TapTales

Guides

A story about your family's holiday traditions

A guide · about fifteen minutes

Every family does the holidays its own way: the food, the lights, who comes to stay, the thing you always do on the first night. Small children love knowing what's coming, and a short story of your family's traditions tells them, in order, in a voice they know. Make it from last year's photos before the season starts, and read it together as the day gets closer. It works for Christmas, Diwali, Hanukkah, Eid, Lunar New Year, or whatever your family celebrates.

The story

For example, for Diwali:

  1. “Soon it will be Diwali, the festival of lights!” Last year's lamps.
  2. “We clean the house and make it ready.”
  3. “We draw rangoli by the door with coloured powder. You can help.” Last year's rangoli, and their hands in it.
  4. “Nani and Nana come to stay.” A photo of them arriving.
  5. “We light the diyas, one by one, and the whole house glows.”
  6. “We eat sweets. Your favourite is the gulab jamun.”
  7. “We watch the fireworks from the window, and then it's bedtime. Happy Diwali!”

The same shape works for any holiday: getting ready, the decorations, who comes, the food, the special thing you do, and bedtime.

Make it

Tap + on the shelf, choose Tile by tile, set the tiles to match your pages, and tap Start. Tap each tile's picture and then Add a photo (TapTales Plus), and choose last year's photos. Then tap each tile's microphone and say that page. The words fill themselves in as you speak. There's more on each step in the memory book guide.

TapTales' New story sheet: All at once, or Tile by tile set to six tiles, with a Start button.
Tap +, then Tile by tile.
The Pick a picture panel over a tile, with Add a photo at the top and emoji below it: animals, then outdoor things.
Tap a tile's picture, then Add a photo.
Grandma's Garden in the editor, recording as Mom: the first tile, with a photo of sunflowers and its words, is listening, with a red stop button.
Tap a tile's microphone and say that page.

Let the family tell their part

Grandparents often know the traditions best. Add them in Settings → Family sharing, and they can record pages on their own phones: how they celebrated when they were small, what the song means, why the sweets are made that way. If they'd tell it in another language, see stories in your family's language.

TapTales Settings, Family sharing: Add someone to your family, with a note that someone on All sees every story and someone on Limited sees only the stories you pick.
Settings → Family sharing.

After the day

Swap in this year's photos, and it becomes a memory book of the holiday. With TapTales Plus, press and hold the story and choose Save as a video or book to send it to relatives who couldn't be there, or to print it. More on that here.

Ideas

  • A countdown: one tile per sleep until the day, each with one thing you'll do.
  • “Why we celebrate”: the story behind the holiday, told simply, by whoever tells it best.
  • Two families' traditions: one half from each side, when the holidays are split between homes.
  • A first holiday for a new baby, told by a big brother or sister.
  • The song or prayer, a line per tile, so they can learn it.

Questions

When should we make it? A week or two before is good. The photos from last year are usually in your library already.

We don't have photos yet. Leave a tile on the picture TapTales chose from the words, and add the real photo after the day.

What does it cost? Recording your own voice is free for three stories. Photos on the tiles and saving as a video or book are part of TapTales Plus. See pricing.

More guides

Make one in TapTales