Curious George

Following a bit of backlash arising from the loss of popular Viacom-owned children’s TV shows, Netflix today launched Netflix Families, which is essentially just a destination website designed to promote Netflix’s family fare. The site includes rows of Netflix recommendations for parents and kids, as well as tips on how to stream and other promotional content. Amazon, not to be left unmentioned in today’s news, countered with an announcement of its own. These moves come at a time when the war for streaming is heating up between Netflix and up-and-coming rival Amazon Prime Instant Video. Earlier this month, Amazon picked up the Viacom shows Netflix lost, including big-name kids’ TV brands like Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go!, SpongeBob SquarePants, Blue’s Clues and several others. Parents had stormed Netflix’s consumer support site to complain about the losses, having already been burned by other ill-fated moves from the company in the past (like that Qwikster fiasco which became the symbol of Netflix “not listening,” CEO Reed Hastings once said.) In addition to the new Families site, just yesterday Netflix announced its largest original content deal to date with DreamWorks Animation, home to brands like Shrek and Kung Fu Panda. The deal involves some of DreamWorks Animation’s characters moving into TV (Shrek, most likely), in a branded collection of shows that will comprise more than 300 hours of new programming. The company also recently scored a content deal for other kids’ TV like Jake and the Never Land Pirates from Disney and Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time. These titles, and more, will now be promoted on the Netflix Families website. Not to be outdone, Amazon is also heading off this morning launch of the Netflix Families website with news of its own: the company released a progress report on Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, its optional service designed for parents with kids ages 3-8 which offers a variety of books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows that play on Amazon Kindle Fire devices. While FreeTime offers parental controls, Kindle FreeTime Unlimited is a paid add-on ($2.99 per child or $6.99 per family) which Amazon today says now combines over a thousand books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows, including Disney’s Where’s My Mickey?, Warner Brother’s LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat Comes Back from Oceanhouse Media, Plants vs. Zombies by EA, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Curious George at the Zoo. Also added to FreeTime Unlimited? Yes, several Nick Jr. favorites – the recently acquired Viacom shows Netflix lost. Other new arrivals include Scribblenauts Remix from Warner Bros., Disney’s Puffle Launch and Toy Story Smash It! Classic, EA titles like Tetris, Bejeweled 2, Monopoly Millionaire and The Game of Life, apps like Curious George at the Zoo, The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee, Mercer Mayer’s Little Critter and Triceratops Gets Lost from the Smithsonian Institution, and more. (It’s a decent B-list of kids’ titles, for those without rugrats around to inform you). Neither Amazon nor Netflix’s announcement today is the equivalent of what one would call major news, of course. One is a destination site to educate and promote Netflix’s children’s programming, while the other is an update on what’s available with Kindle FreeTime Unlimited. What is interesting about the news is that both companies seemed to have decided that where the children go, so go the parents. The war for streaming is resting on families’ youngest members – a generation of viewers who have born into a world where tablets already exist, and who can navigate their way around the devices better than their parents in many cases. It’s these little ones the streaming giants will now be catering to. Paying for a streaming video service on top of other in-home entertainment bills like

