KIDS FIRST! News

Bedtime should be a special time for any child according to our friends at Sesame Street. And no one understands this more than Elmo himself. As I watched “Sesame Street: Bedtime With Elmo,” I recognized many of the issues children around the world face when it’s time to get some rest in the evening. A few days after watching the title, I had a chance to speak with Elmo himself.

According to Elmo, one of his favorite parts of going to sleep is listening to his dad’s lullaby. He finds it’s very important to have a routine. For example, he brushes his fur, then brushes his teeth and reads a book and gets tucked in. When I asked Elmo what his best piece of advice was for children having a hard time going to sleep, he suggested that they sleep a something special. He sleeps with Baby David.

When Elmo’s friend Abby came to visit him, he learned that she was scared to go to sleep because of the dark. Elmo said he thought it was fun helping others, like when he helped Abby play a game with the light so she would get used to shadows and realize that light comes from all around us — from things like street lights and the moon.

Browsing through the Bonus section of “Sesame Street: Bedtime with Elmo,” I  enjoyed looking through picture books and listening to Andrea Bocelli sing with Elmo. This was also a highlight for our little red, furry friend.  He giggles about the experience and exclaims about how wonderful it was, because, “He’s (Bocelli) so nice!”

Elmo asked me to leave children with the message that it’s important to sleep. Or even have some quiet time. It should be a time that you can enjoy.

Enter the KIDS FIRST! Sweepstakes to win your own copy of “Sesame Street: Bedtime With Elmo.” Your entry must be received no later than July 31st, 2009, 12:00am. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries.

In response to the phenomenally successful first round of quboPic premieres that aired this past winter, qubo, the TV and online entertainment service for children and families, will debut a second round of user-generated animated short films on qubo Channel as well as on qubo’s broadcast blocks on ION Television, NBC and Telemundo beginning Thursday, July 16.

Thousands of young animators from across the country logged on to qubo.com to create short animated films using an innovative storytelling web application called “Zimmer Twins”.  qubo selected fourteen films to be to be converted into fully animated mini-movies for national broadcast.  qubo producers will re-master each film, converting it to high-resolution video with broadcast quality color, music and sound effects.  qubo has also enlisted character actors to record the dialogue  and narration written by the animators in their text bubble scripts.

The “Zimmer Twins”, Edgar and Eva, are animated characters featured in interactive cartoons that kids can create from scratch, modify and share with their friends in a rich, safe web environment. The “Zimmer Twins” section on qubo.com includes storytelling tools, pre-made animated clips and simple editing instructions that tap into kids’ inherent love of stories.  The clips and storytelling prompts explore classic kid themes like science, animals, magic and adventure.  The animation interface is designed around the basic elements of sentence structure, and reinforces reading, grammar, and writing techniques. After creating their stories, users can post and share their creations and even vote for their favorite user-created submissions online.  In 2007, the “Zimmer Twins” won the International Interactive Emmy® Award.

“We were thrilled with the response to our first round of quboPic premieres and can’t think of a better way to honor and thank our viewers than by launching a second effort, “said  Rick Rodriguez, president and general manager, qubo.  “We are proud to showcase the creativity of these talented children on our air. The “Zimmer Twins” helps reinforce qubo’s mission of engaging children’s minds while promoting reading and literacy.”

The nighttime routine gets a little easier when “Bedtime With Elmo” debuts on DVD July 7 from Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street.  It’s bedtime on Sesame Street and like all little children, Elmo doesn’t want to go to sleep yet, he wants to play.  Elmo’s daddy and the Sesame Street gang explain why everyone needs sleep, even little monsters, and address timeless issues from learning to relax, falling asleep alone and being afraid of the dark.  Focusing on a core learning matter many parents struggle with, “Bedtime With Elmo” combines clever and familiar bedtime situations with engaging stories, lullabies and humor to illustrate to children just how important it is to get a good night’s sleep.  Featuring appearances from favorite Sesame Street characters including Abby Cadabby, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch, Zoe, Telly Monster, Rosita, Baby Bear and more, Bedtime With Elmo also features Andrea Bocelli singing “Time to Say Goodnight.”

