The Next Kid Thing

Nickelodeon is set to air the much-hyped Mega Music Fest tonight at 8pm—and what a mega fest it is!  Back in May, NKT was onhand at the Brooklyn Academy of music for the taping of the powerhouse kiddie music show which brought the likes of The Roots, Colbie Calliat and Wyclef Jean onstage for a variety of musical performances.

Hosted by John Leguizamo, Nickelodeon’s Mega Music Fest merges together the energy of Nick Jr. characters with the vitality of music, which in turn will make the littlest music fans and big ones alike want to get loud!

If you’re an NKT fan on Facebook, hopefully, you didn’t miss a few of our teasers from the taping.  With so many fun characters onstage and animated, everyone was dancing and smiling throughout all the fun numbers. The aisles were packed with wee ones jumping and dancing; I can’t wait to see how that captured that element of the show on tape.

The Roots played my family’s theme song, “Lovely Family” (and probably many of yours, too!), which made the kid and husband light up and sing every single word.  DJ Lance, Muno, Plex, Toodee, Foofa and Brobee danced and sang along to a few of the songs that we know by heart, but it was, perhaps, the Vegetables that almost stole the show.  If you’re a YGG, I’m sure you know which song they were singing!

One of my favorites of the day, however, had to be Colbie Callait’s version of “Walking on Sunshine.”  The little ones might not know who Colbie is, but if they’re Nick Jr. fan, I’m sure they’d be familiar with her singing partner, none other than Kai Lan!

Throughout the show and in between performances, Leguizamo threaded silly bits about finding his dancing shoes for the party.  Sherri Shepherd even made a few onstage appearances, and kept the crowd smiling as she acted as the stage manager.   In addition to the live characters, there were special appearances onscreen from Dr. Phil and Justin Beiber, who added their own fun flair to the Mega Music Fest. Family favorite, The Laurie Berkner Band contributed to the Mega Music Fest with an on-screen version of “My Family.”

But it was the dancing, singing and music school-going quartet that made my kid’s day.  My guy was dancing with all the other toddlers and preschoolers in the aisles for almost the whole show, but when he saw Shout, Twist, Marina and Kiki appeared, he stepped it up.  The Fresh Beat Band, who had a few issues getting to the party, tied it all in, and as usual, they made it a great day.

As huge Nickelodeon fans and true music junkies, my family thought the Mega Music Fest was a great show, from start to finish.  The last number got everyone up and out of their seats, just like a good concert should!

The fun for us didn’t stop after the last number, either!  We were also invited to attend the amazing afterparty.  And when I say party, I mean PARTY!  Nickelodeon’s Mega Music Fest afterparty was a kid party extraordinaire.  From sweet treats to finger sandwiches (with no crust) to ice cream to french fries to chicken strips, the food selection was like a kid’s dream.

The afterparty had a cool seating area/play area where my kid spent almost the entire afternoon diving headfirst into pillows.  Nickelodeon kept the music theme going at the afterparty: there was a musical instrument creation craft area and a toy area with a variety of kid-sized music-inspired toys.  And really, anything that a kid would love, it was probably there at the afterparty.  Our favorite experience of the day was getting to meet some of our beloved Nickelodeon favorites.  We met and got pictures with Joe from Blues Clues, the Fresh Beat Band and we got to see our YGG friends again.

Nickelodeon’s Mega Music Fest is a fun musical showcase that I can’t wait to relive when it airs tonight at 8pm.  They hit it out of the park with their first Mega Music Fest, and it’s my hope that Nickelodeon makes it an annual event, and perhaps, a live festival that even more families can experience!

Be sure to tune into Nickelodeon at 8 for the Mega Music Fest.  And who knows, maybe you’ll see us in the audience!

Encore presentations of the Mega Music Fest will be shown on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 10:00 a.m. ET/PT and on Thursday, Sept. 9, at 1:00 p.m. ET/PT.

Tons of great things happening with NKT fave, Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! Tour.  The tour, which is set to kick off on August 27 in Bethel, NY, just announced a Cool Tricks contest.  The Cool Tricks contest gives fans a chance to unveil their, well, cool tricks.  Beat boxing, breakdancing, playing the piccolo—be sure to share it to win cool prizes for cool tricks.

