Lantern: Light the lantern. Make up the tale together.
Children love stories you make up together more than any book. Lantern is a magic lantern that deals heroes, places and troubles for a bedtime tale invented on the spot.
A magic lantern for bedtime. Light it, and slides of painted glass come out one by one: a hero with a job, a place, a magic thing that can do something, a trouble, a helper. Nobody knows who it’ll be tonight. Then the phone goes face down and the tale is told by voice, not read off a screen: turn the phone over for a twist, a candle says when to finish, and the lantern goes out to the sound of rain. Free, no ads, no account, no internet permission.
Download the APK · Stillcraft page · Source on GitHub
What’s inside
Hundreds of slides
42 heroes in 28 jobs (Lamplighter Mouse, Captain Fox), 34 places, 48 magic things with 40 powers, 38 troubles, helpers, quirks, twists and quiet endings. Shadow-puppet cut-outs after Lotte Reiniger, drawn in code.
Face down
Lay the phone face down and the screen goes black: the tale is told, not watched. Turn it over and the lantern deals a twist: it started snowing buttons, a door appeared in a tree.
The grown-up’s card
Stuck? Hold the card for the next step of a folk tale after Propp (a warning, the rule broken, the helper’s test, the gift) and a question to ask the child. Hidden until held, so nobody reads ahead.
Candle, turns, the quiet ending
A candle burns down to the ending. Tell it round the table and a soft bell passes the tale on. Then an ending slide, a name for the tale, and rain, the sea, crickets, a fire or wind, made on the phone, while the lantern dims.
A world that grows
Old friends from earlier tales come back, places light up on a night map, and every evening with a tale brings a parcel with one rare slide. The child can paint their own glass with a finger.
The shelf and the morning
Every tale kept with its glass, a few lines and, if you like, the recording; sequels with the same hero; a little book to print. In the morning, three questions to tell it back. And a code for a parent far away: both phones deal the same glass.
What comes out of the lantern
| Glass | For example |
|---|---|
| Hero | Postie Hedgehog, Queen Frog, Sleepyhead Dragon |
| Place | The Night Train, the House in a Teapot, Under the Bed |
| Magic thing | A ball of yarn that always shows the way home |
| Trouble | The moon has gone from the sky (or, not scary at all: the socks are missing) |
| Twist | The villain turned out to be just lonely |
Good to know
Why face down?
Because the point is the tale, not the screen: a glowing phone before sleep is the last thing a child needs. The lantern only deals the glass; the voice is yours.
What if I’m no good at making things up?
Hold the grown-up’s card: it walks through the steps folk tales have always followed, and gives you a question for the child, who will usually take over.
Can it be less scary?
Yes. Troubles come in three levels, from lost socks to a grumpy giant, and little ones get no trouble at all.
Where do the recordings go?
Only on the phone, next to the tale. The backup file keeps tales and drawings; recordings stay where they are.
Get it
- Requires: Android 9.0 (API 28) or newer. No Google services needed.
- Permissions: Microphone only if you choose to record a tale. No internet.
- License: MIT
- Download the APK on your phone.
- Open it and allow installs from this source when Android asks.
- At bedtime, light the lantern and lay the phone face down.
Download the APK · Stillcraft page · Source on GitHub
Lantern is part of Stillcraft, a shelf of small, free, open-source apps for everyday life: no ads, no accounts, and your data stays on your phone. A new one appears here every few days.
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