Pirate and Princess Adventure

Feld Entertainment, Inc., producers of Disney On Ice and Disney Live!, is taking cable TV series for preschoolers to the stage in Disney Junior Live On Tour! Pirate and Princess Adventure.

Featuring characters from Sofia the First and Jake and the Never Land Pirates, this brand new production launches a 90-city national tour in July, followed by its world premiere in Hollywood, Cal., on September 27. Tickets for all 2013 engagements go on sale May 28.

“The Feld Entertainment mission of providing quality live entertainment experiences that the entire family enjoys starts with Disney Live! because it is often a young fan’s first theatrical experience,” said producer Alana Feld.

“Children everywhere are falling in love with Sofia and Jake, and we are thrilled to bring these popular Disney Junior characters to the stage for the first time ever.”

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In this original storyline, Mickey and Minnie lead the audience on an exciting adventure that will have families rooting for their favorite pirate Jake and Disney’s first little girl princess Sofia.

Disney Junior Live On Tour! Pirate and Princess Adventure begins with a special interactive pre-show featuring the loveable 6-year-old doctor to toys and stuffed animals, Doc McStuffins. Children and their parents will sing “The Check-Up Song” along with Doc as she provides tender love and care.

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Kidaptive Parent’s Pad

Parent’s Pad, an assessment tool designed to deliver feedback on preschoolers’ learning, was launched today by educational technology company Kidaptive.

Parent’s Pad integrates with Leo’s Pad, an iPad app that combines a series of animated educational stories with activities that customize learning to a child’s ability.

According to the company, the new Parent’s Pad will analyze learners’ results using over 70 learning dimensions and will offer parents insights on how to help their child become a better learner.

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Each Leo’s Pad “appisode,” or animated story, is a preschool-friendly cartoon interwoven with games designed by educational researchers to create measurable learning experiences.

The activities in the app automatically measure responses and adjust in difficulty to create the optimal learning environment. Named “New and Noteworthy” on iTunes, Leo’s Pad is rendered in 3D animation.

The appisodes tell the story of eight-year-old Leonardo da Vinci, playfully reimagined on adventures with pals Galileo, Marie Curie, and other historical characters.

Kidaptive is the brainchild of CEO P.J. Gunsagar, a father of two and co-founder of Prana Studios, which creates animated movies such as the Tinker Bell series for DisneyToon Studios, says the company.

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Raytheon Mathcounts Competition

Alec Sun of Lexington, Mass., won the 2013 Raytheon Mathcounts National Competition Friday in Washington, D.C. The winning Mathlete answered the following math problem in less than 45 seconds to be crowned the National Champion:

Question:  What is the greatest integer that must be a factor of the sum of any four consecutive positive odd integers?

Answer:  8

The 8th-grader from Jonas Clarke Middle School competed among 224 middle school students in the competition, engaging the top middle school mathematics minds from across the country.

Sun was victorious in the intense, one-on-one Countdown Round, during which the 12 Mathletes with the highest written test scores competed for the title of this year’s Raytheon Mathcounts National Champion.

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He made history as the first Mathcounts competitor ever to participate in the final Countdown Round three years in a row. Ashwin Sah from Portland, Ore., was awarded the second-place individual title with Franklyn Wang from Falls Church, Va., and Guanpeng (Andy) Xu from Simpsonville, S.C., having advanced to the semi-finals.

In the team competition, Massachusetts captured the title of National Team Champion for the second year in a row. Team members include James Lin, McCall Middle School; Matthew Lipman, Meadowbrook School; Michael Ren, The Pike School; Alec Sun, Jonas Clarke Middle School; and coach Joshua Frost, from Jonas Clarke Middle School. The Washington state team took second place, and the Florida team placed third.

In the picture above: Raytheon Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson (left) congratulates Alec Sun, an 8th-grader from Lexington, Mass., and his coach Joshua Frost, for capturing the 2013 Raytheon MATHCOUNTS National Champion title. The competition brings together 224 top middle school Mathletes from across the United States.