Kindle FreeTime Unlimited Adds Popular New Kids Content From Disney, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Electronic Arts More than a thousand titles added to Amazon's all-you-can eat content service built just for kids SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NAS: AMZN) —Six months ago, Amazon launched Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, bringing together for the first time all the types of content kids and parents love—books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows—into one simple, unlimited, easy-to-use service for kids ages 3-8. Today, Amazon announced that since launch it has already added more than a thousand books, games, educational apps, movies and TV shows to Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, including popular kids' titles from Disney, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Electronic Arts (EA). New kid-favorites being added to FreeTime Unlimited include Disney's hit Where's My Mickey?, Warner Brother's LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4,Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat Comes Back from Oceanhouse Media, Plants vs. Zombies by EA,and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Curious George at the Zoo. Customers can subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited from within the Kindle FreeTime app on Kindle Fire. "In just six months, we've added more than a thousand new titles to Kindle FreeTime Unlimited, including customer favorites from Disney, EA and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment," said Peter Larsen, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. "Customers tell us they love that FreeTime Unlimited gives kids the freedom to discover and pick their next adventure from an ever-growing library of content. In fact, the vast majority of our customers who take advantage of our one month free trial of FreeTime Unlimited choose to subscribe and enjoy our content library built just for kids. We look forward to continuing to add more great content that parents and kids will love." Kindle FreeTime is a free feature on the current generation Kindle Fire family which has reinvented traditional parental controls, making it possible for parents to personalize their children's experience with easy-to-use tools such as Time Limits, which help parents manage their kids' screen time. To date, nine million titles have been shared by parents using FreeTime with the average parent giving their child 18 titles to enjoy and some parents giving their child more than 160 titles to enjoy in FreeTime. Kindle FreeTime Unlimited is an optional extension to Kindle FreeTime that brings together all the content kids and parents love into one simple, unlimited, easy-to-use service for kids ages 3-8. FreeTime Unlimited is available for Prime members to enjoy for a low monthly price of $2.99 per child or $6.99 per family. Customers who are not yet Prime members can subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited for a monthly price of $4.99 per child or $9.99 per family. Additional new content available as part of Kindle FreeTime Unlimited includes: Exclusive Nick Jr. favorites from Viacom such as Dora The Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Blue's Clues and The Backyardigans Scribblenauts Remix from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Favorites from Disney including Puffle Launch and Toy Story Smash It! Classic and contemporary favorites from EA including Tetris, Bejeweled 2, MONOPOLY Millionaire and THE GAME OF LIFE Kid-friendly educational apps such as Curious George at the Zoo, The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee, Mercer Mayer's Little Critter and Triceratops Gets Lost from theSmithsonian Institution Award-winning and engaging educational content from BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr. (K-3) Many more titles will be added throughout the coming year including Where's My Mickey?, Monsters University and popular LEGO games such as Lord of the Rings, Batman DC Superheroes and Harry Potter Years 5-7. "Amazon's Kindle FreeTime Unlimited has been an amazing way for us to introduce o

Here is a list of ideas of trip activities/toys we've been collecting for our long international plane ride with our preschool age daughter (total journey time door to hotel will take ~25 hours) for our upcoming trip to China. Crayola Color Wonder Mini Pack - A bit on the expensive side these activity packs tend to retails for $6-$10/pack. We picked up some on clearance and found them good compact, no mess, activities on the plane. Melissa & Doug Travel To Go Activity Packs - They tend to retail for ~$5/pack. We picked up a reusable color with water book. Imagentics Travel Books - I discovered these while shopping on a recent business trip. They are magnetic folding boards with a background scene and 15-30 magnets kids can pretend play with. Lee Magnetic Travel Tins - Very similar to the Imagentics, these kits contain a number of small magnets for dress up or pretend play in a travel tin. We bought a twinkles dress up tin and grabbed a Wall-E themed tin on closeout. I like these slightly better than the Imagentics as the tins make containing the magnets a bit easier. Coloring Books - We have grabbed several inexpensive ones. Perhaps wishful thinking on my part that we'll be able to keep our daughter occupied for hours with just these. Sticker Packs - Our daughter loves stickers so a couple sticker packs and a small drawing pad are a hit. Good to mix with coloring activities as well. Seasonal Activity Packs - My wife and I have picked up a number of small toys/activities from seasonal merchandise marked on clearance. Some finds we found include Valentine's Day Decoration Kits, Valentine's Day mailbox activity kits, Easter basket stuffers, etc. They tend to retail for $3-$5 a kit, but @ 50%-75% off we grabbed a bunch a $.25-$1.50. Smartphones Activities/Games - I've purchased a number of inexpensive Android apps on my phone for my daughter. I also regularly review the Amazon Free App of Day and have picked up a few free kids apps I have saved for my daughter to play with while we are traveling. Apps that seemed to occupy our daughter for significant time and she really enjoyed have been the Dr Panda and Pepi apps. Paint with Water Books - Another minimal mess travel activity. I picked up one of these at the local dollar store. My daughter loves painting with the water on the pages and I don't have to worry about her making a huge mess when our focus is elsewhere. Kids Movies on My Smartphone - I've copied about 20 of our own collection of kid movies at home onto my smartphone and my wife's Kindle Fire so my daughter can watch them while we travel. I try to limit the amount of time my daughter is watching tv/movies so I like to keep this well balanced with the activities above. We've also picked up a set of Kidz Gear Wired Headphones for our daughter for the trip.Dollar Stores & the $1 Sections at Target/Walmart Stores - we found ourselves regularly scanning the bins/shelves at these places for $1 activities/toys that we could take on travel. We found a bunch of items including origami packs, stickers, small puzzles, etc. $1 Play Packs- These packs contain 4 crayons, 25 stickers and a small 24 page coloring book packaged in a nice small pack that you can keep in your bag. We've found these at several places - Dollar Tree, Target, Walmart and with several themes. We've picked up Curious George, MiniMouse, Toy Story and other themed packs. The look very handy to store away for the unplanned situations where you need something to occupy your kids. We plan to dedicate a carry-on suitcase to some toys and these travel activities for our daughter for our upcoming trip. My hope is we wont use all of these and can save the unused activities (As well as reuse the popular ones) for future travel.

