There’s a big trend in children’s apps this year: apps that want kids to be creating their own stories, not just reading other people’s. Now Sesame Street is getting in on the action.

Elmo the Musical – Storyteller went live on the App Store yesterday, offering the chance to “dive into Elmo’s imagination and create your very own silly stories of adventure together”. That sounds good. It’s based on a specific element in Sesame Street’s TV show apparently.

Your child gets to choose Elmo’s costume, create scenes with backgrounds, characters and objects from Elmo the Musical – including putting their own face in if they like – and then record themselves telling the story, before watching it back.

Sesame Street reckons the app will help children think about basic story structures, and encourage them to work together with friends to come up with the most creative tales. Meanwhile, it suggests parents may wish to join in the fun, and share the results with friends and family.

It sounds very good. Elmo the Musical – Storyteller costs 69p on the App Store for iPad only, although that’s an introductory launch price, so it’ll go up at some point.

We said this was part of a big trend for apps that get children creating stories, so what are the other recent examples? Try Toontastic Jr. Shrek, Toy Story: Story Theater, Creativium – Paper Theater, Toonia Storymaker or Ben 10 Comic Creator on for size.