Create a Peek a Boo Book with Keynote for the iPad

Peek a boo slide with 2 strips removed.

Peek a boo!

Peek a boo is an entertaining, engaging, relationship building game.  Hiding and guessing games are always a hit with children.  Peek a boo books have a cover that is cut into strips and each strip is removed one section at a time to reveal the picture beneath.  I have created many of these books and found the very time consuming to create.  My purpose in using these books was usually related to vocabulary building. This activity infuses some novelty while providing the needed repetition to learn targeted words.  The books are visually engaging and parents always seemed to enjoy using this type of book with their child.  I recently discovered how to create a technology enhanced version of this book using Keynote on the iPad.  Unfortunately, as of when I posted this, Keynote on the iPad does not allow for recording so audio can not be added.  Therefore, this activity is not intended for learning centers or self directed time.  Instead, this is an activity tailored for two or more, an adult and child or children, engaging in this activity together, just like a book.  It could be used as a teacher led group activity.  This type of format lends itself to targeting describing skills and processing skills by giving the child a clue each time a strip is removed.  For example, when using the loon picture in the video, the following clues were given, “it is has feathers and lives in the water”, “it swims fast and eats fish”, “it is Minnesota’s state bird”, “it is a loon”.  A variation of this activity would be to provide a related video on the next slide.  In a home based setting, this activity would work well for labeling family members and household vocabulary. 

To create a slide, choose a blank slide and add your picture.  Add a shape, choosing the square.  Resize the square into a rectangular strip.  Repeat this until the picture is covered.  Choose the first strip and select "animate", then "build out" and select a transition, I chose "dissolve".  Repeat this process for each strip.  Press the play button to preview the slide.  You can change the order the strips are removed.  Continue this process until you have your book created.  

Here is the video describing how to create the slide on the iPad. The video includes a few shortcuts to help speed up the process.  

Note:  Creating the slide/presentation on the desktop version of Keynote is very similar.  On the desktop, you can create a recording for the presentation.  You could give the clues and the name of the object.  This variation would work well for a center.  A laptop could be used at center time and the student could use it as a self directed activity.  I tried to transfer a presentation created with a recording on a Mac to my iPad.  It transferred but without the audio, blah!  If you have Powerpoint and want to create a similar presentation/book, Gayle Lovely provides a revealing powerpoint template on her site.  Happy creating!