KIDS FIRST! News

If you want your child to think you are the hippest parent around, you’d better jump on the app bandwagon now! Apps are available for all kinds of mobile devices and will keep the kiddos entertained when you are busy, or give you something fun to play along with them.

“Mibblio” is an app just for your iPad or iPad Mini. Perfect for the music lover in everyone, and sure to hold any pre-schoolers interest. Interactive and full of options, KIDS FIRST! Critic Canela Roey says, “For me, making the music is fun but some of the songs also demand me to dance!” and especially likes that you can add your own music and change it.

“Mibblio” (app for iPad and iPad Mini)

Reviewed by Canela Roey

Click here to see Canela’s full video review!

I like making music and I like watching funny videos. Now with Mibblio, I can do both of those at the same time.

“Mibblio” is an app for the iPad and iPad Mini where you take a story with existing music and you get to add your own musical taste to it. When a song is played, pictures move along with the music telling a story; simultaneously, you create your own musical experience by adding and removing instruments. You can either take away one existing musical sound or all of them. You can also add your own music at the same time. When it’s your own music, you have a keyboard and a choice of eight different instruments from wood, wind and string. Along the side of the screen you can also add 6 different string instruments as well as 10 percussion sounds. The possibilities of musical fun are endless.

The App is free and comes with one song to get started. There are eight other songs to choose from which cost $1.99 each. Fortunately, the free song is playful and catchy and a great way to throw yourself into the game. But there’s such a range of great songs with the other eight, you’d be cheating yourself for not at least trying just one more (or two or three or four or five or six or seven or eight.) One of the most fun songs for me was “On Top Of Spaghetti.” It was a song I knew and the pictures and music were funny, but also it was very inviting for me to join in and make it my own. “Wheels On The Bus” was a fun choice as well because you have a kiddie standard which you can dissect and reassemble into an entirely new experience.

For me, making the music is fun but some of the songs also demand me to dance! That’s a plus. The open-endedness really lets me be in control, which I like. It’s pretty simple to catch onto but if you’re younger than 7, you’ll probably need a grown up to show you the ropes.

The idea is very creative. The drawings are sweet and endearing and each song has its own look and feel. For example, one song, “Millie And Her Curly, Whirling Hair”, was sort of sad and the pictures were black and white, which complimented the emotion.

This is something I wish I had when I was younger! I’d recommend this app to ages 4 to 7. While I liked it, I think the kiddie song choices and unlimited creativity is perfect for the younger ones as I found myself getting a little tired of it after ten minutes or so. However, I could definitely see a younger child having loads of fun playing this game! My seven-year-old sister loves this app. She said, “I love music and that’s what I like to do!” So for younger kids, I give Mibblio five out of five stars.

The “Mibblio” app is available for the iPad and iPad Mini for free from the iTunes Store. I strongly recommend you get this app as your youngster will fall in love with it.

On the heels of the success and industry recognition for its innovative format with the “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” and “The Princess and the Frog” read-along applications, Disney Publishing Worldwide announces the availability of the “Toy Story 3” read-along app on the Apple iPad. Children can join Woody, Buzz, their pals, and a crew of new toys on the adventure of a lifetime in this fully interactive reading experience packed with eye-popping 3D effects, exciting games, sing-along tunes, multi-touch surprises, puzzles, and coloring pages. Children can hear the story read aloud, record their own narration, or explore at their own pace. “We are thrilled to expand our library of fully interactive read-along iPad apps with yet another blockbuster title,” said Yves Saada, Vice President, Digital Media, Disney Publishing Worldwide. “The read-along apps are a unique combination of Disney stories, fun activities and cutting edge technology, making these apps the first of their kind for children.”

In the Disney-Pixar feature film, “Toy Story 3,” which hit theaters on June 18, 2010, Buzz, Woody and the gang face an uncertain future as Andy gears up for college.  When the toys unexpectedly land in a room full of untamed tots who can’t wait to get their sticky little fingers on them, it’s pandemonium as they try to stay together, ensuring “no toys get left behind.”

Toy Story 3 iPad Application Highlights:

·         This cinematic, interactive storybook app features characters from Toy Story 3.

·         Two interactive reading modes allow kids to follow along as the story is read aloud, or explore at their own pace. Children can also select ‘Younger Reading Mode’ to simplify page turning.

·         Kids can see the story pop off the screen with fantastic 3D effects. Free 3D glasses are available at Disney Stores, available exclusively in the United States and Canada.

·         Children can play exciting games based on scenes from Toy Story 3.  Kids can watch Woody soar above the town, help him to safety in “Hang Glider,” and have a blast with Buzz as they overcome thrilling obstacles in “Falling with Style” – also in 3D.

·         Children can record their voice reading the story and hear it played back as narration.

·         Children can tap characters and objects for sound effects and fun surprises.