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National School Scrabble Championship

A pair of 8th graders from Smith Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC defeated 88 other teams from all over the United States and Canada to win the 11th annual event.

Kevin Bowerman and Raymond Gao finished the event with a 6-1 record and +717 point spread.  Some of the more unusual words played were YUAN (a monetary unit of China), PAEON (a metrical foot of four syllables) and KUDU (a large antelope).

For more information go to schoolscrabble.com.

In the picture above: Raymond Gao and Kevin Bowerman from Chapel Hill, NC pose with the winning 2013 National School SCRABBLE Championship trophies in front of the world’s largest SCRABBLE board.

Photo courtesy: Patricia Hocker, National Scrabble Association

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Moshi Monsters

Global kid’s brand Moshi Monsters celebrates its fifth birthday with a special party in London this week. Parent company Mind Candy will be celebrating the five year existence of its brand.

The brand started out as an online world of adoptable pet monsters for boys and girls aged 6-12 back in 2008.

Moshi is said to be the biggest in the UK but has a global fan base. The top five territories are English speaking (UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand).

According to the company, there are registered users across 150 territories and plans to internationalise in various languages as the brand rolls out on tablet devices in 2013.

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Michael Acton Smith, CEO of Mind Candy and creator of Moshi Monsters said: “Many people assume Moshi is a Japanese or American success story, but we’re very proud to say it’s a homegrown British phenomenon. The last five years have been an extraordinary journey. We’d like to say a huge thank you to the millions of children and parents that have adopted a monster and played within the weird and wonderful Moshi world.”

There’s still more to come from Moshi Monsters this year including the launch of its first movie and new experiences on touchscreen devices, says the company.

Mind Candy was founded by Michael Acton Smith in 2004. The company launched alternate reality game Perplex City before hitting on the idea of Moshi Monsters.

Based in London’s Tech City, the company has a team of over 200 now working on Moshi Monsters and other products for launch throughout 2013.

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Leapfrog LeapReader

Educational entertainment company LeapFrog Enterprises (NYSE:LF) has announced LeapReader, a learn to read and write solution for children.

It is said to be the next generation of learning that helps children build literacy skills and reading confidence.

With LeapReader’s three essential experiences – learn to read, learn to write and learn through listening – children sound out words and read sentences, write letters with interactive guidance, and develop comprehension skills through audio books, music and more all available in the LeapReader library of more than 150 learning experiences.

LeapFrog made this announcement today, April 30.

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The Fairly OddParents

Nickelodeon will premiere its ninth season of the Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Fairly OddParents, on Saturday, May 4, at 9:30 a.m. (ET/PT).

The Fairly OddParents follows the magical adventures of 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his well-meaning fairy godparents who grant him wishes.

After 12 years on the air, The Fairly OddParents continues to rank among the network’s top programs and reached more than 20 million K2-11 in 1Q13, says Nickelodeon. The Fairly OddParents will air regularly on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon.

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“The Fairly OddParents exemplifies what has made Nickelodeon a leader in animation – innovative, amazingly funny, creator-driven content,” said Russell Hicks, president of Content Development and Production.

“Kids have fallen in love with the magical world Butch Hartman has created and we are delighted to serve up a new season filled with fun and entertaining adventures for our audience.”

Nickelodeon, now in its 34th year, is a leading entertainment brand for kids.

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Lego Mindstorms Platform

The Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 platform will begin shipping August 1, 2013. The education platform is now available in the U.S. for educators to preorder.

Announced in January 2013, the Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 platform is the third generation of LEGO Education robotics technology designed for classroom use.

It is a teaching solution developed with educators to actively engage students in a number of key curriculum areas such as computer science, science, technology, engineering, and math correlated to national standards.

The platform includes customizable curriculum and digital workbooks; a hardware platform based on real-world robotics technology for engaging, hands-on activities; an intuitive software platform consisting of both programming and data-logging interface including 48 step-by-step tutorials; and extensive professional development courses.

