Granny Ranny's Coming Attractions

“Dr. Toy’s Best Picks Children’s Products 2011” awards announced today is now available to parents, teachers and others in the online magazine, Dr. Toy’s Guide, at http://www.drtoy.com.

“Dr. Toy’s Best Picks Children’s Products” Awards Program 2011 was developed by noted play and child development authority, Stevanne Auerbach, Ph.D. (a.k.a. Dr. Toy) as a service to consumers who desire to purchase safe, affordable, educationally oriented, stimulating new toys and products for children.

“As a childhood specialist for over 40 years,” says Dr. Toy, Director of the Institute for Childhood Resources, founded in San Francisco in 1975, “I have seen the continuous, essential need for more year-round resources for consumers to identify and choose the most appropriate, safe and engaging learning and developmental products for all children.”

Dr. Toy reports that in the years the innovative on-line magazine, Dr.Toy’s Guide has been available “thousands of visitors daily from around the world have easily accessed information.” The site was the first on-line resource to evaluate toys and children’s products.

The report, “Dr. Toy’s 100 Best Picks Children’s Products for 2011”, is being released according to Dr. Toy to “encourage parents and teachers to focus on the value of play as essential to the learning process.”

She adds, “Smart play products selected from many excellent companies across the U.S.A., Canada and other countries provide children with exciting new developmentally appropriate tools to help them do better in school, and also provide more constructive activities after school.”

Dr. Auerbach believes “parents and grandparents need help to gain a head start locating new, diversified products that children will enjoy while increasing skills, enhance instruction, and expand imagination.” The products balanced among large and small companies, range from low to high tech for “hours of active, creative, educational, and stimulating fun.”

“Children learn best through play,” says Dr. Auerbach, “and these smart new toys and products encourage children to maximize their potentials.”

“This is a good time to ‘take stock’ and do an inventory of what your child is playing with, what is not used and what they need next in their development.” adds Dr. Toy.” Dr. Toy’s Guide offers excellent ideas for choosing new products for use in learning, after school play and the holidays ahead.”

“Dr. Toy’s Best Picks ” were carefully chosen as worthy of attention from among thousands that she has reviewed at toy fairs, catalogs, and through many other sources, and by using extensive criteria she has developed over many years. Among the criteria used are: safety, age-appropriateness, design, durability, lasting play value, cultural and ethnic diversity, good transition from home to school, educational value, learning skills, creativity, improvement in the understanding of the community and the world, good value for price, and, naturally, fun.

Complete information about these smart toys and products are included in the full report www.drtoy.com).

Anthony Aranda, our 9-year-old youth film critic viewed Dolphin Tale recently and couldn’t say enough positive things about it. Here are his comments:

This is a great movie based on a true story. This movie is great because the story is really encouraging and shows me that anything is possible.

The movie is about a dolphin named Winter who gets caught in a crab trap and her tail is badly injured. She gets taken back to the Clearwater Marine Hospital where everyone there tries to help her. Her tail is too badly injured to save so they try to make a new tail for her to help her swim. The movie takes us on Winter’s journey to swim again.

Some of the main characters in the movie are Winter the dolphin, Sawyer, Hazel and Dr. Clay Haskett. My favorite characters in the movie are Sawyer and Winter. I like them because they are really good characters in the movie and it is really cool to see them form such a special friendship. Sawyer is the only one that Winter trusts and he wants to do everything he can to help her.

I recommend this movie for all kids ages 5 to 18 because it’s such a good movie. A lot of people would like this movie because there are a lot of funny parts. It’s really cool to see Winter get better throughout the movie. Go out and see it in theaters when it premieres on September 23rd!

Review by Anthony Aranda, age 9, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic

Jane Lynch has revved up her megaphone to tout the benefits of arts education is schools, starring in a public service announcement (PSA) that debuted this week on the Fox Network’s “GLEE” program. It’s the centerpiece of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment’s campaign to donate $1 million to arts education around the country and Lynch is the featured spokesperson as the harsh and witty cheer coach, “Sue Sylvester.” Beyond “GLEE,” the PSA is expected to air on television and cable stations across the country.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) have teamed up for “GLEE Give a Note,” a campaign to donate $1 million to school arts programs across the country. Eligible high schools are invited to submit videos about why their school deserves a grant at www.GleeGiveANote.com. In December 2011, after two rounds of voting, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will name the 73 schools that will receive grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

TV’s musical sensation, “GLEE” THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON comes to Blu-ray and DVD September 13th from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment packed with all 22 episodes and never-before-seen bonus features sure to incite fans everywhere to “Gleek Out.”

GLEE is a biting musical comedy about a group of eager and ambitious students who strive to outshine their singing competition to win Nationals while navigating the cruel halls of McKinley High, garnering an incredible 19 Emmy nominations – earning it the distinction of being the most-nominated series of the year – and four Emmy Awards.

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

If you are into suspenseful films that ring remarkably true, then you will enjoy Contagion. Dr. Lipkin from Columbia University’s School of Public Health, who consulted on the film, based the virus on one which spread from pigs to farmers in the late 1990s. 14-year-old Gabriella Chu shares her comments on the film:

My eyes were glued to the screen from beginning to end. It documents the rapid spread of an unknown deadly virus around the world. Doctors and health organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) race to find a vaccine to prevent more people from dying, while the government tries to keep society under control.

The fact that this movie is shot internationally made it more exciting to me. The background music of the movie adds a great deal to the serious and suspenseful mood. Contagion delivers a vital universal message to be very careful in dealing with germs. The movie shows several close-ups ofpeople coughing, bus poles and other places that are susceptible to germs. The makeup of the affected people is very impressive and life like. After watching this movie, I did not want to touch anything. The movie also shows that fear can be contagious and deadly like a virus. Since the movie is so realistic, it gives me a new perspective on epidemics affecting the world today. I am surprised by some things that I never knew about until I watched this movie. For example, the average person touches their face about 3,000 times a day! And I love the ending because that is when the movie reveals one of the biggest mysteries the doctors are searching for. If you want to find out what the mystery is, watch Contagion!

I recommend this movie to teens 13 and up. There are some disturbing images that may frighten younger children and they might not follow the storyline since it is fast-paced.

Barbie™: Princess Charm School stars Barbie as the “common” girl Blair, who wins the lottery and goes to a princess charm school. It’s full of mystery, as we find out that Blair is the real missing princess and she and her new princess friends are able to find the missing magic crown in time to stop the crowning of the wrong princess. It is a good exhibition of teamwork and people from different walks of life working together.

Here’s what our youth jurors thought about it. “Super. Awesome. Great.” “We all like Blair Willows because she is nice, pretty and independent.” “The fairies were cool.” “The music rocks, makes us want to get up and dance.” “We learn not to be mean or you’ll be embarrassed.” The kids have lots of favorite parts: the music, when Blair comes home and plays with her little sister, when the lottery winner is picked, when she met the fairy, when she changed clothes in the locker, when Blair’s make-up is messed up after the carriage hits a bump.