Did you ever dream of becoming a detective? My daughter and I have been reading Nate the Great and the Crunchy Christmas by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and Craig Sharmat. We kept the experience going all weekend with more books, activities and detective apps.

This funny series features the adventures of a pancake-loving kid detective and his kooky friends. I always wanted to grow up to be a detective, and love watching my daughter discover her first mysteries. The ending of this book always makes her laugh.

In Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age, I collected stacks of books and apps that parents can use with kids. You can find more recommendations on this site or subscribe to my free newsletter for parents.

When the Nate the Great book is over, introduce your kid to the free Alien Assignment app. They can be a detective like Nate the Great, taking pictures and exploring the backyard as part of a cosmic scavenger hunt.

Finally you can play the “Find Sludge” game at home. Download and print this picture of Nate the Great’s dog, Sludge. Your kid can color the picture and you can hide it all over the house.

Let your kid be the detective, giving them clues like “Sludge likes to hide under soft objects.”

I call this kind of activity a “Born Reading Bundle.” I encourage parents and caregivers to explore all kinds of media: good old fashioned books, eBooks, apps, educational TV and quality movies.

To build healthy media diets, I created a number of Born Reading Bundles–reading experiences that combine materials across media boundaries.

Born Reading Bundles are basically a combination of print books and multimedia activities you can share with your child, making sure they learn how to use all the resources available to 21st Century kids.

With this simple method, you can turn a child’s favorite topic into a complete learning experience.