Curious George – The Next Kid Thing

Curious George: Let’s Get Curious Exhibit at Liberty Science Center

September 24, 2016September 24, 2016 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a Curious George fan. I can still remember my librarian in elementary school reading to us from a well-loved hard back copy of Curious George. Curious George and his many adventures have grown with me, and I’m so happy to see that he’s grown with my boys as well.

Lucky us, the Curious George exhibit is back at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, and it’s fantastic. The Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! exhibit features everyone’s favorite curious monkey and the The Man in the Yellow Hat.

The exhibit, which is at LSC for a four month engagement, celebrates the 75th anniversary of George’s debut. The exhibit embraces several educational concepts in science, math and engineering and geared to the preschool and grade school contingent.

What to See and Do

Upon entering the exhibit, you’re greeted by a picturesque cityscape background reminiscent of the iconic Curious George books. At the Apartment Building, kids can operate wheels and pulleys and the climb up the fire escape and then experiment with color, light and shadow.

The Space Rocket welcomes the littlest space explorers for an Outer Space Adventure. The slide down is a favorite feature, and one that we found ourselves doing the most.

The Sidewalk Produce Stand reminded us of a little street vendor or bodega. The kids had fun playing cashier and shopper and taking turns (somewhat) and interacting with other children. The produce stand gives kids a chance to explore shape, sorting, weighing and counting with fruits and veggies.

The kids visited a little farm to pretend play with small animals and explore wind power, windsocks and whirligigs. My little guy had fun opening and closing the little chicken coop and making the piggies smooch each other!

The golf area was a fun way for the kids to learn cause and effect with physics, and engineering, while exploring with pipes, ramps and funnels.

The Construction Site was another fun station where kids enjoyed climbing into the trailer and exploring different building materials. Both guys had a fun time operating the conveyor belt and sorting bricks and trying to work together. This spot got pretty hectic at times, but it worked well when all the kids were taking turns.

My Little guy stopped in his tracks when he spotted a full-size Curious George in the City Park. He planted a big smooch and hug on George before running off to check out the Park’s busywall activities.

My personal favorite of the entire exhibit was the Museum Within the Museum. There were many historical posters and literature on display, including the manuscript’s escape from Europe during WWII.

I loved learning about the historical timeline behind this beloved character. I also got a big kick out of all the little kids playing with the retro landline phone on the desk—perhaps something they don’t see enough in the time of iPhones and smart phones.

Curious George at LSC

My preschooler and third grader had a wonderful time exploring; we quite honestly could’ve stayed there all day. There are enough features in this exhibit to entertain the kids for an hour or two. While a majority of the activities are geared to toddlers and preschoolers, my older son had fun interacting with the conveyor belt and helping his brother with certain aspects.

LSC remains one of our family’s favorite NJ museums, and Let’s Get Curious exhibit is a complement to the 12 museum exhibition halls, live animal collection, aquariums, 3D theater and their huge IMAX Dome Theater. Whether you’re in NYC, NJ or elsewhere, Liberty Science Center is worth the drive for a fun day of science and exploration.

Curious George: Let’s Get Curious! will be at the Liberty Science Center form September 17, 2016 until January 8, 2017. This super fun exhibit is included in general admission tickets ($21.75 for adults and $17.75 for children 2-12)

Giveaway

And in partnership with Liberty Science Center, we are giving away a 4 pack of tickets for you and your family to enjoy. Enter below for a chance to win!

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Full disclosure: In partnership with Jersey Moms Media, my family was hosted at LSC to facilitate this review. I received a stipend for transportation, but as always, opinions on NKT are my own.

Odd-tober and Halloween Shows on PBS

October 29, 2015 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

We’ve been busy getting ready for Halloween over here. As we finish carving pumpkins and all the usual fun stuff, I wanted to share some cool stuff that’s been going on at PBS.

