Congratulations for being a parent who considers their children's reading material.
This page is a longer version of the Parents page in the Frog's Princess website.
Who should play Frog's Princess?
- Boys and girls aged 9 - 12 years
- Boys and girls aged 5 - 8 years reading with a parent or carer
- Reluctant readers - Frog's Princess serves as a bridge between videos and reading
- People who are practising English
- Deaf readers
- Readers with impaired vision
- Readers taking strong medicine who would like to make bald heroes like them
Content warnings
- Fantasy: the setting is Medieval but some items are anachronistic, such as a telescope
- Magic: the villain is a shape-shifting witch and the hero has golden magic
- Kisses: there are 3 kisses but the mouths are not shown
- Violence: this story includes violent magical confrontations but no blood or gore
Epilepsy warning
In Chapter 1 Scene 1 the vines shiver so fast they may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
In Chapter 9 Scene 5 there are bright flashing lights from the witch attack which may also trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
In Chapter 9 Scene 5 there are bright flashing lights from the witch attack which may also trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy.
Motion sickness warning
When players scroll through the pages in the Contents, the pictures move very fast and can cause motion sickness.
SOLUTION: keep hold of a page button and move it, rather than flicking it.
SOLUTION: keep hold of a page button and move it, rather than flicking it.
How do I help my children play?
During playtests, it was the children whose parents played with them who became most engaged with the story.
General game play instructions are on the Frog's Princess How To Play page.
Personality design
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When a speech balloon shows, it means there are 10 speeches to choose from. These are based on different personalities.
Encourage children to scroll through the different speeches available. The choices show your child there are different valid responses in each situation. Ask your children which character they like best - they tend to start with the fun characters and then tire of them. HINT: dialogue between Emma and Francis makes better sense when they have the same character type as each other. |
Contents
Encourage children to click the Contents button to look at the different chapters and scenes in the book.
Being aware of where you are in a book is a good habit to get into when reading. Gold outlines show which pages have been visited. Gold frames show which pages players are currently on. Some contents are overlaid with heads showing they are only available in the other storyline.
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In this contents page, we are in the Frog Storyline, as indicated by the Frog on the left of the Chapter row. Princess heads show that Scenes 1, 2, 3 and 4 are only available in the Princess Storyline. These are pages where the frog is not present and conscious.
This is a practical introduction to the literary concept of Point of View - pages are only shown when a character is present and awake.
Sound
Press the Home button, then press Settings, to access the Volume controls.
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Show children how to make a different sound mix.
This raises awareness of the difference between dialogue, sound effects and background music.
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Text
Keeping the Voice Text on shows what the characters are saying. Reluctant readers start reading ahead because they are impatient to find out what happens.
Keeping the Sounds Text on shows what sound effects are playing. It is generally only used by deaf players.
The flag shows which spelling is being shown. Click the flag to change it. |
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Buttons
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The Narrator is designed for people with vision impairment who like to hear descriptions of what is happening on the page.
The Tutorial gives hints about game play in the first scene of each book. Once players know how to play the game, it can be turned off. The Buttons button turns off every button except the home page. This gives better screenshots. The game can still be played but Contents and the Mirror won't be available. The Screen Reader reads out all the buttons in order. If you have experimented with it and you want to get out of it, you need to navigate back to that button and double tap it or press Enter. The How To Play page has detailed instructions about how to escape this accessibility feature. |
Saving different versions
As they play, children are creating a story with heroes looking and speaking the way they want them to. All choices are saved.
Children can stop at any time and start a new story, or go back to an old story, by going to the Library in the Home menu. All finished pages are saved.
A good hint to tell your children is to put 'Emma' or 'Francis' in the name of the book, so they know which storyline it follows. |
How can I share this with my child?
Children react to the strong emotional fairy tale elements - a daughter trying to evade evil without the help of her mother, older sisters who don't respect their younger sister, a father who has to be taught to recognise his daughter's worth, a loyal servant who sacrifices himself for his prince, a young prince alone in the world facing impossible odds to rescue his servant, a boy and a girl discovering they can talk to each other.
Talk about the story
- Ask your children what was the saddest thing that happened.
- Ask them what was the funniest thing.
- Ask if they would do things differently if they were Princess Emma or Prince Francis.
- Ask them which prince or princess personality (speech balloon choice) they are most like.
Think about family members
There are 10 personality types for the prince and princess, although we have given them alternate names here.
The 10 types are:
| 0 | Traditional |
| 1 | Idealistic |
| 2 | Kind |
| 3 | Charming |
| 4 | Artistic |
| 5 | Investigating |
| 6 | Guard |
| 7 | Fun |
| 8 | Commanding |
| 9 | Patient |
- Ask your child which personality they think you are most like.
- Can your child think of a personality for each family member?
Ask relationship questions
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Family values
via GIPHY
Talk about gender issues, such as:
- Why does the first prince think girls should not use strong magic? Is he right?
- Why does the second prince think he needs to save a princess? Do you think Hilda would appreciate being saved?
- Does the King treat his daughters the same as he would if they were his sons? Should he?
Discuss ethical questions from the Teacher page.
Craft activities
Fan art
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Encourage your child to create fan art for Frog's Princess.
Put their first name on it, and state/province and country, if you like. Email the picture, music, or poem to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. We will not pay for it. We may post it on this page and we may take it down at any time. If we post it, we will take it down if you email us again and ask us to. |
Story writing
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Write a family version of the Frog Prince fairy tale on Frog's Princess journal pages.
US sized journal pages to print Frog's Princess title page US letter size Frog's Princess lined page US letter size Frog's Princess blank page US letter size Australian sized journal pages to print Frog's Princess title page Aus A4 size Frog's Princess lined page Aus A4 size Frog's Princess blank page Aus A4 size |
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Origami
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Make an origami frog for each family member and write their name on it.
See who can make their frog jump the furthest. (The following links take you out of the Frog's Princess website). http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-frog.html http://www.origami-fun.com/origami-jumping-frog.html http://www.origamiway.com/origami-frog.shtml |
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We hope you enjoy sharing this story with your children.
Other games for children
Other games for children
Andy Robertson's Family Video Game Data Base, https://www.taminggaming.com/, gives excellent advice about video games for children. Andy has also published a book called Taming Gaming for parents which even has recipes for how to play each game! https://www.taminggaming.com/book. For those that don't know, Andy Robertson is a freelance video game journalist who has written for ForbesTech, the BBC and the Guardian. Andy's Twitter address is @GeekDadGamer.
Ask About Games is another website providing information about video games for children. https://www.askaboutgames.com/top-family-video-games-2020.
Ask About Games is another website providing information about video games for children. https://www.askaboutgames.com/top-family-video-games-2020.