RIVERSIDE, Calif. – How can hanging out in a tent could improve your child’s math skills and other core learning? 

One father has developed a new way of telling stories…it’s a mobile app used within a storytelling tent. 

Like many parents, Taylor Cole loves reading to his daughter, Tessa, and often her friends, Zoey and Juno as well. 

When he’s not sharing children’s stories, Cole works as the Chief Technology Officer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Norco. 

He’s also on the U.S. Skydiving Team and has a love for adventure that includes base jumping. 

Using some of that recycled parachute material he developed a learning tent for families he calls 'AvA.'  

"You simply connect the story we've written with an app on your smart device and watch the tent light up, prompting your own imagination," Cole said. 

It works like this—you connect the AvA app to your smart device, choose your story, and begin reading.

And simply follow the cues. When you read, you’ll see a prompt in the book that matches the app buttons. The tent then activates. 

The experience combines technology with something known as MDI, minimally defined immersion, to spark creativity and learning in all four hemispheres of the brain. 

 Fine story details are stripped away and replaced with lighting and sound effects to engage a child’s imagination. 

When he’s not reading stories, Cole can often be found on the sewing machine, putting LED lights on tents he plans to sell.  

AvA is a collaboration with the experts at Burble Creativity: award winning writers, theater professionals, engineers, and of course parents like Cole.