Fans can upload a :30-:60 second video demoing their Cool Trick for a chance to win a VIP Family 4 Pack and have their winning video played during intermission at the Yo Gabba Gabba! Live!: There’s a Party in My City show closest to their hometown. Oh, and it doesn’t end there, fellow Gabba friends, all participants are also entered into a sweepstakes where one fan will receive a five night trip for four to the Caribbean or Mexico and a three-month supply of organic snacks and meals from Plum Organics and Revolution Foods.

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Of the hundred or so exhibitors at this year’s BlogHer conference, since it was a blogging conference geared to women, the booths were geared to moms and families.  Sprout was onhand to share all about their latest programming, and even distribute a few cool branded notebooks, coloring books, cups.  My guy is sort of obsessed with Chica, so we’ve set aside our Chica cup to use to organize pencils and pens in his new room.

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Good news, fellow Chuggington fans.  The Disney Channel has picked up Chuggington for another season on Playhouse Disney.  Following a traintastic first season in the U.S., Brewster, Koko, and Wilson and the gang will be riding the rails once again on The Disney Channel.

Chuggington has also announced that it will be hosting a sweepstakes on Chuggington.com, with prizes including die-cast trains and packs.

Some of the fondest memories from my childhood include the years that I was enrolled in dance class.  I loved ballet and jazz so much that I took my training and lessons with me beyond high school and even danced for several years in college.  And because it’s the end of the school year, it also means that it’s recital season for many little girls (and some boys, too).

With recital season in full swing, coupled with my love for dance, one show that comes to mind for Music Monday is, Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps, which airs on PBS Kids.  The show is based on the award-winning children’s book series by author Katharine Holabird and illustrator Helen Craigre.  Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps debuted this past September in full CG animation, incorporating elements of choreography from top dance organizations from American Ballet Theatre to Alvin Ailey.

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Happy Star Wars day, everyone!  May the 4th be with you!

As a nudge to the iconic phrase from Star Wars, “May the force be with you,” May 4th is dubbed Star Wars Day.  While many hardcore fans are celebrating with Princess Leia cupcakes and Hot Dog Lightsabers, I thought I’d share just a few of the latest Star Wars goodies, starting with some of Hasbro’s upcoming toy launches.

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Egg Rolling, DJ Lance, fresh fruit and outdoor activities on the White House South Lawn?  Why, yes, please.

Yesterday, around 30,000 people from all 50 states and DC made their way to the South Lawn of the White House for this year’s Easter Egg Roll. Out of luck, our family won tickets in the online lottery for this year’s event and battled the traffic—cars and people—and let the kid have a go at this Egg Rolling business.

In addition to the generations-old tradition of egg rolling, the event reflected Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative introduced earlier this year. The Egg Roll’s theme, ‘Ready, Set, Go!’ echoed the First Lady’s campaign to educate kids about making healthy choices in an effort to combat childhood obesity.

As the official welcome, as seen in the event program, described, the White House’s South Lawn was transformed into America’s Playground for the day.  The Easter Egg Roll, the largest annual public event held at the White House, featured stations and activities sprawled across the Lawn, which were aimed at entertaining and educating all the kids (and even the parents in attendance.)

Healthy Activities

Aligned with the Let’s Move initiative, the healthy activities were a welcome addition to the event.  We spent most of our time dancing to the fun music in the Hop to It stage.  We missed out on seeing Yo Gabba Gabba which played during a different timelot, but we had the chance to see our good buddy, DJ Lance hula hooping on the Hop to It Stage.

The kid even hammed it up for Ellen Degeneres’ cameraman while dancing to DJ Tony, who just so happened to play a few of his favorite songs, one of which included Black Eyed Peas’ Boom Boom Pow.  It doesn’t get any more memorable than that.

The Family Farmer’s Market was a cool area that gave kids a look at healthy eating with celebrity chef demo stations.  One of the stations was the smoothie station, something that the kid adores, much thanks to one of his favorite shows.  We loved the Make Your Own Garden, which not only used the White House Kitchen Garden as inspiration, but showcased some of the new seed packets from Sesame Street’s new gardening line (more info on this in a different post)  We took home a watermelon seedling and hope to plant some sunflowers in the garden of our new house.

The sports station, geared to the older kids, featured demos on softball, golf, soccer, basketball and tennis.  At later time slots, I heard professional athletes were on hand to offer the demos!

