Give Your Heart a Valentine

The PBS Kids web property, Fizzy’s Lunch Lab, has launched a fun music video, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

“Give Your Heart a Valentine” is an ode to your actual heart, as in the organ that thumps in your chest. Just like all the interesting concepts that come from Fizzy’s Lunch Lab, the music video combines education and a little bit of fun. This new music video provokes kids to learn the significance of the heart and the benefit of healthy eating decisions.

In addition to all the sweet and lovey fun this week for Valentine’s Day, be sure to check out this video and give a little love to your heart!

PBS Kids Go Launches Fizzy’s Lunch Lab

With all this talk about eating healthy and reforming the nutrition standard of school lunches, PBSKidsGo.org has impeccable timing with the upcoming launch of Fizzy’s Lunch Lab.

Fizzy’s Lunch Lab is a fun new website (and more) geared to early elementary school kids that addresses smart food choices and living healthy. Through the silly animated adventures of Professor Fizzy and pals, kids can learn about the good, bad and not so yummy foods.

PBS said that the site will feature animated and live-action shorts, interactive recipes, food facts and games that are all geared to engage kids to make smarter food choices.


From the event I sat in on the other day, I learned that some kids really have no idea how to eat healthy. They know what they’re taught; and just like most things, the kids learn from example. I love the idea behind Fizzy’s Lunch Lab and how PBS leverages the web, humor and the quirky Professor Fizzy to engage and motivate kids. The graphics and dialogue are pretty impressive. Well, then again, it is PBS, so there’s no surprise there!

The site doesn’t officially launch for a few more weeks, but you can check out the site and see the above preview and also to get a feel for Professor Fizzy’s antics.
If you’re on Twitter, you can follow Fizzy’s Lunch Lab here, and where I just learned that they will be making an iPhone app as well!

Matthew Broderick guest stars in Cyberchase

Matthew Broderick will guest star as the voice of Max in a special Father’s Day episode of Cyberchase, premiering June 19 on PBS KIDS GO!   In this episode, Hacker sets out to ruin Father’s Day while Max and the CyberSquad try to stop him.

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If you’re not familiar with Cyberchase, here’s this special episode’s description from PBS:

Cyberchase features a trio of smart, curious kids who outwit the dastardly villain Hacker (Christopher Lloyd) during his mad quest to rule Cyberspace.  With help of their bird pal Digit (Gilbert Gottfried), the CyberSquad uses math and brain power to foil Hacker’s evil schemes. This time, it’s the annual Father’s Day Parade in Tikiville, and Max (guest star Matthew Broderick) is this year’s Cyber Dad of the Year.  Max was once a schoolmate of Hacker’s – and continually bested Hacker in all of their endeavors.  Hacker has decided it’s time to get even. His dastardly scheme is to replace Max with a Max robot and make the robot do awful things during the parade. The CyberSquad must use number patterns to crack a series of coded messages sent by Hacker to save the day in Tikiville.  Matthew Broderick voices both the easy-going, likeable Max and the evil Max robot in this thrilling Father’s Day Cyberchase adventure.

Following the June 19 on-air premiere, the Father’s Day episode with Matthew Broderick will be available for streaming at Cyberchase Online and on the PBS KIDS GO! video player.

PBS Kids Go! and PBS Kids Celebrate Earth Day

Need extra help instilling the green for the kiddie’s routine for Earth Day?  Well, good news:  PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! will celebrate Earth Day with the fourth installment of PBS Kids Share the Earth Day. A new Web-based Earth Day Channel is set to launch at pbskidsgo.org, too. New episodes of Curious George, Arthur and Cyberchase will be featured on PBS Kids in honor of the Earth Day celebration. george And that’s not all, favorites from shows like Super Why!, Sid the Science Kid and more will reflect Earth Day celebrations as well.

Online, there will be a plethora of eco-focused content on pbskidsgo.org, pbskids.org, PBS Parents and PBS Teachers.
The new PBS Kids Go! video player will host an Earth Day channel with themed content from Arthur, Design Green, The Greens and Maya & Miguel, which is geared to teach kids how to share the Earth. In addition to Web content from PBS Kids Go! TV series, Web-exclusive sites such as Eekoworld— an environment where kids create their own creatures and monitor them in the wild — and The Greens — a pbskidsgo.org series about the Green family and their exploration of sustainability, ecology and environmental care — will further explore what it means to be green.

Oh, and as if we didn’t already know, PBS Kids and PBS Kids Go! programming are among the most education-rich offerings on television, according to a report released by independent research and advocacy organization Children Now.  How’s that for green and educational influence?