When you go out in the sun, do you wear sunscreen? Do you put sunscreen on your kids? I’m sure many of you do… because we know how important it is to protect our skin from the sun. But do you know the effects the sun can have on your EYES? I think we forget about protecting those, too! I know I wear my sunglasses frequently, but my kids? I’ll admit they almost never do. I got a chance to work with The Vision Council and The Motherhood on a campaign to learn about harmful effects and UV safety facts. My goal this summer is to get my kids used to wearing sunglasses. With a 3.5 year old and a 15 month old, it can be hard to get them to actually wear them and keep them on! But after speaking with The Vision Council and some other moms, I got some great tips and encouragement. Keep their sunglasses. Hand them out when you go to the pool or to play outside. When the activity is over, take the sunglasses back. This makes them more special to kids and something they get to have rather than something they have to do. Start early. If your kids start out wearing sunglasses outside, it will become the norm and they’ll be used to having them on (like kids that need regular glasses). Take them to the store. Let your kids be involved in selecting their sunglasses so they feel ownership. Practice what you preach! Kids learn by example so make sure you and your other family members have their sunglasses on, too! Explain. My curious toddler wants to know about everything. If I sit down with him and explain what the UV rays from the son can do and how sunglasses will help keep him safe, he’s much more likely to listen and wear them than if I just TELL him to. If all else fails? Find their favorite character wearing sunglasses. Curious George is fail-proof in our house, haha. You can check out The Vision Council’s 2013 UV Report for more details on the effects of UV rays, who’s at risk at when, and what you can do about it. The infographic above is a nice summary. Short-term effects: sunburn of the eye, irritation, redness, swelling, hyper sensitivity to light Long-term effects: premature aging of the skin, wrinkles, sunspots, abnormal growth on the eye or eyelid, cataracts, macular degeneration, cancer of the eye, eyelid, and surrounding skin Children are more at risk because their lenses are still immature. They also receive three times the annual sun exposure of an adult! Protect those eyes with sunglasses–make sure they say UV on the label to ensure they’re receiving protection! Lighter colored eyes are also believed to be more at risk… and my babies both have blue eyes! Interesting things I learned: Not all sunglasses offer protection: check the label or take to a professional to test with a UV meter. Don’t buy from auction sites or from street vendors, etc. Darker lenses don’t necessarily mean they offer more protection. Brown, amber, and copper lenses work to reduce glare and improve contrast for activities like driving, golfing, water sports, and snow sports. Grey tint distorts color the least and yellow and rose tinted lenses enhance definition. You can buy goggles for swimming with UV protection. Contacts are made with UV protection, but they only protect the center of the eye–the whites and eyelids are still exposed. The husband and I just went on vacation to FL for our 5-year anniversary. He caught me splashing in the ocean And hey! I have my sunglasses on! And you’re not only at risk in the summertime, there are damaging UV rays from the sun year-round. More UV safety facts: You can find more resources, activities, and UV safety facts from The Vision Council. ~I worked with The Motherhood and The Vision Council on this post. I was compensated for my time, but all opinions are my own! The post UV safety facts: protect those EYES! appeared first on Baby Dickey | Chicago, IL Mom Blogger.

