A new optional feature on YouTube allows parents to browse the site a little more comfortably–safety mode filters content, searches, and inappropriate language on comments. See how it works in this YouTube video:
We’re really excited here about the release of our new album featuring six great stories read by stars from General Hospital.
Visit our friends at Soap Central for some great behind-the-scenes footage from the recording, then watch the stories here at Speakaboos:
“Billy and the Brown Out” read by Greg Vaughan
“Bluebeard” read by Rebecca Herbst
“Frankenstein” read by Greg Vaughan
“The Frog Prince” read by Kelly Monaco and Jason Thompson
“The Little Mermaid” read by Kelly Monaco and Jason Thompson
“The Wise Little Girl” read by Rebecca Herbst
When you’re not out tricking or treating this Halloween, there’s plenty to do at Speakaboos:
Watch one of our spooky stories, like our brand-new storybook video Frankenstein, or the now-classic Billy and the Witch.
Then, scare your brain silly with the online Halloween Word Search Game, and print-out instructions for some creepy arts and crafts: make your own Witch Hat and Monster Ooze (PDF printouts).
Happy haunting!
The Department of Health and Human Services is trying to go viral in its efforts to prevent the spread of swine flu. Check out a great PSA from HHS and Elmo below, where imparts a very simple lesson even kids can learn–sneeze into your elbow or shirt sleeve rather than into your hands (or into the air). That way, you won’t wipe all your germs over some unsuspecting handrail or piece of furniture. For more from the HHS, including a contest-winning swine flu rap, see their YouTube channel here
Every adult should know everything on foodsafety.gov, but a lot of us don’t–it’s a one-stop site for information on food shelf-life, tips on checking for cooking doneness, news about food recalls, as well as basic food handling rules (i.e., separating cooked and raw foods, how to safely pack a school lunch, etc.).
Mark your calendars–this Labor Day, Monday, 9/7, our friends at PBS KIDS and the Jim Henson Company are launching a brand new show!
Dinosaur Train is about an orphaned toddler T-Rex named Buddy who is taken in by a family of Pteranodons. Buddy and his newfound family ride the Dinosaur Train to different prehistoric eras where they learn about their dinosaur heritage. This great new show will center on themes of family, tolerance, history, and of course, plenty of dinosaurs and trains!
If you’ve been to Speakaboos.com this week you’ve seen all the new dinosaur-related activities we’re rolling out to celebrate, including:
- A sneak preview of Dinosaur Train
- “What Dinosaur Are You?” interactive game widget
- Dinosaur “Memory Match” game
- Dinosaur “Quiz Whiz” trivia game
- Make your own dinosaur mask print-out (pdf download)
Glubble.com is an exciting new online resource that helps families safely enjoy the internet together. Part social network and part web browser/filter, Glubble provides your family with an online meeting place to post pictures and messages for each other, and allows parents to monitor and regulate young children’s internet use.
One of the cool things about Glubble is that it uses your existing web browser, but allows you to “lock” it for your kids so they can only access pre-approved websites. Glubble provides a list of suggested websites, and parents can pick and choose which ones they like, as well as suggest other sites they would like their kids to use.
Once you are a Glubble member, you can find Speakaboos under the “New Collections” section of the family page. There, you can choose to activate Speakaboos and it will appear as an approved site under the “Collections” section of the kids page.
Saya, a lifelike robot with the ability to smile, scold and call roll, was tested in a Japanese classroom earlier this year. And since the logistical problems with programming a robot to teach children are very obvious, the robot’s developer, Tokyo University of Science professor Hiroshi Kobayashi, insists that the robot is meant to be a tool and not a replacement for humans.
What I find most interesting about this story is that not only does Japan have an apparent shortage of teachers and labor, university professors there have the time and resources to build elaborate, expensive robots which are ironically impractical.
Fun story though. Read more about Saya at NY Daily News.
Photo: Koji Sasahara, AP