The performers and celebrities were quite the highlight of the day’s events.  In our specific timeslot, the kid managed to sit in on Maria reading a story, with Elmo on hand to help out.  Later in the morning, Reese Witherspoon, one of my favorite actresses, read to the kids as well.

Accessibility and Sustainability

The accessibility and sustainability of the Egg Roll were the two main aspects that impressed me the most.  In years past, the Egg Roll was said to be reserved mainly for Washingtonians and other locals.  This year marked the second year that tickets for the Egg Roll were distributed online.  The White House extended this year’s event, beginning the festivities at 7:45 AM (yawn!) and an end time of 5:45 PM. Each group of 6,000 guests spent two full hours on the White House’s South Lawn.  For the first time, guests from all 50 states and DC were represented at the annual Egg Roll.

As a parent who aims to be eco-conscious, I was pleased that sustainability was prevalent throughout the event.   I appreciate that the event geared to teach kids how to garden, to shop at Farmer’s Markets, make healthy foods and much more.  The White House said that it made an effort to minimize the environmental impact of the 2010 Easter Egg Roll.  Some of the highlights include: the “greenest” souvenir egg in Egg Roll history, crafted from Forest Stewardship Council certified U.S. hardwood; goody bags made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic; the use of organically grown fruits and vegetables at the Play with Your Food station; and increased recycling and composting capabilities on the day of the event.

Winning tickets for the Egg Roll was a special thing, and one that a few of my Twitter followers and friends were sure to remind me about. As opposed to the events that we regularly attend for NKT, this wasn’t a blogger event, it was pure luck:  Out of the 250,000 people who registered to attend, we were one of the lucky few.  In general, we don’t win much at anything, in fact, we usually have the worst luck ever.  So, even if it was an unexpected expense to travel to DC while we’re in the midst of buying our first house, and miss seeing most of our family this Spring, it was incredibly important for us to attend the Egg Roll.  To experience this special event, and also to be a part of the Let’s Move campaign first hand, a topic that I try to cover as often as possible here on NKT, the White House Easter Egg Roll was a fun adventure we won’t soon forget.

Thanks for letting me share this event on NKT, Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

And here’s more information, in case you guys want to know more:

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Saturday nights definitely aren’t like they used to be.  This past Saturday, we tuned in to watch Nickelodeon’s 23rd Annual Kids’ Choice Awards.  I love awards shows to begin with, so watching one with the kid made it much more fun.  Even after the kid went to bed, I had to watch to see if any of my favorites took home the top kid honors.

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Chuggington fans, be sure to hop onboard for Disney Channel’s Chuggington marathon this Sunday, March 14.  The marathon begins at 6 a.m. and runs until 10:30.  They’re calling for rain all weekend, so I can’t think of a better way to spend a rainy Sunday.

The train-centric, CGI-animated show that premiered in the U.S. in January has been quite a hit.  Just from the reactions I’ve seen on Facebook and Twitter, I know many of you are big fans of the show, just like us.  I wrote a detailed post a few months ago about my first impression of the show.  So, in case you haven’t seen Chuggington, be sure to check out my post for a preview and a quick review.  I’m happy to report that the kid can not only pronounce “Chuggington,” but he asks to watch it often.

So, in case you’ve missed an episode or two, you’ll be able to catch up on Koko, Brewster and Wilson’s adventures with the nine back-to-back episodes of Chuggington scheduled to air on the Disney Channel this Sunday.

Nick Jr. watchers, perhaps you’ve noticed, but over the past few weeks, there have been some cool new music videos in between shows, particularly videos that feature sign language?  In early December, Nick Jr. introduced Signing Time, an interstitial music series dedicated to teaching sign language to preschoolers.

Rachel Coleman from Nick Jr.'s "Signing Time"

There are three Signing Time videos which feature Emmy-nominated Rachel Coleman, will be in regular rotation on Nick Jr. airing 1-2 times per day in between commercials and regular shows.

The videos that can be seen on Nick Jr. include, “In a House,” which introduces the signs for different family members; “Feelings,” which teaches signs for feelings and “Groove with Me,” which offers signs for activities such as jumping and dancing.

For those who want to catch more Signing Times, there are two additional videos that are exclusive to www.nickjr.com.  “Leah’s Farm,” which presents the signs for animals and “A is for Alex and Alligator,” which teaches kids how to sign the entire alphabet can be accessed any time online.

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