POTTERY BARN KIDS KICKS OFF SUMMER READING CHALLENGE WITH PBS KIDS AND OFFERS FREE BOOKS TO YOUNG READERS Premier Children's Retailer and Leading Educational Media Brand Team Up to Encourage and Reward Reading this Summer SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pottery Barn Kids, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. portfolio of brands, today announced the launch of its Summer Reading Challenge in partnership with PBS KIDS, the most educational media brand for children. The challenge, which runs through August 26, is designed to promote a love of learning and literacy in kids and their families throughout the summer months. Pottery Barn Kids is inviting children across America to 'take the challenge' by reading 14 hand-selected books. Each book was chosen based on favorites identified by Pottery Barn Kids customers, and features characters that excite the imagination in kids of all ages. The brand will also offer a collection of fun, engaging tools to inspire young readers and help parents track and celebrate the challenge milestones. Children that complete the book list and bring it to a Pottery Barn Kids location will receive a free book, or parents can enter their child into an online drawing for a backpack full of books. These tools, available at Pottery Barn Kids stores and online at www.potterybarnkids.com/read, include: The Summer Reading Challenge official book list, including classic favorites like Curious George, The Giving Tree and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Official Summer Reading Challenge Bookmark At-Home Reading Tracking Poster Summer Reading Challenge Certificate of Completion "This program is designed to help parents encourage learning all summer long and foster a lifetime love of reading in their children," said Sandra Stangl, president of Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen. "We're thrilled to play a part in helping to motivate and support the next generation of readers and creative thinkers." Special Story Time events with character appearances and giveaways in partnership with PBS KIDS will also be hosted at Pottery Barn Kids stores throughout the country through August 26. Families can get involved in the Pottery Barn Kids Summer Reading Challenge and get more information about in-store events by visiting Pottery Barn Kids locations or www.potterybarnkids.com/read. To learn more about Pottery Barn Kids, please visit www.potterybarnkids.com. Summer decorating trends are available on the new Pottery Barn Kids blog, Building Blocks. For additional information on PBS KIDS, please visit http://pbskids.org/. ABOUT POTTERY BARN KIDS Pottery Barn Kids, a member of the Williams-Sonoma, Inc. portfolio of brands, launched in January 1999 and quickly became a premier retailer for children's home furnishings and decorative accessories. Pottery Barn Kids offers exclusive designs that create kid-friendly, stylish and innovative spaces including the nursery, bedroom and playroom. Pottery Barn Kids operates 85 retail stores in the U.S. and Canada and 84 stores in the Middle East. The brand is headquartered in San Francisco, California. ABOUT WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is a specialty retailer of high-quality products for the home. These products, representing eight distinct merchandise strategies - Williams-Sonoma (cookware and wedding registry), Pottery Barn (furniture and wedding registry), Pottery Barn Kids (kids' furniture and baby registry), PBteen (girls' bedding and boys' bedding), West Elm (modern furniture and room decor), Williams-Sonoma Home (luxury furniture and decorative accessories), Rejuvenation (lighting and hardware) and Mark and Graham (personalized gifts and gifts for the home) - are marketed through e-commerce websites, direct mail catalogs and 587 stores. Williams-

Ryan loves being outside and anything with wheels… his mower, wheelbarrow, ride-ons, and bikes. The kid just takes off! He learned how to pedal last summer and was a pro on his trike. This summer, he’s working on a balance bike and loves his scooter. He has fallen off his bike once and wasn’t hurt, but did get scared. I’m thankful we haven’t had any bad spills yet, but I’m sure something is coming… knock on wood… it’s a right of passage for a kid, right? I remember falling off my bike on the sidewalk and had to go to kindergarten with half of my face scraped up. On my summer-must list was a kids helmet. I should have had one for him last summer, too, but had a hard time finding one I liked… that adjusted for a wide range of sizes and that was cute (without crazy patterns or cartoon animals). Joovy has recently launched their Noodle kids helmet. It is perfect! We were sent one to try out for Ryan and I’m totally buying one for Rebecca. I thinks sometimes it might be hard to get your young child to keep something on their head… Ryan went through a phase where he refused to wear a hat. I made sure I talked a lot about the kids helmet before it actually arrived. I told Ryan about how it would keep him safe and protect his head from owies if he were to fall or hit something. He really liked that idea! Then I took it a step further and found an episode of Curious George (Ryan’s favorite!) where George is wearing a helmet… if George does it, you bet Ryan wants to do it. If I see Ryan get on a toy without his helmet, I say “Your noodle is showing!” and then he cracks up and covers his noodle… with his Noodle The Noodle is for ages 1 through 4 with head sizes between 18.5 — 20.5 inches. It fits my 15 month old and I’ve seen others even putting it on their 8 year old! It has an easy to turn dial on the back that adjusts the size and it stays put. There are 14 air vents with bug mesh in the front vents (great idea!), an extended visor at the front of the helmet for maximum protection, nylon straps with a pinch guard chin strap, and it meets CPSC standards. I like that the padding inside the helmet is attached by velcro for easy removal and cleaning. The Noodle kids helmet comes in fun, bright colors–typical of all Joovy’s awesome products–blueberry, red, greenie, pink, and black. You can get your own Noodle for $29.99! Awesome deal because the helmet will last years. Make sure you find Joovy on facebook and twitter, too! The post your noodle is showing! appeared first on Baby Dickey | Chicago, IL Mom Blogger.

