Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

You might be interested in a new study published this week by the journal Pediatrics which emphasizes the importance of the quality of kids programming and further substantiates the value of educational media. The study found watching a snippet of a SpongeBob cartoon negatively affected 4-year-olds’ attention spans while watching a more realistic PBS KIDS cartoon, Caillou, did not.

University of Virginia researchers divided a group of 60 4-year-olds and randomly divided them into three groups. One group watched a 9-minute clip of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” a second watched a 9-minute clip of “Caillou,” and the third drew pictures for 9 minutes instead of watching television.

Immediately afterward, the researchers tested what psychologists call “executive function” in the children, and found out that the PBS and picture-drawing groups performed equally well on the tests; the SpongeBob group scored significantly worse.

You can find an MSNBC.com article on the study here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44460161/ns/health-childrens_health/

Or, go here for the original study: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2011/09/08/peds.2010-1919

This sounds like so much fun, I had to write about it although if you don’t live in or near Minneapolis, it’s not something you’ll get to do.

In celebration of Barbie’s newest DVD, “Barbie™ Princess Charm School,” girls and their families will have royal fun with a Barbie™ Princess Charm School stage show and learn princess-worthy manners and etiquette in a fun and interactive setting. Girls will even have the chance to meet Barbie herself. 

Princesses-in-training activities will include:

• Princess Assistants to help girls practice their princess manners
• A coloring exercise to teach girls how to set a table for a proper princess party using place mats they can color and take home
• Make-up artists / face-painters to help Barbie® princesses-in-training get ready for their graduation photos
• A chance to meet Barbie® herself
• A play area to practice manners using Barbie™ Princess Charm School dolls

Performances are at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.mallofamerica.com/.

Saturday, September 10, 2011; 10 am – 5 pm

Shows will be held at 11 AM, 1 PM and 3 PM                      

Mall of America – Nordstrom Court

This question was posed to the Kids Marketing Group I belong to on Linked In. What To Do With The Kids Special Report posed this question and received suggestions from hundreds of people from around the world with more than 300 different books recommended.  I found that all but of the books suggested have been released to DVD and most are included in our KIDS FIRST! Top 100 list. Here are the top 10 suggested: 

  1.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  2.  Stone Soup by Marcia Brown
  3.  The Giving Tree by Shel Siverstein
  4.  The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
  5.  Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
  6.  Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
  7.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
  8.  Charlotte’s Web by Elwyn Brooks White
  9.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. & John Archabault
  10.  Green Eggs & Ham by Dr. Suess

Goodnight Moon was produced by HBO Home Video (2005) in a wonderful version with guest stars such as Susan Sarandon, Tony Bennet, Natalie Cole, Billy Crystal and Patti Labelle. The kids and celebs collaborate in presenting classic bedtime stories including, the title story, Goodnight Moon. It’s truly an evergreen title. Weston Woods/Scholastic also created an anthology that is distributed through New Video and contains Goodnight Moon, A Creature Was Stirring and Gladys Goes Out to Lunch.

The Velveteen Rabbit has been produced by a number of companies. Last year, in our Film Critics Search Campaign, we featured the one starring Jane Seymous and Tom Skerritt, directed by Michael Landon Jr, produced by Feature Films for Families and distributed by Anchor Bay.

Where the Wild Things are was released as a feature film by Warner Bros and is now available in DVD or Blu-Ray. There is also a shorter version included as part of an anthology with other Maurice Sendak stories (The Nutshell Kids and In the Night Kitchen) produced by Weston Woods and available through New Video. There is also a version from Rabbit Ears narrated by Meryl Streep (2003).

Stone Soup was included in an anthology released by Weston Woods called, The Amazing Bone and Other Caldecott Classics. Other book based videos included are Where the Wild Things Are and Googles.

The Curious George books have been turned into many DVDs and are available through Universal both as a TV series and as DVDs. Recent DVD releases include: Curious George Goes Green, Curious George: Follow that Monkey!, Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas, Curious George: Beats the Band and More, Curious George: Camping with Hundley, Curious George: Sea Monkey. Weston Woods also includes it in an anthony which includes Curious George Rides a Bike, The Great White Man-Eating Shark, Flossie and the Fox, The Happy Lion and Cat and the Canary.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar was released by Disney in 2006 as part of an anthology of Eric Carle’s most popular stories including Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, The Very Quiet Cricket and I See a Song. It is also included in the HBO DVD Goodnight Moon and Other Sleepytime Tales and New Video’s Strego Nona…and More Caldecott Award-winning Folk Tales (Scholastic Video Collection 2004).

Charlotte’s Web, the classic story of loyalty, trust and sacrifice was released as a feature film by Paramount i 2007 starring the young Dakota Fanning with Julia Roberts playing the voice of Charlotte. It is available in DVD and Blu-ray.

Chicka Chicka Boom is offered as part of a collection through New Video which includes four animated children’s books  (Trash Town, Rosie’s Walk, and the Caterpillar and the Poliwog) produced by Weston Woods.

Green Eggs and Ham is part of the Seuss collection released by Universal that includes The library says that it contains:
The Cat in the Hat, The Lorax, Pontofell Pock and His Magic Piano, Green Eggs and Ham, Sneetches, Zax, Grinch Night, The Grinch Grinches and Cat in the Hat and The Hoober-Bloob Highway.

If you are a new parent or grandparent or well-meaning auntie or uncle, your efforts to wow the child in your life will be well rewarded by including some or all of these to your DVD library. All are available online at amazon.com.  

This summer has been such fun! After spending a week with 15 kids at KIDS FIRST! Boot Camp, we are now prepping to launch KIDS FIRST! Coming Attractions – a weekly radio show hosted by six KIDS FIRST! Film Critics, ages 8 to 14 – Ny’asia Bell, Anthony Aranda, Sam Connan, Gabriella Chu, Raven Devanney and Makai Weber Colvin.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that these six critics won a spot as a KIDS FIRST! Film Critic through our national competition last year.

