Saturday, March 26, 2011

New Teletubbies & In the Night Garden apps



Teletubbies is one of my favorite programs (or favourite programmes) out there for very young children. We used it to introduce Loretta to television when she was old enough, and now I still go back and look at old episodes on my own. I've also recently discovered the joys of In the Night Garden, the follow-up show by the same production company, Ragdoll, in the UK. I've been watching it on the Hub constantly over the past two months and can't think of a better program for the pre-preschool set, the 2-4 year-olds. So if parents have been using these shows to introduce their youngsters to TV (no younger than 2, I hope), then they can now use them to introduce them to their mobile devices. I haven't seen these apps yet, but I expect them to be pretty high quality, given the precedent.


Toddlers can now tap into BBC Worldwide’s In the Night Garden and Teletubbies brands on their iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad mobile devices.

Now available on the App Store, Teletubbies: My First App! features the characters from the TV series along with the original music and voices. Developed by EM Studios, the app features age-appropriate games and a dedicated Parent’s Zone that allows parents to customize the app specifically for their children, including length of play and access to other content.

Similarly, Hibernum Creations’ In the Night Garden app immerses fans into the TV series’ fantastical world. Players are able to dance and play counting games alongside characters like the Pontipines and Upsy Daisy.


Now I know that for some Ragdoll's shows can be a little controversial, and there are plenty of parents out there who don't like the Teletubbies. I think they're extremely well designed, but I'd love to hear any other opinions. What can be the merits of new Teletubbies and Night Garden apps?

Friday, March 4, 2011

Who Else Misses Ooh and Aah?


So far so good for Disney Junior here in the U.S. But it's always sad when great host characters have to move on to that big television station in the sky, and the removal of the words "Playhouse Disney" has apparently made Ooh and Aah obsolete--and there aren't even any high quality videos of them online. These puppets were well written, well designed, and with great songs. Congrats on the long run to everyone involved with them.

What other host characters do you miss? Piper O'Possum was awesome. At least she's on Vimeo.