A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to the local PBS affiliate to hear the results of a study recently commissioned by PBS Kids. We are a PBS Kids family for sure, so the whole family was excited to attend the event with me. While I was hearing about the study, my little guy was hanging out with Curious George. [Cue the Pre-School Squee!]

According to PBS Kids, “The national survey of parents with children ages 2-12 also indicated that parents are less likely to support their kids’ math skills from the earliest ages, and that many parents have anxiety about supporting math learning at home.”

Responding to this need, PBS Kids and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced a new program called “It All Adds Up.” It All Adds up is “an effort that aims to boost math learning at home – and everywhere – by providing resources for parents.”

PBS Kids and the CPB have already been doing great work over the last two years in literacy and math via more than 100 games and apps through the Ready to Learn program. It All Ads Up will build on that success and make them accessible online at PBS Kids’ Lab, “a site that aggregates games, apps and offline activities to help support math and reading learning for kids 2 -8.”

Here are a couple of photos of my little guy and a little girl playing a particularly awesome Curious George game available at PBS Kids’ Lab. It uses the microphone and the camera on the computer to allow the game to be interactive with little ones who maybe haven’t mastered the mouse or the keyboard. My guy LOVED it.

Here are a few of the awesome new resources:

New FETCH! 3-D Online Game: Ruff Ruffman’s Monumental Mini-Golf
Kiddos aged 6 to 8 will help Ruff build his mini golf course. Kids will partner up (safely) with other kids who are also online to solve puzzles and create structures. All along they will be practicing spatial reasoning, measurement, and shape manipulation. At the end of the game, kids get to play through the mini golf course that they just helped create! This game is in public beta, so there will likely be more changes to the game, but it’s a great time to get in and try it!

PBS Parents Play & Learn App
This is PBS Kids’ first app designed exclusively for parents. Available for free download, the app offers games and ideas for parents to practice math skills with their kids. The games are organized around familiar places like home or the grocery store and also divided by stages: baby, toddler, and pre-school. I happen to LOVE this app and wish it was around when my guy was even younger. It’s available in English and Spanish plus on basically every platform you could possibly want: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Android phones/tablets (including Kindle Fire).

Launch of Peg + Cat
I’m very excited about this. PBS Kids will be launching a new show called Peg + Cat in Fall of 2013. It features “spirited Peg and her sidekick Cat as they embark on adventures and learn foundational math concepts and skills.” We got to see a quick clip at the event, and it is adorable. Can’t wait! I’m sure my guy is going to love it!

To stay up to date on all of the good things going on at PBS Kids, be sure to follow them on Facebook.

{ 1 comment }