Name: Hudson, 2Location: Evans City, PA My little guy, Hudson, loves-loves-loves Curious George (or ‘Geedge’ as he calls him). From the very beginning stages of planning, I knew that I wanted to incorporate George into his 2nd birthday party, but without the character-overload. I also knew that I wanted to stay on a fairly tight budget, but still have a memorable celebration. More

Andrew Hultkrans on Plimpton! Starring George Plimpton as Himself

June 4, 2013 New DVD Releases Breaking Bad: The Fifth Season (2012) Eight episodes: "Live Free or Die," "Madrigal," "Hazard Pay," "Fifty-One," "Dead Freight," Buyout," "Say My Name" and "Gliding Over All." Formats: Four-disc DVD, $55.99; three-disc Blu-ray, $65.99. Extras: Eight-minute, uncensored bonus scene "Chicks 'N' Guns," created and produced exclusively for the home entertainment release; cast and crew commentaries on every episode; deleted scenes; outtakes; three featurettes: "Nothing Stops This Train" on location explores what a huge undertaking it is to film a modern-day train heist, "The Cleaner: Jonathan Banks as Mike" with fan-favorite Cleaner Jonathan Banks, "Chicks 'N' Guns: Behind-the-Scenes"; "Writers' Room Timelapse" takes viewers through the entire breaking of episode "Fifty-One" with commentary from the writers; Laura Fraser and Jesse Plemons audition footage; prison stunt rehearsal footage; "Gallery 1988 Art Show" with artwork inspired by the show; "Chris Hardwick's All-Star Celebrity Bowling" features team Breaking Bad going head to head with team Nerdist to raise money for charity; "Inside Breaking Bad." Blu-ray adds two featurettes: "Scene by Scene: Directors Discuss Memorable Moments" and "The Writers of Breaking Bad." (Sony). Charlie Zone (2011) Amanda Crew, Glen Gould, Mpho Koaho. A disgraced boxer and ex-convict is hired to abduct a runaway from a crack house in the city's notorious "Charlie Zone," and return her safely to her family. But nothing goes quite as planned and nothing is quite what it seems. Formats: DVD, Blu-ray Disc. (Anchor Bay). Clint Eastwood 40 Film Collection DVD set of 40 Eastwood films. Formats: DVD, $179.98. Extras: New documentary "Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story." (Warner). Clint Eastwood 20 Film Collection Blu-ray set of 20 Eastwood films. Formats: Blu-ray, $129.95. Extras: New documentary "Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story." (Warner). Curious George: The Complete Sixth Season (2012) Two-disc set with 20 fun-filled episodes with George and friends as they explore his world and invent clever solutions to memorable mis-adventures. Formats: DVD. (Universal). Dora the Explorer: Dora Rocks! (2012) Three sing-along, rockin' episodes with Dora and Boots: "Dora Rocks!" "Baby Bongo's Big Music Show" and "Little Map." Formats: DVD, $14.99. (Nickelodeon/Paramount). Escape From Planet Earth (2013) Voices of Brendan Fraser, Rob Corddry, Jessica Alba, Sarah Jessica Parker, William Shatner, Kaitlin Olson, James Gandolfini, Craig Robinson, Ricky Gervais, Sofia Vergara. Formats: DVD, 3D Blu-ray /Blu-ray/DVD Combo, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Commentary with director Cal Brunker, "The Making of Escape From Planet Earth," alternate takes and deleted scenes; music featurettes from Delta Rae, Owl City and Cody Simpson. (The Weinstein Co./Anchor Bay). Falling Skies: The Complete Second Season (2012) Ten episodes of TNT's alien invasion series. Formats: Three-disc DVD, $39.98; two-disc Blu-ray, $49.99; Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Extras: Behind-the-scenes featurettes, "The Skitter Evolution," tour of the "Falling Skies" set, commentaries, and an exclusive trading card from Rittenhouse included on pack. (Warner). Frontline: The Economic Meltdown (2013) Two-disc set with five fascinating "Frontline" programs about one of the worst economic crises in America's history: "Inside the Meltdown," "Ten Trillion and Counting," "Breaking the Bank," "The Warning" and "Cliffhanger." Formats: DVD, $39.99. (PBS Distribution). A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Yuliya Snigir, Cole Hauser, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Amaury Nolasco, Sebastian Koch, Anne Vyalitsyna. Formats: DVD, two-disc extended edition Blu-ray/DVD Combo, VOD, Digital, UltraViolet (cloud). Blu-ray Extras: Deleted scenes, 15-part "Making It Hard to Die" behind-the-scenes documentary, "Anatomy of a Car C

Curious George Cupcakes! Easy to make and perfect for any kids birthday!craving more? check out TasteSpotting