Disclosure: We received a copy of this book in order to review it. All thoughts are our own. Post also contains affiliate links.

Reading is one of our favorite activities. The kids get excited over new books, and they also enjoy playing games and interacting with books on their tablet. Blending physical books with bonus interactive activities on a mobile device is a great fit for them.

We received Olaf Wants a Birthday, one of the Disney Imagicademy editions of Incredebooks to review. In Olaf Wants a Birthday, Olaf thinks about all the fun things he could do to celebrate his birthday and decides he wants a birthday everyday! (My kids would also like to have birthday parties everyday.)

In Mickey and Donald’s Rhyme Time, Mickey and his Clubhouse friends help Donald write a lovely poem for Daisy. Even the talented Toddles cannot provide the right rhyming words so Donald has to solve the problem himself through perseverance and hard work. (I’m thinking the Mickey Mouse one would be a great birthday or Christmas gift for my son.) Anyway, we first introduced this new book at bedtime, but without the app. I love that the book stands on it’s own without using a tablet. The app is truly an added bonus to take the story to another level of fun.

The app is available on iTunes and Google Play; however, it may not work on all Android devices. We were not able to install the app on the kids’ tablet or my husband’s new phone. It only worked on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4. My daughter was disappointed because it means she can only use it when I don’t need my phone. Hopefully a future update will make it possible to work on all of our mobile devices.

After installing the app, I was prompted to scan the beginning of the book. There are a few pages within the book with special snowflakes in the corner. Holding my smartphone over those brings up a 3D scene based on that page of the story with a rhyming game. Rissa said her favorite was opening the present to get a word, then finding the object that rhymes with that word. Sometimes it was awkward to hold my phone just right above the book and play, but overall my daughter enjoyed it.

See the 3D augmented reality in action!

Features of the Incredebooks app:

• Take a photo with Olaf!
• Explore Olaf’s 3D birthday world interactively in four different environments.
• Change viewpoints by zooming in and out — and rotating the 3D story scenes 360 degrees.
• Play rhyming games with Olaf at the beach, in Elsa’s palace ballroom, in the woods and in the meadow.
• Tap “Frozen” objects to trigger animations and funny rhymes.
• Play a word matching game while searching for rhyming words in birthday gifts.
• Search Marshmallow’s forest for objects that rhyme.
• Pop Olaf’s floating word pods whenever a rhyming match is found.

My nearly 3 year old son likes hearing the story and looking at the pages, but the rhyming game with the app was a better fit for my 5 year old. You can’t really “lose” which is a plus, especially for the younger one. If they keep tapping around, they can eventually pick the right answer. My daughter was more interested in finding the right answers since she is learning how to read. It’s a great way for them to hear and see rhyming and non-rhyming word pairs.

A variety of Incredebooks are available exclusively at Target and make a great gift for the little book lovers on your list!

Giveaway!

Thanks to Mercury Connects and Disney Imagicademy, one of our readers will win an Incredebook!

Prize: One copy of the book, Olaf Wants a Birthday

Eligibility: Winner must be a U.S. resident 18+ years or older. One entry per household. Winner will be randomly drawn from comment entries and emailed. Winner will have 24 hours to reply with mailing address or a new winner will be drawn.

To enter: Leave a comment sharing something YOU love about birthdays by 11:59PM CT on 12/8/15.

Darcy Zalewski

Darcy is the founder of “Life With Darcy and Brian,” where she combines her love for education, board games, and crafting to create engaging learning experiences for kids. Her creative projects and writing have been featured in outlets like The Toy Insider, CafeMom, Mom.com, Parents.com, Country Living, and The Pioneer Woman.