Since January, they have been reviewing new films and DVDs, attending Red Carpet events and premieres and interviewing talent on and off the Red Carpet. On KIDS FIRST! Coming Attractions, our youth film critics will be reviewing the latest film and DVD releases, interviewing talent and other guests and sharing their experiences as a KIDS FIRST! Film Critic.

Bookmark Voice America Kids now! http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1950/kids-first-coming-attractions

Next Tuesday, Raven Devanney and Anthony Arranda will be reviewing the films, Mars Needa Moms and Winnie the Pooh which they just viewed while attending the Red Carpet premiere at our KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Boot Camp on the Disney lot in Burbank. AAnd, they will be discussing what other films they saw and people they met while attending Boot Camp.

Also on next week’s show, a review of Who is Simon Miller, the new made-for-TV movie from P&G/Walmart and an interview with one of its stars, Drew Koles who plays the role of Kevin Miller. The movie will be broadcast on Saturday, August 6 at 8E/5 C on NBC. 

Synopsis: When unassuming geologist Simon Miller (Loren Dean) mysteriously disappears one night, the Miller family is thrown into a desperate search to find him. Simons wife Meredith (Robyn Lively) and their two kids, Sarah, 18, and Kevin, 15, frantically search Simons office for information. When they find a stash of passports, all with Simons picture but each with a different alias, they realize that their father has been keeping more than a few secrets. Who is Simon Miller? And what has he gotten himself and now his family into? Not sure they can even trust the dad they thought they knew, the Millers embark on an international mission to get him back. Its a heart- pounding adventure that tests the limits to which families will fight for each other.

DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD brings together a group of today’s leading creators of children’s media and educational technology. The series was developed by the acclaimed Fred Rogers Company in association with Out of the Blue Enterprises.We’re very excited to be creating a program that builds on Fred’s legacy in such fresh and innovative ways.  Fred knew that school readiness skills are the foundation for academic achievement, and a full life, and now a growing body of research confirms this,” said Bill Isler, President of The Fred Rogers Company.

Fred Rogers revolutionized children’s media with MISTER ROGERS’ NEIGHBORHOOD, and DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD continues on this path of innovation, helping the next generation of young children learn and grow in new ways,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS.  “Joining the PBS KIDS family of series that cover important curricular areas like literacy and science, DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD fills a critical gap in children’s media today: modeling the behaviors and habits that kids need in order to excel in formal learning settings – essentially, learning how to learn.  It’s important for kids to learn pro-social skills like cooperation and listening, so that when they start school they are able to focus on the material at hand.”

The executive producers of DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD are Kevin Morrison, for The Fred Rogers Company, and Angela Santomero, cofounder of Out of the Blue Enterprises and the creative force behind the hit PBS KIDS literacy series SUPER WHY!.  In addition to this key partner, The Fred Rogers Company is joined by 9 Story Entertainment, bringing award-winning animation capabilities to the production, and top game designer Schell Games, which will spearhead the series’ digital educational applications.

DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD joins the PBS KIDS line-up of cross-platform content for kids ages 2 to 8, which includes a host of top-rated series including THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT!, CURIOUS GEORGE and WILD KRATTS.  With a transmedia approach, PBS KIDS is increasingly serving children wherever they live, learn, and play – on TV, online, through mobile devices, in the classroom, and through a new line of educational toys.

PBS Foundation has received a $250,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations to support PBS KIDS GO!’s robust digital playground of videos, games, mobile experiences, and other interactive content for children.  The grant will fund the continuation of innovative digital technology experiments and research in educational gaming for school-aged kids. 

 “PBS KIDS GO! was created for school-aged kids, who we know have limited choices for media content that is age-appropriate, fun and educational,” said Lesli Rotenberg, Senior Vice President, Children’s Media, PBS.  “Through this initiative, we have developed engaging interactive content for kids that puts them in the driver’s seat, allowing them to explore and learn in a safe interactive environment. This grant will allow us to continue this important work.”

The grant will fund website expansions, game development, research, and PBS station and producer support for PBS KIDS GO!.  Upcoming projects include new short-form episodes of existing web-originals such as FIZZY’S LUNCH LAB, new site features to enable users to customize their experience on the site, and more content on new media platforms, such as mobile devices and interactive white boards.  Much of this content will be evaluated through educational impact testing and will help PBS produce content that serves a broader age-range of children as they build their reading, math and science skills.

PBS KIDS GO! is constantly experimenting with new technologies to help drive educational impact for kids,” said Jason Seiken, Senior Vice President, Interactive, Product Development and Innovation, PBS.  “We’ve had great success so far, and we’ve seen particularly significant growth over the past year. Unique visitors on PBSKIDSGO.org are currently up 30% year-on-year, and average time spent on the site is up 23%. And PBSKIDS.org has been the #1 kids entertainment site for free videos streamed for the past nine months. As PBS KIDS GO! continues to gain momentum, we will continue to look for ways to experiment and innovate across platforms to help increase learning.”

PBSKIDSGO.org includes the PBS KIDS GO! video player, which features over 3,000 video clips from PBS KIDS GO! series such as WILD KRATTS, ARTHUR and WORDGIRL, and averages 4.8 million streams per month (Google Analytics). The site also features four web-only series as well as in-video games and companion gaming sites for television programs.  Additional site features include the Webonauts Internet Academy, an internet safety site for kids, and the “Secret Box,” a customizable space for kids to store their own creations.

Support from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations will build upon the significant investment in PBS KIDS GO! from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).  PBSKIDSGO.org was initially funded by and continues to receive support through contributions from CPB.