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The Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 Core Set comes with the EV3 Brick, rechargeable battery, sensors, motors, large brick selection, a new ball wheel, and building instructions.

Also available is the Lego Mindstorms Education EV3 Expansion Set, which enables students to build larger-scale, more complex robots. For easy classroom management, both the base education set and the expansion set have storage bins and sorting trays.

Schools can equip an entire classroom (up to 24 students) for less than $5,000, and that initial investment will last many years and through hundreds of students, says the company.

LEGO Education offers hands-on, curriculum-based resources for teachers and students worldwide.

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The Bully Effect

Cartoon Network continues its conversation with kids and families about speaking up against bullying with a special presentation of The Bully Effect on Sunday, April 28 at 5:30 and 8 p.m. (ET/PT).

Produced in partnership with Cartoon Network as part of its Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative and presented commercial-free, The Bully Effect is a half-hour CNN original documentary abridged for family audiences.

It features additional original content, including a special introduction by Cartoon Network President/COO Stuart Snyder as well as a candid conversation with CNN anchor Anderson Cooper, who hosts the documentary.

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Meanwhile, Submit, a cyberbullying documentary, is taking the anti-cyberbullying campaign nationwide (U.S.) to promote educational efforts in combating cyberbullying, sexting, and bullying, and finding solutions to these social issues. (Read: Submit: a Film to Combat Sexting and Bullying)

Concurrent with and immediately following both telecasts of The Bully Effect, author and bullying prevention expert Rosalind Wiseman will host an exclusive, live online chat at StopBullyingSpeakUp.com to answer questions from youth, parents and educators.

The Bully Effect chronicles the journey of 14-year-old Alex Libby, whose emotional life is both restored and wonderfully activated because someone spoke up in his defense against bullying.

In 2011, filmmaker Lee Hirsch embedded himself in schools across America and captured footage so raw and eye-opening, it sounded alarm bells and helped create a tipping point about how critical the issue of bullying has become.

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Hirsch documented a then 12-year-old Alex, who was confronted with slurs, threats and beatings on the school bus nearly every day. Following supportive intervention from an adult on his behalf, today he has become an anti-bullying rock star with appearances on national television and a visit to the White House.

The Bully Effect documentary will be posted on the website starting Monday, April 29 at 10 a.m. for free, ongoing viewing by students, parents, educators and community leaders.

Further viewing of The Bully Effect across multiple digital platforms will be available on YouTube.com and to cable and satellite customers through VOD for two weeks following the premiere telecast.

In the picture above: Victimized by bullying, Alex Libby is the focus of Cartoon Network’s The Bully Effect

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Greatest Action Movie Ever

The Ad Council is joining forces with BAM! Body and Mind and KIDZ BOP to premiere The Greatest Action Movie Ever (G.A.M.E), a kid-targeted film offering fun ways to channel the inner action hero and take steps towards a more active and nutritionally balanced lifestyle.

Starring Ryan Ochoa of the hit Disney XD series Pair of Kings, the first half of the six-minute long G.A.M.E. film will premiere on Sunday, April 14 on Disney XD as part of Disney’s Magic of Healthy Living, an initiative that inspires kids and families to lead healthier lifestyles.

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Audiences will then be directed to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s BAM! Body and Mind website, BAM.gov, to see the second part of the film and access additional health-related resources. The full-length film will also be featured on KIDZBOP.com and Disney.com.

Created pro bono by McCann Erickson New York, the movie is the result of a two month-long contest that invited kids ages 5-18 to submit videos on KIDZBOP.com that showcase their action moves and healthy eating habits in one of nine different scripted scenes.

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Kids everywhere had the opportunity to upload their audition videos to KIDZBOP.com, the leading safe social network and video sharing site for kids and tweens with over 1.4 million registered users.

Greatest Action Movie Ever

More than 1,300 kids submitted videos and auditioned for the film, and over 5,000 kids cast their vote to select real kids from across the nation (U.S.) to star in G.A.M.E. alongside Ryan Ochoa.

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