Cartoons help make learning fun, even for kids who struggle with reading. Did you know that financier Charles Schwab was dyslexic and passed his literature classes by doing book reports based on comic-book versions of classic stories? Jim Davis, creator of the Garfield comic series, incorporated the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation SparkTop.org content with the Professor Garfield Foundation programming in 2007 to create a fun website where kids go to have fun and learn. The programs are designed specifically for children with learning and attention problems, although all kids benefit from the free edutainment.

“One of the unexpected joys of being in this line of work has been hearing from the parents of children who learned to read thanks to the Garfield comic strip,” said Davis. “After nearly 30 years of doing the strip, we’ve heard this often enough that we’re convinced the strip is a great teaching tool – the simple combination of words and pictures stimulates learning. That’s why we created the Professor Garfield Foundation and the Professor Garfield website. We all learn in different ways, or as SparkTop.org says, ‘No two brains spark alike.’ It’s very gratifying that the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation elected Garfield to carry on their vision. It’s a responsibility we take seriously. It will encourage us to redouble our efforts to help kids grow and learn.”

This Memorial Day, fans young and old across the nation can celebrate heroes with Super WHY! – Hurray for Heroes, a special two- hour marathon airing Monday May 25, 2009 on PBS KIDS® (check local listings).  Super WHY! – Hurray for Heroes will delight preschoolers with two debut interactive episodes and two returning favorites, featuring the page-turning storybook adventures of Super Why and his fellow reading superheroes as they unveil what the power of reading can do.  The special event also features never-before-seen live-action interviews in-between the episodes in which real kids share their thoughts about what it means to be a hero. 

The special Super WHY! – Hurray for Heroes TV event kicks off a jam-packed summer of reading-powered fun that also will feature special Super WHY! theme weeks, online games and free downloadable materials designed to help families reinforce the literacy skill building lessons within the series and help nurture their own “super readers” at home.        

“We created Super WHY! to provide kids with superhero role models they can relate to – who show them the power of reading and that they, too, can look for answers to life’s challenging questions and problems within books,” said Angela C. Santomero, Creator and Executive Producer of the series.  “Memorial Day provides a perfect opportunity for us all to reflect on and honor all kinds of heroes and we’re delighted to bring Hurray for Heroes to PBS KIDS.  The summer months are also the perfect time for preschoolers to hone their budding reading skills and we’re pleased to offer a number of great ways for them to do so all summer long.”

In the action-packed, two-hour Super WHY! – Hurray for Heroes TV event, Super Why and his heroic storybook friends help a fairytale knight face his fears in the launch of George and the Dragon, travel “over the river and through the woods” in Little Red Riding Hood, jump into a book for an interactive island adventure in the debut of The Swiss Family Robinson, and show a stranded princess how to rescue herself in Rapunzel.

Leading up to the on-air event, PBS KIDS will feature an all Super WHY! video player at pbskids.org/video where children can view their favorite clips from the show.  Kids can also play fun reading games on the Super WHY! Web site which will launch the new Wonder Red‘s Freeze Dance Rhyming Game (http://pbskids.org/superwhy).

The storybook adventures continue in June with the kick-off of a “super” special summer reading campaign that will engage kids and caregivers through Super WHY!’s interactive Web site at pbskids.org/superwhy, and through thousands of libraries across the U.S.  Throughout the season, week-long Super WHY! Reading Camps will boost the early literacy skills of preschoolers in communities from coast-to-coast with learning-rich activities, games, and music.   In August, PBS KIDS will focus on a different Super WHY! character each week and feature never-before-seen episodes of the top-rated show.

Reading is power and Super WHY!  is the only preschool property created to help kids learn the fundamentals of reading through interactive storybook adventures.  Produced by Out of the Blue Enterprises in conjunction with Canadian-based Decode Entertainment Inc. and C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures Inc., the series has a fresh, groundbreaking multimedia aesthetic – with a winning combination of two- and three-dimensional animation formats, adorable characters and immersive environments.  The program represents a unique approach to preschool educational television, featuring a team of superhero characters with literacy-based powers, who jump into books to look for answers to everyday preschool challenges.  The home viewer is the superhero sidekick, who is encouraged and empowered to participate in the reading fun by playing research-based literacy games.