Meet Lunii: The Screenless Storytelling Device Helping Kids Develop Vocabulary and Imagination

As a parent of a five year old, it's become increasingly difficult to find ways to entertain my child in a fun, yet somewhat educational way. After hearing my parents preach this for years, I can't believe I'm actually saying it myself, but kids today spend too much time glued to a screen. Back when I was a kid, all my parents really had to worry about was that "evil" television screen, but now there are iPhones, iPads, I this and I that, and my kid wants to see ALL of them.

As a responsible parent (and an old fart, I suppose), I decided to find something that would better stimulate my daughter's imagination and also keep her entertained.

That's when I came across the Lunii My Fabulous Storyteller device. Instantly, I thought of it as a solution to two inherent problems I had—finding my daughter a form of entertainment that didn't require her staring at a screen for hours, and giving her a new set of bedtime stories that I didn't have to monotonously recite every night. Let's just say it's been a blessing for both of us.

So the first thing that appealed to me about the Lunii My Fabulous Storyteller was the fact that it was touted as a screen-less alternative. The way I looked at it, the My Fabulous Storyteller was just a new-age alternative to the series of story time books I used to get as a kid. Actually, it sort of reminded me of my old Teddy Ruxpin, if anyone else remembers what that is. The Teddy Ruxpin was an animatronic teddy bear that you would put a cassette tape in and it would tell you stories while you read along in a corresponding book. I was a big fan of that device (which I thought was totally groundbreaking technology as a toddler in the late 80s), but this thing really blows it out of the water. In a weird sense, I wished I was three years old again. But I digress.

The Lunii device was much more adaptable—not to mention affordable—than I had initially thought. Its true value wasn't in the actual tech though. It was about the lessons and values it provided for both me and my daughter.

In my opinion, the most important feature of the Lunii is the way it unlocks your child's imagination. Instead of television or even traditional children's books that force-feed your child pre-created content, the Lunii lets your kid get creative with a fully immersive, engaging storytelling process.

What I mean by immersive is that the Lunii gives your child an option to choose the hero, secondary character, setting, and objective of their story. It gives them a chance to really get creative and use their imagination when putting together a story. Sure, they're not making their own stories from scratch, but this is certainly a good start.

Extensive Story Library

The Lunii comes with 48 audio stories, but there are thousands more you can download off of the Luniistore. All of the stories are written by professional authors, so even in that regard, it's pretty legit. Although you can download tons of other stories, the options are really unlimited, considering you can mix and match storylines.

The Storyteller also comes with six bedtime stories that came in really clutch for me. As I said earlier, it's really helped me put my daughter to sleep, especially since my hours at work have changed and I now wake up at a little before 4 AM every morning. Considering there are times that I go to sleep before my five-year-old daughter (sad, I know), there are times I can't read her a bedtime story. Luckily, that's no longer really an issue with the Lunii. I can pass out at 7 PM with full confidence that my daughter will be getting her nightly story. Plus, I'm not the most eloquent speaker, so I think it's pretty safe to say the Lunii does a better job at storytelling than I do. Although I do tell a MEAN Green Eggs and Ham. Still though, that gets pretty old, fast.

Other Great Features Include...

The Lunii Storyteller is also great to help your child's vocabulary at a young age. It does an amazing job of essentially teaching children without them even noticing. Most of the stories include vocabulary that is easy enough for young children to interpret, but is definitely more advanced than the average children's book.

Another perk of Lunii that was rather interesting is the fact that it is available in multiple languages (French, English, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Dutch, and German).

One of the best features though, in my opinion, is that it's super travel-accessible. I actually ended up buying the package that comes with the Lunii Octave headset. So when they're in the car, they can just turn on the Storyteller, plug in the headset, and be occupied enough to not ask 5,000 questions. The headphones also come with a set of six stickers, so they can fully customize their Lunii set.

Overall, I'd definitely say go for it if you want your child to get a truly immersive and fun learning experience. As I said earlier, it's almost like you're tricking them into learning, and I mean that in the most genuine way possible.