means, such as crayons and markers. Then, once done, the AR brings their coloring page to life. Here are 3 of Crayola’s Color Alive augmented reality coloring books that would be great for at home, or during indoor recess at school.
Color Alive Minions
Disney Frozen Color Alive
Crayola Avengers Color Alive
Conclusion
Augmented reality books are becoming the most desired books for kids. As long as technology works on your side, these books become a beautiful combination of text and digital information. The kids become fully immersed in a story line, or information, where they can interact with the characters and take learning to a whole new level. I’m excited to build on my daughter’s collection of these books, and I hope you’re excited to build your collection of augmented reality books for kids, too!
Before you go, here are a few blog posts you may enjoy:
21 Best Educational Apps for Kids
5 Fun Science STEM Kits for Kids
100 Things to Do At Home With Kids