·         An interactive coloring feature that lets kids finger-paint and share their masterpieces with friends and family.

·         Kids can sing along to songs from the movie.

·         A visual page index allows kids the ability to jump to their favorite page.

·         Children can turn pages manually and move back and forth through the story as they wish.

The “Toy Story 3” app for the iPad is $8.99 and comes with a one-month free subscription to disneydigitalbooks.com. Consumers can download “Toy Story 3” directly from the App Store on the iPad or at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id377544475?mt=8.  The “Toy Story” read-along app, the “Toy Story 2” read-along app and “The Princess and the Frog” read-along app can also be directly downloaded from the Apple App Store.

When “Imp in the City” hit the KIDS FIRST! screen, the only negative critique was that it was too short, and people wanted to see more. Now they have their chance. Young Marc Carrizo and producer Dawn Westlake recently released “Imp in the City: Part Deux” to the film festival circuit.
Behind the Scenes:

In the original “The Imp in the City”, 15-yr-old Marc Carrizo choreographed

About the Music:

Gregory Johnson moved to Los Angeles from his native Philadelphia after winning a screenplay award for his feature script Shredding Steel in late 2001. Completely self-taught, Greg is one of a new breed of finger-style guitar players that have been redefining the acoustic guitar–how it’s played and the sounds it can make. Greg is
now enjoying a career in both film composition and screenwriting. Currently, he is splitting his time between Los Angeles and Sydney, Australia where he is writing an animation project and several feature projects with FX directors for Warner Bros. He won the award for Best Score on Dawn Westlake’s A Life of Death at the Inventaunfilm
Festival, Lenola, Italy in May 2006.
To hear more samples of Greg’s music: www.youtube.com/acousticlabs

A new neighborhood awaits preschoolers and fans of all ages at PBSKIDS.org/rogers with the redesigned “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” website, full of new activities, video clips and memorabilia. In addition, 26 favorite episodes will be part of the national PBS KIDS Saturday morning broadcast lineup beginning September 12 (check local listings) and will be available to stream online later this fall at PBSKIDS.org/rogers for fans to enjoy whenever they want. “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” also recently launched a new game on the PBS KIDS PLAY! subscription service (PBSKIDSPLAY.org) featuring Daniel Striped Tiger and will premiere a mobile application later this fall.

“Fred Rogers paved the way for children’s media more than 40 years ago, and we are proud to continue to work with Family Communications to ensure his legacy evolves alongside new developments in media and technology,” said Sara DeWitt, Senior Director, PBS KIDS Interactive. “PBSKIDS.org continues to increase in traffic, with an average of 9 million unique visitors a month. It’s clear that kids love our games, and that parents and educators view our content online as a trusted and fun learning experience.”

“At Family Communications, we continue to hear from adults about what “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” has meant in their lives,” said Kevin Morrison, Chief Operating Officer, Family Communications, Inc. “The core values of the series — kindness, civility, reassurance and inspiration — have helped many strive towards being the best they can be. We are excited to continue to infuse Fred Rogers’ values in new platforms with new generations of children.”

The new Web site features an expanded video inventory from “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” including virtual field trips with Mister Rogers to visit a penguin exhibit, a dinosaur museum exhibit, an art museum, a pediatrician’s office and cellist Yo-Yo Ma, along with the ever-popular factory visits. The site also encourages parent-child interaction with Parent Tips on every screen to help adults understand what their children are working on through their Web experience.

In the all-new Neighborhood of Make-Believe area, children can explore two new environments — inside Lady Elaine’s Museum-Go-Round and Daniel Striped Tiger’s clock.
In the Museum-Go-Round – never depicted before on TV or the Web - children can create artwork of their own, make a kaleidoscope, or just delight in the simple joy of discovery as they make things spin and go up and down.
Inside Daniel’s clock, Daniel Tiger is getting ready for bed, offering an open-ended activity which gives children an opportunity to reflect on their own feelings about bedtime and separation from the ones they love.  As they turn out Daniel’s lights or get him his blankie or teddy bear, they can listen to a Mister Rogers bedtime song or hear Mister Rogers tell a bedtime story.
And for fans of all ages, the all-new “Neighbors of All Ages” section invites kids and adults to share their memories of growing up with the Neighborhood and provides tools through photo sharing site Flickr to post photos and letters.

Working in creative collaboration with PBS KIDS and Family Communications, Inc., the award-winning, Boston-based educational media developer FableVision produced the new site. FableVision President Gary Goldberger notes, “FableVision feels honored to extend Fred Rogers’ mission to a new generation of parents and children. This new media-rich site supports and guides children as they navigate their way through life.”

