With a huge array of ICT products out there to choose from, Tim Rylands reviews the latest releases

The Gingery Boy I-Fly Book
Shoo Fly Publishing

This animated book takes a dark look at one of our favourite traditional tales, 'The Gingerbread Man'. We began by sharing the animated book, The Gingery Boy (from £35) on the interactive whiteboard. Set in a snowy, monotone landscape, music and animation of shadows lends a sinister quality, which engaged my class. We moved on to exploring the story using Shoo Fly’s suggestions of making shadow puppets slotted onto plastic forks to explore character traits, and by galloping around as panto horses, plodding panto cows and slinky, sly old foxes to the soundtrack of the Gingery Boy!

We developed our own versions of the story using whiteboard activities, which include book pages with and without text. Finally, we printed out and made a class copy of Shoo Fly’s Animated Book and our own class version, complete with fur-fabric pages! Call 0191 519 1800 or visit www.shooflypublishing.co.uk for more information.