Thursday November 20 2008 12.17 GMT
Noddy on Windows Live Messenger: Mr Men and Paddington Bear are also set to be adapted for the tool
Bedtime stories may never be the same after the launch of an online tool to let parents and children who cannot be together share classic tales.
Built by entertainment company Chorion for the Noddy stories, Time for a Story lets parents and grandparents contact a child through Windows Live Messenger and lead them through a digital version of stories about the character.
Chorion is initially releasing three Noddy stories through the application, with more planned. Mr Men and Paddington Bear are also scheduled to be adapted for the tool – although they may target at an older age group than the two- to five-year-olds Noddy is aimed at.
It is thought grown-ups in their 30s may also sign up for a dose of nostalgia based around their favourite childhood characters.
Time for a Story, developed by agency Digital Outlook, is being promoted through the Mumsnet community website, which took part in a trial of the application, and also on the MSN website, which gives a demonstration of the tool.
Users in the UK can access the stories through the "activities" tab in Windows Live Messenger. Parents control the speed of the story by clicking through pages, while the child can interact with pictures and words on screen for each part of the story.
"The kernel of the idea was from a producer who was working late a lot and not getting home to speak to his child, and ended up talking to them through IM," said a Chorion spokeswoman.
"There's no way we're saying this should replace that one-to-one contact or reading to a child while you are there, but we are trying to create a tool that allows parents or grandparents to interact with the child in a meaningful way when they can't be there."
The spokeswoman added that the tool provided a structure to the conversation through the form of the story – which would allow even very young children to benefit, and because instant messenger enables video chat it provided an emotional connection.