Parents and teachers can also continue to access content and resources that support essential childhood themes in “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” through PBS Parents and PBS Teachers.  PBS Parents offers articles, activities, tools, recipes and printables that parents and caregivers can use to extend the learning at home.  PBS Teachers provides classroom resources from the series that educators can download and use to support education in community engagement, the arts, mental and emotional health and many more topics.

In addition to the Web re-launch, PBS KIDS and Family Communications selected the top 26 favorite “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” episodes to air on PBS KIDS Saturday mornings this fall.  These episodes will also be featured on PBSKIDS.org in the coming months. The 26 iconic episodes feature classic moments including:

Appearances by Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Dance Theater of Harlem and performers of STOMP;

Visits with author-illustrator Eric Carle (best known for “The Hungry Caterpillar”) and beloved folksinger Ella Jenkins;
Favorite visits to factories showing how people make everyday things like crayons,  construction paper, erasers, flashlights, macaroni, and zippers;
Field trips to a recycling center and the zoo, as well as a ride on a school bus and a visit to the pediatrician’s office;
Two operas, “Windstorm in Bubbleland” and “Spoon Mountain”;
Songs, Make-Believe stories, and conversations about kindness, anger, frustration, making mistakes and even the most difficult feelings surrounding divorce.

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” can also be experienced at PBS KIDS PLAY!, an award-winning subscription service that includes curriculum-based games featuring characters from the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. A new Mister Rogers game, Daniel’s Musical Band, launched on PBS KIDS PLAY! in August. The first “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” mobile application, My Journal, will also debut this fall. The application will encourage children to identify and talk about their feelings about their every day experiences like school, playtime and friends. Both the new game and the application feature an animated version of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe character Daniel Striped Tiger.

Great news for game producers! KIDS FIRST! now accepts Nintendo Wii games for review. To celebrate this new venture, KIDS FIRST! is offering discounted submissions for any Wii titles submitted by between now and September 1, 2009. Anyone submitting Wii titles will receive a member’s rate even if they are a non-member.

Already this summer KIDS FIRST! jurors have been getting interactive with visual media as they review games for the Nintendo Wii. This move has been a great hit with both adult and child jurors. Each title provides many hours and days of entertainment as the kids and grownups grab their Wii remotes and get off the couch to learn how to become a band leader in “Major Minor’s Majestic March;” how to climb trees quickly in “Go Play Lumberjacks;” how to do tricks on the trampoline in “Go Play Circus Star;” and how to get their groove on in “Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves” and so much more.

The Wii craze is taking the nation. Sales last Christmas for this family gaming system sky-rocketed, despite the troubled economy. Schools have Wii gaming competitions for fundraisers and libraries gather groups for some relaxing play time. With the ever-growing popularity of the games, we at KIDS FIRST! feel it’s important to support the family-friendly media kids interact with. To see some of the KIDS FIRST! jurors in action, check out our “Dance Dance Revolution Disney Grooves” review.

To learn more about submitting a title for KIDS FIRST! review, check out our website at http://www.kidsfirst.org/submit-a-title/.

To learn more about becoming a KIDS FIRST! juror or to sign up for our online training classes go to our website http://www.kidsfirst.org/become-a-juror/

The “PAMOJA MTAANI” (”Together in the Hood”), Behavior Change Video Game, created by Warner Bros, won the Global Business Coalition’s Business Excellence Award.

As a key component of the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation, this open world five player LAN-Based PC game educates youth in Kenya.

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria honored Warner Bros. Entertainment with the Core Competence Business Excellence Award for the video game “Pamoja Mtaani” (”Together in the Hood”) at the GBC Business Excellence Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C on June 24, 2009. “Pamoja Mtaani”, Swahili for “Together in the Hood”, is an open world, five player LAN-based PC video game created by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in collaboration with technical experts within the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and noted serious games developer, Virtual Heroes, Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment, in partnership with PEPFAR, applied its core competence to develop an action-based videogame pilot that is delivering targeted HIV prevention messages to East African youths. The videogame combines traditional gameplay with messages aimed at changing behavior, focusing on key behaviors that can reduce HIV infections among youth. The game development is part of The Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation, a  public-private collaboration among PEPFAR and businesses with critical core competencies such as messaging, new technologies and market research.

The “Pamoja Mtaani” videogame can be played at select youth venues in Nairobi, which are an integral component of this new initiative to revolutionize HIV prevention. The game, intended to engage youth through fun interaction, is designed to help influence HIV risk perceptions, attitudes and behaviors among young people in Nairobi.

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.”

Microsoft is stepping out to help families keep gaming safe and fun. This fall the Xbox 360 will debut its Family Settings program. Parents or system owners can set permissions that allow all members of the household to enjoy Xbox 360 in a user-appropriate environment from games to DVDs and Xbox LIVE memberships and managing access to Xbox LIVE. You can even set a time limit for how long a game/DVD can be played on a daily or weekly basis. Read more about it here.