Earlier in the month, in honor of Odd Squad, PBS kicked the spooky season with a one-hour special and the return of Halloween-themed family favorites from various series! The premiere featured “Odd Squad: Against the Odds,” which will included five 11-minute stories with Olive, Otto and the rest of the gang as they solve the community’s strange problems.

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“Odd-tober” will continue on PBS KIDS this week with the return of family Halloween favorites, including “Curious George: A Halloween Boo Fest.” Favorite episodes from series such as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, PEG + CAT and Dinosaur Train will also air throughout the week. Don’t forget to check out games and stream the Halloween-themed episodes free on pbskids.org and the PBS KIDS Video App.

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We’re all about that crazy Curious George and his silly shenanigans. What are your favorite Halloween shows on PBS?

Curious George Boo-Fest Returns for Halloween on PBS Kids

October 3, 2014October 3, 2014 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

Fall and all of the fun that it brings is one of my favorite times of year. Lucky us, so many of our favorite shows underscore the fall fun, including our faves over at PBS Kids.

Later this month, be sure to check out new adventures with everyone’s favorite mischievous monkey, Curious George. New adventures of Curious George will debut on PBS KIDS October 28-30, including George testing his super spy skills and exploring an aviation museum. October 28 features the premiere of “Submonkey,” an underwater adventure that includes the song “Down, Down, Down,” performed by Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s.

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Be on the look out for more Halloween fun with episodes from other PBS KIDS shows, including Dinosaur Train, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Wild Kratts and more.

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To find out more about the Curious George episodes read more after the jump:

Descriptions of the upcoming Curious George episodes via PBS Kids:

Halloween Episodes on PBS Kids are Spooky but Fun

October 24, 2011 by Jen Rabulan-Bertram

With the excitement that Halloween brings with it, not surprisingly, kid programming is joining in on the ghoulish fun! PBS Kids, an NKT fave, always does a great job on incorporating educational episodes while sharing seasonal shows, and Halloween is no different.

Last week, as part of PBS Kids’ Halloween-inspired programming, the animal exploration series, Wild Kratts, (think: Animal Planet for the grade school set) highlighted all kinds of creatures during Predator Week. The Kratt brothers explored fierce predators such as great white sharks, wolves, cheetahs and raptors. With Great Whites in the news so much recently, the episodes from Predator Week couldn’t be more timely. Be sure to keep an eye out for these fun episodes.

On Dinosaur Train, the kids set off for an adventure at the Haunted Roundhouse and explore the spookiness of the “unknown.” Like many families do as part of an Autumn rite of passage, in the Big Pond Pumpkin Patch, the dinosaurs learn all about gourds, pumpkins and everything else that makes the pumpkin patch so fun.

On The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That! Nick, Sally and Cat go trick or treating and learn about some fruity non, candy treats. They also meet a “scary” creature who teaches them a few new things, including how he eats bugs!

Everyone’s favorite inquisitive scientist in training, Sid The Science Kid, encounters his own scary adventures in the “Halloween Spooky Science Special.

We’re a fan of most of the shows on PBS Kids, whether they’re geared to the preschooler or not, so we always find these holiday-themed shows a great way to learn even more about how everyone celebrates these fun holidays, even the animals! After screening these Halloween-themed episodes, I learned that my guy is totally mesmerized by The Wild Kratts, even though it’s targeted to the older crowd (ages 8 and up). The episodes were a perfect primer for our recent trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom; he even took away some of the lessons he learned from the show and applied them to our visit!

Check your local listings for air dates and times!

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On a related note, last week, PBS Kids launched 40 new games which are aimed to help children ages 2-8 build critical math skills. The games comprise PBS Kids’ largest offering of interactive math content for preschoolers to date. The games are centered around various PBS Kids media properties, ranging from Curious George to Sid the Science Kid.

My guy is a huge fan of Curious George’s Monkey Jump. Jumping, counting and Curious George? Count him in! These are the kind of games that will be sure to keep us busy when we start hibernating!